Dumbbell training routines for beginners and advanced users

The dumbbell routine is one of the simplest exercises you can do anytime and anywhere. Both at the gym and in the comfort of your home. This is because you don't need a lot of equipment or expensive gym machines to be able to do this type of exercise. In fact, you only need a pair of dumbbells, willpower, and, of course, a lot of desire to enjoy of physical activity. 

For this reason, dumbbell routines are usually always included in any exercise program aimed at gaining strength and muscle tone. It is one of those routines that can be perfectly adapted to different levels the physical condition of each athlete. In other words, both beginner and advanced athletes use this type of dumbbell routines to improve their physique. 

Dumbbells allow you to perform all kinds of exercises to work the upper body, including arms, shoulders, abs, and back, but they can also be used for the lower body. In fact, a large number of these exercises are done using the weight of our own body. Therefore, besides the dumbbells, it is advisable to have a mat to be able to do exercises such as sit-ups and push-ups without hurting yourself. 

The importance of a good warm-up before training

When you are going to train doing a dumbbell routine at home or anywhere else, it is important to keep in mind that you must warm up. In fact, although most people tend to overlook it, is one of the most important parts which should be done before starting the training. 

Thanks to dedicating a few minutes of your time to warming up, you can greatly reduce the risk of injury during the routine. Additionally, it will help you gain flexibility and elasticity and the muscles and tendons will be in better condition to face the training. All this will help you improve your performance during the routine. 

Benefits of the dumbbell routine

Like any physical exercise, when done correctly, a dumbbell routine has great health benefits. In fact, this type of routine allows exercise the large muscle groups and improve stability and balance.

Likewise, it also pallow complementary muscles to increase in strength and size preventing muscle groups from developing independently as, for example, happens when using gym machines. Therefore, the use of dumbbells provides a more complete workout. 

Also, since there are dumbbells of different sizes, allows you to progressively and more ergonomically increase the weight. In fact, you will be able to perform the exercises in a much more comfortable way and adapted to your body, since machines do not perfectly fit your anatomy. 

This allows the muscles to work in a much more balanced and active way, enabling you to burn many calories and a large amount of fat, tboth during the workout and after it. 

Dumbbell routines for beginners and advanced

Next, we are going to show you some dumbbell routines that, as we mentioned earlier, can be practiced both beginners and advanced in this type of exercise. These routines focus on different areas of muscle groups. That is, on arms, shoulders, and back, but other secondary muscle groups are also involved, such as the abdominals or the pectorals. 

The intensity of the exercises, however, depends on different factors, including the weight of the dumbbells. In fact, you can find dumbbells of different weights. That is, can vary between half a kilo and 50 kilos. 

Therefore, if you are starting, you should not start with one that is too heavy, but rather with a dumbbell weighing between 2 kg and 5 kg is more than enough for the first weeks of training. 

So, using 2-kilogram dumbbells, you can do many repetitions and avoid injuries. Therefore, the usual for beginners is to design two or three different routines of between four and six exercises with 3 sets of 10 repetitions each. 

This way, each training day can work different muscle groups. Doing these routines three or four days a week is more than enough, since otherwise, you could end up injured and giving up on continuing the routine. 

Dumbbell chest routine

If you are looking for an effective dumbbell routine to gain muscle mass and improve your fitness, you can try a chest training routine. Specifically, these exercises focus on develop the chest area, working the upper, lower, inner, and outer pectoral muscles. 

This routine includes four exercises with three sets of ten repetitions each. Among them, we have the bench press, the incline bench press, the decline, and finally, while lying down, you should do dumbbell flyes. 

To do the dumbbell flyes, lie on a flat bench holding two dumbbells at shoulder height with palms facing inward. You just need to press the dumbbells upward until your arms are fully extended. From this starting position, with a slight bend in the arms, you should arch the weights out to the sides until you feel the stretch in your chest. Finally, you must squeeze the pectorals to return the weights to the starting position. For this type of exercise, you can try round dumbbells with rubber coating and professional use ergonomic chrome grip. On our website, you can choose dumbbells of higher or lower weight depending on your current abilities. 

If you see that, at first, you can't reach the necessary repetitions, you have several options. Among them, you can reduce the weight by choosing lighter dumbbells or reduce the number of repetitions per set. If you can't do 10, you can try if you can manage 8 or even 6. Don't get discouraged, because over time, you will be able to endure much better and lift much heavier dumbbells. 

Dumbbell Shoulder Routine

This dumbbell shoulder routine is perfect for those looking to broaden their shoulders thanks to the work of the front, lateral, and rear deltoid muscles. As secondary muscle groups, we also work the back and lower back muscles. 

Among the exercises usually performed in this type of dumbbell shoulder routine is the upright row, the shoulder press while seated, front flyes and the rear delt flyes. 

To perform the exercise of dumbbell upright row, you must hold a dumbbell with one hand in front of your body with an overhand grip on the weight itself. Then you should lift the elbow up and to the side, using the shoulder muscles to raise the weight to chin height. It is the best exercise to help you fix any muscle asymmetry that has developed over your journey. You can perform this movement using, for example, the hexagonal dumbbells found in our catalog.

Also, as we mentioned before, if you see that you can't reach the necessary repetitions, you can reduce the weight by choosing lighter dumbbells. You can also reduce the number of repetitions per set until you manage to increase your strength in this dumbbell shoulder routine. 

Dumbbell Arm Routine

Another of the most common exercises found in this type of training is the dumbbell arm routine. These exercises will help you gain strength in your arm muscles and visually thicken the musculature. In fact, thanks to this routine you can work the biceps, triceps, and the muscles found in the forearms. 

This type of exercises includes a dumbbell bicep routine thanks to the alternating bicep curls. Also, it includes three more exercises, such as wrist curls with palms facing up, triceps kickback with dumbbells and, again, wrist curls, but this time with palms facing down. Remember to adapt the exercise level to your current limits. 

An exercise you can add to this routine is the dumbbell uppercut. To perform this movement, you just need to stand, holding two dumbbells at shoulder height with an underhand grip. It is necessary to adopt a fighting stance and throw an uppercut with one arm, rotating on the foot of the same side of the body. That is, if you throw an uppercut with your right arm, you must rotate your right foot while doing it. Then, return to the starting position and repeat with the opposite side. To start this exercise, you can use light weights, such as neoprene dumbbells that you can find in our website catalog. 

Dumbbell back routine

Thanks to this back routine, you can work and strengthen the muscles of your upper back, the lower back, and, of course, the lats. Visually, you will notice a wider and stronger upper back with less fat in the lumbar area. 

Among the exercises you should do to complete this dumbbell back routine is the dumbbell row, deadlift with squats, the kneeling one-arm row – it should be an isometric exercise, so you must alternate with both arms –, and another deadlift keeping the legs straight. 

For example, to practice the incline row, you must keep your torso tight and your back straight while rowing the weights to your chest. You should lower and repeat the exercise, and in this way, you will work your lats, shoulders, forearms, biceps, spinal erectors, hamstrings, and glutes. You can opt for high-resistance rubber round dumbbells of quality, which guarantee the best training safety as well as durability. You can find them in our catalog.

To follow this dumbbell back routine, you should perform between 4 and 6 exercises. We suggest four, but as with other routines, you can add more if you want to work any other area of the body to keep burning calories and strengthening your muscles. 

Dumbbell abdominal routine

This exercise is perfect for strengthening your abdominal muscles and gradually eliminating the harmful fat that accumulates in that same area. In fact, you can work both your upper and lower abdominal muscles, as well as the obliques, which should not be forgotten either. 

Therefore, we suggest four exercises in which, if you are a beginner, you should do three sets of ten repetitions in this dumbbell abdominal routine. Among these exercises are weighted lying crunches, side bends. Likewise, we also recommend some regular crunches using dumbbells to propel yourself more easily and, finally, the side ones with twists to the left and right. 

We know that there are many other routines using dumbbells, such as those for glute and leg training, focused on the lower body. However, in this article, we have mainly focused on training the upper body muscle groups. 

If you are already an advanced athlete and you have been doing dumbbell routines for quite some time, just you must increase the weight and add sets with a higher number of repetitions. This way, you can gain muscle mass at your own pace. After all, no one knows your physical limits better than you do today.