Best Weighted HIIT Workouts with Dumbbells

If you want to lose weight while developing lean mass, you can do weighted HIIT workouts with dumbbells. Performing the dumbbell HIIT exercises burn calories and build muscles simultaneously. In this article, I’ve shared the best dumbbell workouts that you can do at home and the gym (when you want to do HIIT with weights).

I’ll also share some examples of weighted HIIT dumbbell workout routines in the end. So keep reading till the edge.

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defining HIIT

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) includes any workout; that alternates between intense burst activity and a short recovery period.

Exercises are usually performed at 75 to 95 percent of the maximum heart rate.

It includes primarily aerobic and anaerobic exercises. However, you can also do weighted HIIT workouts with dumbbells, but it would be a bit challenging.

Interval training improves heart health, VO2-max, metabolism, develops muscles, burns calories, and promotes weight loss.

You’ll get numerous benefits of HIIT based on research and studies.

Can You do HIIT workouts with weights?

Yes, you can do full-body High-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts using weights, especially dumbbells.

Adding dumbbells to your HIIT workout program burns more calories and helps you gain muscles.

However, weighted HIIT workouts are less intense than bodyweight exercises.

For instance, if you do jumping jacks at 80-90 percent of your MHR but with dumbbells, you won’t be able to perform at that intensity.

However, combining bodyweight and dumbbell HIIT exercises will be pretty efficient if you lose weight and build muscles together.

You can do the weighted HIIT exercises with dumbbells and kettlebells. Both pieces of equipment are super helpful.

However, in this article, I’ve shared how you can do the best weighted HIIT workouts with dumbbells with step by step guide. And I’ll also share kettlebell HIIT in some time.

Related: Top 10 Gym HIIT Workouts With Workout Plan

Why are dumbbells Good for weighted HIIT workouts?

Bodyweight exercises are fast and burn more calories, but they are not as good as dumbbell workouts for building lean mass.

While doing HIIT workouts with dumbbells does not only shed calories but also develops muscles over time.

Dumbbells also allow a better range of motion, giving you the option to perform various exercises at higher intensity, such as dumbbell burpees, squat jumps, dumbbell swings, and push press.

These are some of the reasons why dumbbells are suitable for high-intensity interval training.

A Quick List of Best Dumbbell HIIT Exercises For Home and Gym Workout

1	Dumbbell Jumping Jacks	2	Dumbbell Burpees
3	Dumbbell Squats	4	Dumbbell Jump Squats
5	Dumbbell crunches	6	Dumbbell Surrenders
7	Dumbbell Push Press	8	Dumbbell Man Makers
9	Dumbbell High Knees	10	Dumbbell Thruster
11	Dumbbell Swings	12	Dumbbell Step-up

Let’s see how to do each HIIT dumbbell workout with stepwise instructions.

1. Jumping Jacks

When your goal is to burn more calories, increase heart rate and blood flow quickly, the jumping jack can be a great exercise.

You can modify and make it an advanced exercise by doing it with a pair of dumbbells.

Moreover, you can also do it as a warm-up workout before weight training.

How to do:

Grab one dumbbell in each hand and stand straight with your feet hip-width apart.
Bend your elbows and hold the dumbbell at your shoulder level and keep chest up and back straight. That’s your starting position.
Slightly bend your knees and then jump into the air.
As you jump, spread your feet about slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. And at the same time, stretch your arms out and over your head. Now jump back to return in the starting position.
Do as many reps as possible in 30 seconds then rest 30 seconds.

2. Dumbbell Burpees

Some people are not even able to perform a bodyweight burpee. And doing it with a dumbbell makes it more challenging.

However, to get some real benefit, you should try challenging exercises like dumbbell burpee.

Burpee is a full-body fat-burning workout that helps you burn many calories and develop lean mass at the same time. It is a mix of many exercises, such as push-ups, squats, and jumps.

A study has shown that performing 3‐minute Burpee for sixty days increases excellent endurance and improves overall performance.¹

Here are the steps to do a burpee with dumbbells

Grab one dumbbell in each hand and stand straight with your feet hip-width apart, and keep your arms at your side. That’s your starting position.
Push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower yourself into a squat position.
Place the dumbbells on the floor directly and kick your legs behind and softly land your feet on the floor. Your body should be in a plank position.
Do one push-up and Now, jump your feet back just outside of your hands.
You can then extend your arms over your head and jump up into the air if you want to make it more intense.
Do as many reps possible in 30 seconds then rest 30 seconds.

3. Dumbbell Squats

Best Weighted HIIT Workouts With Dumbbells

How many bodyweight squats can you do in 30 seconds? Did you ever count? Is it 20, 30, or 40? Well, I do 40 squats in 30 seconds.

Some of you can do more than me. And the quicker you perform, the more calories you burn.

It would be good if you could do even 15 dumbbell squats in 30 seconds.

The dumbbell squats increase endurance, build muscles, and burn many calories in a bit of time.

Whether you’re a beginner or pro, you can include dumbbell squat in your weighted workout routine.

Here are the easy steps you can follow to do:

Stand upright with your feet hip-width apart with holding a dumbbell with your hands behind your head. Keep your back straight and core tight. That’s your starting position.
Now bend your knees and slightly push your hips back to squat down until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Then push through your heels to return in the standing position. That’s one rep!
Do as many squats as you can do in 30 seconds then rest for 30 seconds and then move to another exercise.

4. Dumbbell Jump Squats

The jump squat is a high-intense calorie-burning workout that develops explosive strength, power, and speed and improves overall performance.²

You can incorporate a dumbbell squat jump in your HIIT weighted workout plan to speed up your weight loss.

How to do the dumbbell squats jump:

Hold a pair of light dumbbells in your hands, stand straight with your feet hip-width apart and keep the dumbbells at your sides.
Brace your abdominal muscles, bend your knees to squats down and then jump explosively while keeping your arms straight at your sides. then slowly land on the feet to complete one rep.
Do as many jump-squats as possible in 30 seconds then rest for 30 seconds and then move to another exercise.

5. Dumbbell crunches

When you can do at least 20 crunches easily in 30 seconds, you’ll be able to perform dumbbell crunches too.

Adding a dumbbell to crunches makes it a more efficient workout and increases your core strength. It also helps you build six-pack abs over time.

How to do the dumbbell crunches:

Hold a light dumbbell in each hand, lie on your back, bend your knees and place your feet on the floor.
Bend your elbows and hold your arms across your chest. That’s the starting position.
Now lift your upper body toward your knees until your abs are engaged. Then slowly return to the starting position.
Do as many dumbbell crunches as possible in 30 seconds then rest for 30 seconds and then move to another exercise.

Also, check out: Top 14 Dumbbell Oblique Exercises

6. Dumbbell Surrenders

The dumbbell “surrenders” an unpopular but effective full-body dumbbell workout that works on the various muscles at once, such as hamstring, glutes, quads, and shoulders.

It’s an excellent workout to incorporate when you do the HIIIT workout with weights.

How to do the dumbbell surrenders

Hold a dumbbell in each hand with a neutral grip, stand on your knees, and keep your arms straight at your sides, palms facing the body. Keep your back straight and core tight. That’s the beginning position.
Take one step forward with your right foot and raise the dumbbell at shoulder height.
Bring the left feet forward to meet your right feet to stand straight and at the same time press the dumbbells upward until your arms are straight overhead. Then slowly lower the dumbbells at your sides. That’s one complete rep.
Do as many dumbbell-surrenders as possible in 30 seconds then rest for 30 seconds and then move to another exercise.

7. Dumbbell Push Press

The dumbbell push-press is an upper body strength workout that has many pros.

It works on several muscles at once, such as shoulders, quadriceps, lower back, traps, and triceps.

So when you do HIIT workouts with weights, you can include a dumbbell push press to increase muscular strength, improve athletic performance, enhance stability, and burns many calories.

Here are steps to do the dumbbell push-press

Stand upright with your feet hip-width apart with holding a pair of dumbbells in your hands, bend your elbows, and keep the dumbbells just over your shoulder, palms facing each other.
Bend your knees and hips, and do half squat, and then push your torso and chest upwards using the legs forcefully drive yourself toward the ceiling until your arms are completely straight.
Then slowly lower the dumbbell where they were. That’s one complete rep.
Do as many push-press as you can in 30 seconds then rest for 30 seconds and then move to another exercise.

8. Dumbbell Power Maker

“The Dumbbell Man-maker” is another unfamiliar but efficient workout that works on the entire body.

When you think of doing dumbbell HIIT workouts, the man maker should be in your top 10 list of weighted HIIT exercises.

Here’s how you can do it

Start with standing in the shoulder-width stance with holding a dumbbell in each hand with a neutral grip.
Now get into a push-up position with your arms extended and push your chest toward the floor to complete one push-up.
Now lift your right arm dumbbell out to the side until your arm reached shoulder height and then bring it down. Repeat this move with your opposite arm.
And to do the final step, bring both legs inwards with your feet wider than your hands; get in a squat position and then push the dumbbells up toward the sky until your arms are fully extended. That’s one rep!
Do as many reps as possible in 60 seconds then rest for 60 seconds.

9. Dumbbell High Knees

The high-knee is also the most effective calorie-burning high-intensity warm-up exercise.

It increases the heart rate and improves VO2 max, allowing your heart and lungs to take oxygen efficiently.

Doing high-knees improves your heart health, boosts metabolism, and helps you shed many calories that help you lose weight gradually.

Here’s how you can perform the dumbbell high-knees.

Stand straight in the hip-width stance with holding a dumbbell in each hand at stomach height, palms facing each. (Your position will be the same as you do bodyweight high-knees, but instead of empty hands, hold the dumbbells). You can also hold the dumbbells overhead.
Raise your right knee until it comes close to the dumbbell, and then land your feet on the ground.
As you land your right leg on the ground, repeat the same movement with your left leg. And continue for 30 seconds and then rest for 30 seconds.

10. Dumbbell Thruster

If you have dumbbells, you can do a lot of exercises. Combining dumbbell HIIT workouts and bodyweight HIIT workouts will give you the best result in a short period.

How to do the Dumbbell thruster

Stand upright with your feet hip-width apart with holding a pair of dumbbells in your hands, bend your elbows and keep the dumbbells across your shoulder, palms facing each other.
Keep your back straight, bend at your knees and hips and perform a squat.
Then stand up explosively by pushing through your heels and pressing the weights straight overhead until your arms are fully extended. Then lower the dumbbells into the starting position.
Do as many thrusters as possible in 30 seconds then rest for 30 seconds and then move to another exercise.

11. Single-arm Dumbbell Swings

If you want to boost explosiveness, power, and strength, you can do one-arm dumbbell swings.

The dumbbell swings strengthen hips, shoulder, and lower back, and you can add it to your weighted HIIT workouts.

Steps to do it:

Grab a dumbbell (weight depends on your strength) with an overhand grip with your right hand and stand in a shoulder-width stance. Keep your opposite arm straight at your side.
To start the movement, bend at your hips and knees and swing the dumbbell behind between your legs, and then thrust your hips forward and squeeze your glutes as you swing the dumbbell forward until your arm is straight at your chest level.
Reverse the movement and repeat for the desired number of times.
Once you complete, switch your arm to complete the work with your left arm.

Related: Dumbbell Squat Swing Variations

12. Dumbbell Step-up

The step-up strengthen and build lower body muscles, particularly glutes and hamstrings. It is also an excellent workout to incorporate into your dumbbell high-intensity exercise program.

Here are steps to do a dumbbell step-up.

Grab a dumbbell in each hand.
Stand upright in front of the box or bench with your arms are straight at your sides and palms are facing in. That’s your starting position.
Step your right foot on the bench followed by the left.
Reverse the movement to complete the first repetition.
Do as quickly as possible for the suggested time.

30-min HIIT Weight Training Workout Routine with Dumbbells

You can do the above weighted HIIT workouts in two intervals, such as 30 seconds of work with 30 seconds of rest. It is just an example; you can increase or decrease the interval time between sets.

Circuit-1	Circuit-2	Circuit-3
Jumping Jacks	Dumbbell High Knees	Jumping Jacks
Burpees	Dumbbell-Thruster	Squats
Squats	Dumbbell Man-Makers	Dumbbell Surrenders
crunches	crunches	Dumbbell Push Press
Dumbbell Push Press	Squats	Jump Squats
Three (3) Repetitions.	Three (3) Repetitions.	3 Repetitions.

Example of weighted HIIT dumbbell workout routine.

Weighted Dumbbell HIIT Workout PDF

Dumbbell HIIT Workout PDF Download

You can download the portable file of weighted interval exercises for future use.

Since you’re here, you may also like some of the related articles:

Full Body Dumbbell Workout For Weight Loss

The Best HIIT Exercises And Workout Plan

HIIT Vs Steady-State Cardio (All You Need To Know)

Why HIIT Rowing Machine Workout Is The Best

A Complete Guide To HIIT Boxing Workout Training

References

1
International Standards for the 3‐Minute Burpee Test: High‐ Intensity Motor Performance – Journal of Human Kinetics
2
Improved Maximum Strength, Vertical Jump, and Sprint Performance after 8 Weeks of Jump Squat Training with Individualized Loads – Journal of Sports Science and Medicine