The Best Workouts With Dumbbells At Home

When we’re training at home, sometimes the only equipment we have is a pair of dumbbells. That’s why I’m going to show you the best workouts using just these dumbbells. Many don’t realize that dumbbells aren’t solely for the upper body, you can use them to train almost every muscle in your body. Stick through until the end to find out how you can do so.

Lunges

How?

1. Stand up with your feet as wide as your hips while holding the dumbbells.
2. Take a big step forward and bend your knees (90-degree angle) and a straight back.
3. Repeat.

Why?

Lunges can be done with or without dumbbells because they are a great way to strengthen your lower body. The execution is very simple but easy to get wrong. Doing this wrong can lead to injury or demotivation because you did not gain much muscle. This exercise can also be very effective without dumbbells, but dumbbells add weight which enhances strength buildup.

Some common mistakes are:

• rounding the shoulders
• leaning forward
• not stepping far enough for a 90-degree angle
• keeping one of the knees straight while bending the other

Push-up rows

How?

1. Get in a push-up position while holding the dumbbells.
2. Do a push-up.
3. Pull one of the dumbbells to your chest.
4. Repeat the process but with the other dumbbell.

Why?

Push-up rows are a great way to build strength in your arms and upper back. This workout makes you push and pull, which is way more effective than sticking to just one motion. Not only that, but these moves strengthen your antagonist muscles as well. This muscle group is a lot weaker than the agonist muscles and easier to get injuries from. That’s why it is important to strengthen it as well to avoid these kinds of injuries. This exercise will work your upper back muscles, arms, and chest.

Some common mistakes are:

• locking elbows
• not doing a full push-up (chest close to the ground and elbows make a 90-degree angle)
• feet too close together
• elbows pointing out

Russian twist

How?

1. Sit down and keep your feet together while holding the dumbbell.
2. Move your dumbbell to a side past your knee while twisting your body.
3. Repeat for the opposite side.

If you want to make this exercise more challenging, spread the legs more (but make sure your feet stay together). This way you’d have to twist your body more making it even more intense.

Why?

The Russian twist exercise is one of the best exercises for abs as it is very intense when you are holding a dumbbell. By doing this a few times you will start to feel a burning sensation in your abs.

Some common mistakes are:

• moving too quickly
• moving lower back (should only support, exercise is for abs, not the lower back)
• moving knees

Curl to press

How?

1. Stand up with your feet as wide as your shoulders while holding the dumbbells, palms facing each other (for triceps) or palms facing towards you (for biceps).
2. Curl the dumbbells to shoulder height.
3. Press the dumbbells overhead until your arms are fully extended.
4. Lower the dumbbells down to your shoulders again.
5. Curl the dumbbells back to the start position.
6. Repeat.

Start with lower weights and work your way up by doing 8-12 reps per set, depending on the weights. You can either target your triceps or biceps, but I recommend switching between both.

Some common mistakes are:

• Relying on momentum (fewer gains)
• Moving elbows
• Doing reps too quickly

Why?

This exercise is just as it sounds like. It’s a combination of two different exercises blended together. The first part will train your biceps/triceps, the second part will train your shoulders. It’s a great exercise to do and it boosts your work efficiency greatly.

Dumbbell thrusters

How?

1. Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart and hold the dumbbells above your shoulders.
2. Squat while keeping the position.
3. Go back up to the original position.
4. Extend your arms over your head.
5. Repeat.

Why?

Dumbbell thrusters are a combination of two exercises. It combines squats and shoulder presses into a single exercise, boosting the efficiency of muscle buildup because you can target two different muscle groups at the same time. This exercise will train your lower body and shoulders at the same time, which is a good reason to include it in any full-body workout.

Some common mistakes are:

• not using momentum as a smooth transition from squat to press
• not keeping elbows as high as possible

Dumbbell swings

Dumbbell swings target a lot of muscle groups including the chest, quadriceps, hamstrings, shoulder, glutes, and abdomen. Stand up with your feet at shoulder width. Then, hold your dumbbell with both hands, bend your knees, and push your hips back. Swing the weight between your legs, and when it is back, use your glutes and hips to swing it back up, much like a squat, however, it is more of a hip hinge than a squat.

Some common mistakes are:

• rounding the back
• using arms too much
• not keeping heels on the ground
• swinging too high

Lateral raises

Lateral raises are hands down one of the best ways to strengthen your shoulder muscles, as these muscles are primarily targeted during the exercise. It’s very simple to do and does not require a lot of place, which is the reason you should include it into your workout with dumbbells at home. Firstly, hold a dumbbell in each hand while keeping them at hip height. Then, keep the arms extended while moving them towards shoulder height, and back.

Some common mistakes are:

• arms and body too straight
• doing reps too quickly
• too much weight