In the morning, you rush to your working place because you are late. At the end of a long day you are tired- The thought of hitting the gym just never strikes your mind.No worries though, hitting the gym is not always necessary, as all you need, in order to complete a nice, quick, yet effective workout is a pair of dumbbells, some free room at home and not more than 50 minutes.
If you know how to do this home workout, it can be effective enough for the body to progress, no matter what your goal is.
For Whom Is This Workout Appropriate For?
This workout is designed for beginner trainees for both sexes. It targets all muscle groups and is done 3 to 4 times a week.Note- This workout will be mostly effective during the first and second month, after that, you will need to switch to a different type of workout, which will cause different stress and therefore, make you progress.
If you are more advanced, the workout will be significantly easier for you, but you can still make use of it if you use appropriate weights, that can give you a challenge.
This workout is perfect to maintain your body shape, if, for some reason you are out of the gym.
If you are among the ‘lucky ones’ who actually find time to hit the gym- Make sure to include dumbbell exercises like the ones mentioned here.
Including different exercises (Dumbbells, barbells, cables, etc.) will allow you to complete and diversify your workout regimen.
Dumbbell workouts have one more advantage- You can correct any disproportions in your body.
So, for example, if your right arm is bigger than your left arm, you can individually engage each arm on the separate arm exercises.
What Will You Need For The Workout?
A pair of dumbbells and a regular bench (if you don’t have a bench keep reading, there are alternatives).How heavy should the dumbbells be?
There is no certain recommended weight to use.
Make sure to have a couple of pairs of dumbbells, different in weights, as you will need bigger weights for some exercises and lower weights for others.
Pick a weight that will give you a challenge, but won’t be too heavy- You must be able to correctly execute the exercise within the given number of sets and repetitions
The Warm Up
Get your musculature and joints moving before you start this workout. Even home-suited workouts like this hide risks of injury, if you start off on a cold musculature.
Easy warm up
- 5 minutes of light rope jumping
- 10-15 circular movement per body part, in every direction, to warm up every joint: Shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, ankles.
The point here is to warm up your body and prepare for the workout- Don’t go over the top with the warm up, as you may get exhausted, which is not recommended.
The Workout
| Exercise | Number of sets | Number of reps | Muscle group involved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dumbbell squat | 4 | 15 | Quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes |
| Dumbbell Romanian deadlift | 3 | 10 | Hamstrings, glutes |
| Dumbbell lunges | 3 | 12 | Quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes |
| Dumbbell rows | 4 | 10 | Back musculature, forearms, biceps |
| Flat dumbbell bench press | 3 | 10 | Chest musculature, shoulders |
| Flat dumbbell flys | 3 | 12 | Chest musculature |
| Dumbbell shoulder press | 3 | 10-12 | Shoulders |
| Dumbbell overhead tricep extension | 4 | 12-15 (light weight) | Triceps musculature |
| Dumbbell bicep curl | 3 | 12 | Biceps, forearms |
Important note:
This is not a circuit workout, in which you jump from exercise to exercise without rest. You have to complete all sets of each exercise before moving on to the next one.
If this workout is easy for you, add more weights, and if it gets hard, simply reduce the weights.
Rest time between sets and exercises is about 30 to 60 seconds.
The Exercises
Dumbbell Bench Squat
This exercise is a variation of the king of all exercises, namely- The squat.
Execution
- Grab a pair of dumbbells
- Stand by the side of a bench
- Keep the dumbbells by your side
- Step with your feet at shoulder width and toes slightly pointing outward
- Squat down until your butt touches the bench
- Move up without locking out your knees
Dumbbell Romanian Dead-Lift
This exercise primarily targets the hamstrings and glutes, while secondarily involving the lower back musculature.
Execution
- Grab the dumbbells and keep them in front of your body
- Keep feet closer to one another, compared to the squat
- Keep your toes pointing forward
- Keep your knees slightly bent
- Keep your back straight
- Let your body down until it’s parallel to the ground
- Feel the stretch in your hamstrings and stretch while going down
- Go up with a moderate pace, contracting the glutes
Dumbbell lunge
Another great free-weight exercise that engages the quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes.
Execution
- Grab the dumbbells and keep them to your side
- Keep your body straight
- Take a big step forward and let your other knee go down (Do NOT hit the ground with that knee!)
- Push yourself up, driving the tension through the heel
- Move on to the next rep on the respective leg
Dumbbell Row
This is one of the most basic dumbbell exercises to target the back musculature
Execution
- Grab the dumbbells and stand up straight with feet at shoulder width
- Keep knees slightly bent
- Bend over and let the dumbbells hang
- Keep your back straight
- Pull the dumbbells up so that the elbows are close to the body
- At the top of the movement pull your shoulder blades together to engage the back musculature furthermore
- Let the dumbbells down to stretch out the back
- Proceed to the next repetition
Flat Dumbbell Bench Press
One of the greatest basic exercises to develop a solid chest. Unlike the barbell bench press, dumbbells allow you to have a bigger range of motion and really stretch out the chest musculature
Execution
- Grab a pair of dumbbells and lay down on the bench
- Push the dumbbells up, so that they are slightly apart, without having the elbows locked out. This is your starting position
- Let the dumbbells go down, further from one another, until they reach lower chest level
- Push the dumbbells up explosively, without locking out the elbows and/or touching the dumbbells
Dumbbell Flys
This is another great chest exercise that will help you develop portions of the chest, which can not be targeted as well with other exercises.
Execution
- Grab a pair of dumbbells and lay down
- Push the dumbbells up so that they are close to one another, but with your palms facing each other
- Slightly bend your elbow
- Let the dumbbells go down, opening up your arms and rib cage to stretch out the chest muscles
- Close the arms up, contracting your chest muscles
Dumbbell Standing Shoulder Press
Execution
- Pick a pair of dumbbells and stand up straight with your feet at shoulder width
- Get the dumbbells up, with your arms being at a 90-degree angle
- Push the dumbbells up, without touching them
- Return to the initial 90-degree angle
Dumbbell Lying Triceps Extension
This is a variation of the exercise called “skull crusher”, which is one of the greatest triceps builders.
Execution
- Grab a pair of dumbbells and lay down on the bench
- Raise the dumbbells up, with your palms pointing to one another
- Let the dumbbells go down to your forehead or behind your head
- Push them up, contracting your triceps
Alternate Dumbbell Curl
Execution
- Choose an appropriate pair of dumbbells
- Stand up straight and keep the dumbbells by your side
- Curl the dumbbell up, supinating your wrist
- Hold the contraction for a split second
- Let the dumbbell all the way down to stretch out the bicep
- Proceed to the opposite arm
Cardio
If you have any energy left after this workout, you can wrap up the workout with a 15-20 minutes cardio session after the strength workout.
This cardio can include light jogging, rope jumping or even sprints. As a whole, this basic dumbbell workout will kick-start you if you are a beginner and can help maintain the physical shape of more advanced athletes.
Thanks to workouts like this one, you don’t always need to hit up the flashy gym with full of fancy equipment.
Sometimes, all you need is a pair of dumbbells, along with a proper mindset and will to train!
