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Short on time? Arnie’s 20-minute full-body workout hits hard and fast

If all you have is 20 minutes, you can still torch every muscle in your body with this killer dumbbell workout

By Steph Green Published July 15, 2025 1:34 PM

Man doing bicep curl in gym - one arm unilateral with a dumbbell — Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels

Even if you don’t have much time in your busy schedule, recent research reveals that just five minutes of daily bodyweight exercises can enhance both fitness and mental health, even when you spend hours sitting during the day. In this study, participants performed progressive variations of the humble press-up, calf raises, sit-ups, and squats. In another study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers concluded that 11 minutes of daily exercise or 75 minutes a week significantly lowered the risk of early mortality and helped prevent stroke, heart disease, and some cancers compared to being sedentary.

What can 20 minutes of exercise do for your health?

The Department of Health and Human Services states that just 21 minutes a day of moderate physical activity can lower the risk of heart disease, depression, dementia, and several cancers, including kidney, colon, lung, stomach, and breast cancer. There are numerous reasons to get your muscles moving, beyond improving your body composition and building muscle. If anyone knows a thing or two about building muscle, it’s bodybuilding champion Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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Arnie shared a new 20-minute full-body workout in his Pump Club newsletter, and you’d be surprised by what you can accomplish when you work out like Arnie for just 20 minutes. Some research suggests that two full-body workouts per week can be just as effective as four split workouts per week (upper body, lower body, push, and pull days). Let’s check out the workout.

Arnie’s full-body 20-minute dumbbell workout

This circuit has seven exercises, and all you need is a pair of dumbbells. If you have dumbbells at home, you can power through this killer full-body workout in the comfort and privacy of your home, and it should take about 20 minutes.

Perform each of the seven exercises with a 30-60 second rest between each exercise. After the last move, rest for two or three minutes before starting over again. The goal is to complete three rounds of the following seven moves:

Dumbbell chest press (15 reps)
Dumbbell row (10 reps)
The goblet squat (8 to 12 reps)
Dumbbell reverse lunges (6 to 12 reps)
Dumbbell curl (8 to 12 reps)
Dumbbell lying tricep extension (6 to 10 reps)
Side plank (30 seconds on each side)

Steph Green is a content writer specializing in healthcare, wellness, and nutrition. With over ten years of experience, she…

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