Introduction

A dumbbell workout at the gym has multiple benefits for the way you exercise your muscles, as it has advantages such as variability in the exercises, making training more entertaining and less monotonous. In addition, you only need two dumbbells to train, so it’s also a cheaper tool than the rest (note these five dumbbell and barbell biceps exercises for bigger arms).

Advantages Of Training With Dumbbells

Dumbbells offer great adaptability compared to training with Olympic bars or on machines. But, at the same time, it lets us improve the famous “muscular imbalances” that are very typical in most people, allowing us to balance asymmetries, an aspect that is so important in body aesthetics, and play with weights to give more or less volume to our workouts.

Another attractive advantage is that it allows us to expand and improve our ROM (range of movement). For example, bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger was a huge fan of training with dumbbells, and one of his favourite chest exercises was the flat bench fly.

Dumbbell Only Workout

Designing a training program is not that complicated as long as we manage to consult with a specialist and evaluate our objectives to determine which is the best option for periodizing our sessions.

The first point to evaluate will be the objective, since a specific program for an elite athlete may not be the most suitable for a person who only wants to improve their physique or lose some weight.

Depending on the individual’s objective, the essential pillars of training will be determined, such as volume, intensity and frequency.

Exercise Selection

Training with dumbbells, we can perform many multi-joint exercises. These can be divided into activities for the upper body and others for the lower body.

The technique of the exercises plays a vital role when it comes to training, even above the previously mentioned pillars.

How Is The Training To Increase Muscle Mass?

Muscular hypertrophy is perhaps one of the most sought-after objectives of a training program. Still, very few usually determine what repetition ranges they are in or the amount of volume in the series necessary to improve our adaptations.

These are several basic guidelines that you should follow for a correct training that increases muscle mass and thus obtain the best results:

• The repetition ranges to gain muscle in hypertrophy are between 8 to 12 repetitions per series (although it varies since it will depend on the weight we are loading). However, we may reach our 12 reps and realize that the stimulus received was insufficient. So up to 20 repetitions are consider within the range.
• The ideal training volume is between 10 to 20 weekly series (if you are a beginner, I recommend starting with 6 to 10 weekly series).
• The frequency concerning the number of times each muscle group is train is ideal at two times per week.

Dumbbell Workout Routine

Here’s an example of what a 5-day dumbbell workout routine would look like, broken down by the lower body and upper body:

Routine 1

(Upper Train)

For the upper body, we will rock the pecs with the bench press, the back with the dumbbell row. The shoulders with the seated press, and the lateral raises for delts. In addition, the biceps with an alternate curl or the triceps with a French press.

Routine 2

(Lower Body)

For the legs and glutes, they play fundamental exercises like squats, deadlifts, the Bulgarian squat, hamstring curl, sumo squat, and calf raises.

Routine 3

(Core)

Three exercises for the core and your abs: first abdominal roll, then leg raises. Finally the traditional crunch with rotation.

Routine 4

(Upper Train)

Again, the upper body with the incline bench flyes, one arm row, alternate floor press, neck row. And alternate front raises. She was follow by a neutral grip curl, focus curl, bench triceps extension, and one arm.

Routine 5

(Lower Body)

The last exercise is side squats, unilateral deadlifts, jump squats, hip thrusts, and seated calf raises.

Considering all the variables previously exposed, we realize that the use of this implement is efficient since, with just a pair of dumbbells. You can execute all the movement patterns you need to put each muscle group in your body to work. Also, please take note of all the types of squats and how to do them.

Conclusion

The dumbbell is a type of workout equipment use in weight training. Specifically, dumbbells are weights used without exercise machines. Dumbbells are sometimes also called hand weights and free weights — those used “free” of such equipment.