A properly structured dumbbell routine is a powerful tool to help you reach your fitness, fat loss and physique building goals. Just make sure you don’t take the word “routine” too literally. There should be nothing routine about your dumbbell routine.

Getting in shape, improving fitness and changing the way we look (for the better) are all reasons people begin to exercise. And many people settle on a dumbbell routine to get the results they want. I can understand why. Dumbbells are an excellent tool for building muscle, burning fat and improving cardiorespiratory endurance.

However, I have one suggestion.

Don’t make your dumbbell routine TOO routine!

You see, your body adapts. In order to get your body to improve you place stress on the body. This is what a dumbbell routine is designed to do, stress your body and force it to adapt. But once the body makes the necessary adaptations, you must increase or change the stress for further improvement to occur.

Anyone who has worked out before knows you body starts to change quickly when you start a new workout program. But then the improvements slow down, and eventually you reach a plateau where it seems all improvements have stopped forever. This is a very dangerous time in your exercise journey, because the lack of improvements often leads to quitting all together.

So, when you start a dumbbell routine, or any workout routine for that matter, keep in mind that the effectiveness of the routine is short lived. In order to progress, you must plan ahead and know how you are going to change the workout routine to keep the improvements coming. Do it right, and your fitness, fat loss and physique building goals are just around the corner. Do it wrong, and you’ll be wasting your dumbbell training time and miss out on all the benefits.

Here are some ideas to keep your dumbbell routine fresh and effective:

1) Use different types of dumbbell exercises.

Not all dumbbell exercises are created equal. There are grinding “slow” lifts great for building strength. There are explosive “quick” lifts great for boosting power and burning fat. And there are combo dumbbell matrixes which are great for full body strength and conditioning, fat loss and mental toughness. Make sure your dumbbell routine uses all of these different dumbbell lifts and keep switching exercises every so often.

There are a lot more you can do with dumbbells than curls, flys and triceps extensions!

2) Use different types of dumbbell routines.

Dumbbells are one of the most versatile pieces of training equipment in existence. Don’t limit their use to the typical 3 sets of 10 reps, rest for 1 minute between sets routine. How about doing a super-set dumbbell routine? How about timed circuits? There are many different ways to structure your dumbbell routine.

Don’t just do the same routine over and over again and miss out on the creative dumbbell workouts you can do!

Sadly, I see men and women do dumbbell routines made up of the same old exercises and performed in the same way every time. While this may be fine when you first start, you’ll soon discover the results of your training soon dwindles.

And I don’t know about you, but I want to get RESULTS from my training. I want to improve the way my body looks, feels and performs by building muscle, burning fat and increasing heart and lung power. So, break out of the routine of your dumbbell routine and keep the results coming!

Coach Eddie Lomax, author of Extreme Dumbbell Fitness, invites you to explore the body transforming power of a proper dumbbell routine and learn the hidden secrets of dumbbell workouts.

Anyone who has tried to get rid of fat has been there. In the beginning, the nutrition and exercise plan seems to be working, but then all the fat loss comes to a screeching halt. We all have those problem areas (for me it is my stomach and love handles), where the fat just won’t seen to go away. Can dumbbell workout routines be the answer?

I say “YES”, dumbbell training is the secret weapon against stubborn fat!

Now, I can see some of you scratching your head right now. You’re saying, “I’ve done dumbbell workouts before and didn’t notice any significant fat loss.” And your right, just using dumbbells is not the key, HOW you use the dumbbells is the key!

Most dumbbell workout routines you see men and women do are “bodybuilding” type workouts. They perform dumbbell exercise with the intention of “isolating” small muscles to make them grow. And since the muscle groups they are targeting are small, they use light weights. And lifting light weight dumbbells using small muscle groups does not burn fat!

But what if you used heavier dumbbells in a full body workout routine that simultaneously builds a strong, muscular body, boosts heart and lung power AND burns a lot of calories both during and after the workout? Do you think those stubborn fat cells would lose that battle? You bet they would!

Here are three examples of dumbbell routines that build a strong, well-conditioned body AND blast off stubborn fat:

Grinding Dumbbell Super Sets

Grinding dumbbell exercises include presses, rows, squats and deadlifts. By themselves, these dumbbell lifts are excellent for building muscle. And the more muscle you have, the more calories your body uses while at rest to maintain the muscle. And just in case you missed it, using more calories while at rest = LESS FAT!

Now, if that wasn’t good enough, when you perform a dumbbell workout using grinding exercises as super sets, you boost the fat burning power. For those of you who don’t know, a super set is when you perform a set of one exercise, and then immediately (or after a short rest), perform a set of a different exercise. This allows you to move through the dumbbell routines faster, involving the cardiorespiratory systems and burning more fat!

Explosive Dumbbell Timed Circuits

Explosive dumbbell exercises include swings, snatches and jerks. By themselves, these dumbbell exercises require a lot of energy due to their explosive nature. These exercises require speed to move the dumbbells as fast as possible, which means repeated bursts of energy. And just in case you missed it, using more energy = LESS FAT!

But perform dumbbell workout routines where you do these exercises as timed circuits, and their fat burning power increases exponentially. Why? Because doing resistance exercise for a longer time period means you expend more energy for longer periods of time during the workout. So you don’t only build incredible explosive power, extraordinary heart and lung power, but you burn more fat!

Dumbbell Combo Matrixes

This is my secret weapon for getting rid of that stubborn fat (and building an all-purpose body where strength and conditioning go hand and hand!). A dumbbell combo matrix is when you combine two or more dumbbell exercises together into one exercise repetition. This means each repetition takes longer to perform, uses more muscle groups and requires a great deal of energy. Translation: bye, bye fat!

Ok, you’ll probably need an example for this one.

How about: Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift + Dumbbell Power Clean + Dumbbell Press. This equals one repetition. So let’s say you do 5 repetitions. You are really doing 15 repetitions per set (5 deadlifts, 5 cleans and 5 presses). This takes a lot of time to perform, uses a wide range of muscles and therefore uses up a lot of energy. And again, more energy used = more fat loss.

Just take a second and compare these dumbbell workout routines to the typical Use Light Weight, Target Small Muscles, Take Long Rest Period approach of other dumbbell workout routines. Do you see a difference? I do, and it is those differences that make these dumbbell workouts so effective at blasting off stubborn fat. So, if you’re having trouble getting rid of that last 10 pounds of ugly fat, these dumbbell routines may be the answer!

Coach Eddie Lomax, author of Extreme Dumbbell Fitness, invites you to learn the 5 hidden secrets of dumbbell workout routines which lead to more muscle, stronger muscle, less fat and better conditioning.