Training to strengthen your core and build muscles throughout your body is a two-in-one workout. As long as you have dumbbells, it's easy to give it a try. You want to choose dumbbells that you can lift with confidence for a variety of exercises. Or, if you have the best adjustable dumbbells at home, you can set the weight lighter and add more weight at any time depending on the amount of pump you want. If you frequently incorporate free weights into your core training, it's likely you know a lot of the best dumbbell abdominal exercises. But what makes this workout, created by fitness trainer Brittany Williams, a little different is that it activates your core muscles while performing compound exercises. In other words, you'll be working multiple muscle groups at the same time, leading to improved overall strength and functional fitness.

In this workout, you will perform six dumbbell exercises. The goal is to complete 10 reps of each, or 8 reps per side for movements that target one side of the body at a time. Williams recommends repeating this routine at least three times, with 60 to 90 seconds of rest between rounds.

However, the number of reps and rounds can be adjusted to your fitness level. Just make sure that you have the correct form for each rep. The full workout is included below, and you can gather form tips through Williams' demonstrations.

By incorporating compound movements that target multiple muscle groups simultaneously, this workout loads the body on a variety of motor surfaces, leading to more thorough strength gains.

The workout features an emphasis on functional movement patterns that mimic real-world activities, which is effective in building muscle strength and improving overall fitness and daily functionality. Each exercise in the routine requires coordination, balance, and core stability and can work the entire body.

Williams' routines are particularly effective in building a stronger core because they focus on strengthening the core muscles throughout each exercise. While many people associate core strength solely with building visible abdominal muscles, it is essential to recognize that core strength is more than just aesthetics.

Core muscles include not only the rectus abdominis ("six pack" muscles), but also the obliques, transversus abdominis, and deeper muscles that stabilize the spine and pelvis. Training with dumbbells may seem too difficult for you right now. So here are three ways to train your abdominal muscles without dumbbells.

It is also worth considering increasing the difficulty of your workout if you want to take your strength and muscles to the next level. Progressively increasing the intensity, duration, and frequency of a workout forces the body to adapt to new stressors, resulting in physiological changes that lead to improved performance and fitness. This is known as progressive overload.