4 Week Dumbbell Summer Body Challenge
If you’re like most people, you want to look your best for the summer. But, let’s face it, getting in shape can be tough. That’s why we’ve put together the 4 Week Dumbbell Summer Body Challenge.
This challenge is designed to help you gain muscle and lose weight, so you can feel confident and look great on the beach or anywhere else. The challenge includes a workout plan and diet guidelines that will be key to achieving your goal.
Plus, we’ve prepared some tips and tricks to help you stay on track.
How Does It Work?
The program consists of two strength circuits and one modified Tabata circuit per week.
The strength workouts will facilitate muscle growth and some fat burning, while the Tabata will supercharge the fat burning!
You will need dumbbells to make the workouts effective, but you could potentially use other forms of resistance, although that will require some creativity on your part.
Diet Guide
Even though exercising is important for your summer body, eating five Big Macs daily won’t help you get there.
With proper diet habits being detrimental to your success, here are a few tips to keep in mind when tidying up your diet for the summer:
- Track your calories!
We generally suck at accurately estimating how many calories consume; that’s why we must track them. Getting a kitchen scale is a must.
You don’t need to be overly obsessed with every atom of food you consume. Just make sure you’re consistent with your measurements and tracking.
- If you want to lose fat, be in a slight caloric deficit.
Get your daily caloric needs by visiting any online calorie calculator and subtract 500 calories from that. This should be enough to ensure sustainable weight loss.
If you want to lose a lot of fat fast, you can go on a bigger deficit, but chances are you’ll get back to your starting weight as soon as you finish the diet.
- If you want to gain muscle/weight, then be in a slight caloric surplus.
Again, calculate your daily caloric needs, then add 10 to 20 percent of that to your diet in order to bulk up.
A 20% surplus will likely result in more fat gain than the 10% option, but you’ll also gain more muscle.
- Consume 1.6-2.0 grams of protein per kg of bodyweight.
Getting enough protein is vital in building muscle and losing fat.
You can experiment with the carb-to-fat ratio with your remaining calories. Some people feel better on a low-carb diet, while some people strive on a low-fat one.
Workout Guide
We have 3 training days per week, with the first and the last days being the strength circuit.
You will repeat the strength circuit on the first and the last day of the week and do the Tabata on the second day.
Week 1:
Starting a bit light, we only have 2 circuits/sets during the strength workouts.
Do 10 reps of the first exercise, pause for a bit to catch your breath, then go on to the next one.
After finishing the first circuit/set, you’ll have a 2-minute rest interval.
The Tabata will consist of 3 sets where you’ll work for 20 seconds and rest for 10.
After a set, you have 2 minutes to rest.
| WEEK 1 | ||||
| Strength Circuit | ||||
| Monday | ||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| A1 | Dumbbell Goblet Squat | 2 | 10 | / |
| A2 | Overhead Press | 2 | 10 | / |
| A3 | Dumbbell Deadlift | 2 | 10 | / |
| A4 | Bent Over Row | 2 | 10 | / |
| A5 | Biceps Curl | 2 | 10 | / |
| A6 | Laying Skullcrushers | 2 | 10 | 2 min |
| Tabata | ||||
| Wednesday | ||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Seconds | Rest |
| A1 | Dumbbell Thruster | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A2 | Flutter Kicks | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A3 | Burpees | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A4 | Side Plank Right Arm | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A5 | Side Plank Left Arm | 3 | 20 | 2 min |
| Strength Circuit | ||||
| Friday | ||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| A1 | Dumbbell Goblet Squat | 2 | 10 | / |
| A2 | Overhead Press | 2 | 10 | / |
| A3 | Dumbbell Deadlift | 2 | 10 | / |
| A4 | Bent Over Row | 2 | 10 | / |
| A5 | Biceps Curl | 2 | 10 | / |
| A6 | Laying Skullcrushers | 2 | 10 | 2 min |
Week 2:
Intensifying everything a bit, we now have 3 circuits/sets during the strength workouts.
Do 10 reps of the first exercise, pause to catch your breath, then go on to the next one.
After finishing a circuit/set, you’ll have a 2-minute rest interval before starting the next one.
The Tabata will consist of 3 sets where you’ll work for 20 seconds and rest for 10.
After a set, you have 2 minutes to rest.
| WEEK 2 | ||||
| Strength Circuit | ||||
| Monday | ||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| A1 | Dumbbell Goblet Squat | 3 | 10 | / |
| A2 | Floor Press | 3 | 10 | / |
| A3 | Dumbbell Deadlift | 3 | 10 | / |
| A4 | Bent Over Row | 3 | 10 | / |
| A5 | Hip Thrust | 3 | 10 | / |
| A6 | Biceps Curl | 3 | 10 | 2 min |
| Tabata | ||||
| Wednesday | ||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Seconds | Rest |
| A1 | Db Thruster | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A2 | Flutter Kicks | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A3 | Burpees | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A4 | Plank | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A5 | Plank Row | 3 | 20 | 2 min |
| Strength Circuit | ||||
| Friday | ||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| A1 | Dumbbell Goblet Squat | 3 | 10 | / |
| A2 | Floor Press | 3 | 10 | / |
| A3 | Dumbbell Deadlift | 3 | 10 | / |
| A4 | Bent Over Row | 3 | 10 | / |
| A5 | Hip Thrust | 3 | 10 | / |
| A6 | Biceps Curl | 3 | 10 | 2 min |
Week 3:
Things are getting even harder! We are starting to incorporate unilateral exercises now.
Do 10 reps of the first exercise, or 10 per side if it’s a unilateral exercise, pause for a bit to catch your breath, then go on to the next one.
After finishing a circuit/set, you’ll have a 2-minute rest interval before starting the next one.
The Tabata will consist of 3 sets where you’ll work for 20 seconds and rest for 10.
After a set, you have 2 minutes to rest.
| WEEK 3 | ||||
| Strength Circuit | ||||
| Monday | ||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| A1 | Reverse Lunge | 3 | 10/10 | / |
| A2 | Overhead Press | 3 | 10 | / |
| A3 | Hip Thrust | 3 | 10 | / |
| A4 | Reverse Fly | 3 | 10 | / |
| A5 | Overhead Triceps | 3 | 10 | / |
| A6 | Leg Raises | 3 | 10 | 2 min |
| Tabata | ||||
| Wednesday | ||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Seconds | Rest |
| A1 | Dumbbell Thruster | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A2 | Flutter Kicks | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A3 | Russian Twist | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A4 | Mountain Climbers | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A5 | Jumps | 3 | 20 | 2 min |
| Strength Circuit | ||||
| Friday | ||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| A1 | Reverse Lunge | 3 | 10 | / |
| A2 | Overhead Press | 3 | 10 | / |
| A3 | Hip Thrust | 3 | 10 | / |
| A4 | Reverse Fly | 3 | 10 | / |
| A5 | Overhead Triceps | 3 | 10 | / |
| A6 | Leg Raises | 3 | 10 | 2 min |
Week 4:
Your final week! Congrats on sticking with the challenge so far.
This week will be the one hardest yet, with most of the exercises during the strength circuits being unilateral.
Do 10 reps of the first exercise, or 10 per side if it’s a unilateral exercise, pause for a bit to catch your breath, then go on to the next one.
After finishing a circuit/set, you’ll have a 2-minute rest interval before starting the next one.
The Tabata will consist of 3 sets where you’ll work for 20 seconds and rest for 10.
After a set, you have 2 minutes to rest.
| WEEK 4 | ||||
| Strength Circuit | ||||
| Monday | ||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| A1 | One and A Half Goblet Squat | 3 | 10 | / |
| A2 | Alternate Overhead Press | 3 | 10 | / |
| A3 | Single Leg Hip Thrust | 3 | 10 | / |
| A4 | Plank Row | 3 | 10 | / |
| A5 | Biceps Curl | 3 | 10 | / |
| A6 | Bicycle Crunch | 3 | 10 | 2 min |
| Tabata | ||||
| Wednesday | ||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Seconds | Rest |
| A1 | In and Out Hop Squat | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A2 | Flutter Kicks | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A3 | Burpees | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A4 | Mountain Climbers | 3 | 20 | 10 |
| A5 | Jumping Jacks | 3 | 20 | 2 min |
| Strength Circuit | ||||
| Friday | ||||
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| A1 | One and A Half Goblet Squat | 3 | 10 | / |
| A2 | Alternate Overhead Press | 3 | 10/10 | / |
| A3 | Single Leg Hip Thrust | 3 | 10/10 | / |
| A4 | Plank Row | 3 | 10/10 | / |
| A5 | Biceps Curl | 3 | 10 | / |
| A6 | Bicycle Crunch | 3 | 10/10 | 2 min |