Dumbbell-Only Mass & Power Training

 

     This morning, I received a question from a reader asking if it’s possible to—not just get in shape or get a “good” workout—but to actually build a lot of strength, power, and mass using only dumbbells.  I responded that yes it is possible to, in fact, build a tremendous amount of overall muscle mass and strength using nothing but dumbbells.  Believe it or not, sometimes, as I explained to him, dumbbells might actually be better than barbells—and certainly, of course, better than machines—for those very goals.  Anyway, since about half of the material that I write these days—at least here on the blog—is precipitated by a reader’s question, I thought that this would make a good article, even though I have written material similar to this one before.  But if it’s true, then it bears repeating, especially in the world of strength and hypertrophy-training, where there seems to be just about as much misinformation as ever in the bodybuilding/lifting world.

     I’m going to give you a few program ideas, but first let’s cover the basics of mass and power training with dumbbells.  These ideas are much the same whether you are training with barbells, dumbbells, or even kettlebells, because the principles of strength, power, and hypertrophy don’t change no matter the “tools” being utilized.  These are the “keys,” if you will, to making your mass and power program work.

Use Basic, Compound Exercises

     This should be utilized no matter what your goals are, even if you’re just trying to get lean or “look good naked,” male or female, young or old, whether it’s barbells, bands, or dumbbells; doesn’t matter; everyone should be utilizing the basics.

     Even better, make sure you utilize the “Big 4” by doing the following each and every week, come hell or high water, whether it’s a full-body program or a multi-bodypart split:

1. Squat heavy things.

2. Press heavy things over your head.

3. Pick heavy things off the ground.

4. Drag or carry heavy things.

     For dumbbells, this means the following: goblet squats, squats with dumbbells hanging at your side, overhead squats (one-arm or two-arm), lunges, dumbbell deadlifts performed “conventional” with dumbbells at your side, sumo deadlifts with both dumbbells between your legs, one-arm dumbbell deadlifts (sumo or conventional), cleans both one-arm and two-arm, snatches both one arm-and two-arm, high pulls both one-arm and two-arm, overhead presses both one-arm and two-arm, bench presses, incline presses, decline presses, curls both seated and standing, and a variety of carries (such as farmer walks), one-arm or two.  Of course, if you’re advanced, you could also add in some “isolation” exercises such as flyes, concentration curls, lateral raises, and whatnot, but none of those will be included in the programs here as these will focus on the “basics”—which are the only things you need when trying get massive and strong.

Use a Limited Number of Exercises

     Obviously with the above lifts, you have quite a few exercises to choose from, but you should still do a limited amount of movements at each training session.  Overall (there are exceptions, such as my recent “High-Frequency Hypertrophy” program), I favor using between 2 to 5 exercises per workout.  This is a good general rule whether you are utilizing a bodypart split or a full-body program.

     The number of sets per movement will depend on your training frequency.  But we’ll look at this more in the programs that follow.

Focus on Strength

     When training for a combination of strength and hypertrophy, you should focus on getting stronger on all of your exercises in roughly the 3 to 8-rep range.  There are some exceptions, such as utilizing a 20-rep “breathing squat” routine, or using a high-set singles program.  But for the most part, if you let that rep range be your guide, you will gain an appreciable amount of functional mass.

     Probably the reason that I received the question about dumbbell training this morning in the first place is because too many times, the average lifter thinks of dumbbell-only training as something reserved for the “pumpers” and “toners.”  But dumbbell training actually has advantages over barbell training when it comes to heavy, relatively low-rep training.  For one, it’s often harder, due to the fact that you have to use all of your stabilizer muscles when training with dumbbells, forcing new muscle fibers to be recruited in ways that they haven’t been before if you’ve primarily relied on barbells for all of your “max effort” lifts.  It also forces both sides of your body to work equally hard, fixing many muscle imbalances as long as it’s utilized over the long haul.

The Programs

     Here are some programs that I recommend depending on how frequently you want to train.  If you’re new to training, and don’t know where to start, then I’d advise doing them in the order they’re written.  We’ll start with a full-body program and move toward a multi-bodypart split.

Two-Days-a-Week, Strong All-Around Program

     This program is good for anyone just starting out, anyone who hasn’t developed a good “base” of strength and power, or anyone that just needs to get “back to the basics.”  Train 2-days-per-week on, say, Monday and Thursday, Sunday and Wednesday, or anything similar.  All sets listed are “work” sets, so make sure you do one, two, or three warm-up sets depending on your strength level.  Obviously, the stronger you are, the more warm-ups are needed.

Workout 1

Two-dumbbell deadlifts: 3x5-7 reps (Use a weight where about 8 reps would be really tough.  Stop a rep or two shy of muscular failure.)

Goblet squats: 3x5-7

One-arm overhead presses: 3x5-7 (each arm)

Alternate dumbbell curls: 3x5-7 (each arm)

Weighted sit-ups holding a dumbbell on your chest: 2x8-10

Workout 2

Two-dumbbell squats (holding weights at your side): 3x5-7

One-arm sumo deadlifts: 3x5-7

Dumbbell benches (flat or incline): 3x5-7

Two-dumbbell power cleans: 3x3-5 (Use lower reps on this movement.  This will help to keep your form from breaking down after the 5th rep.  This is, generally, the philosophy that should be used on any “quick lifts.”)

Farmer walks: 2 sets for time or distance

4-Days-a-Week, 2-Way Split Program

     For this one, you will split your sessions into an upper body “push and arms” workout and a “legs and back” routine.  If you like to have your weekends off, then train Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  If you prefer to train on the weekends, then a good split would be Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  As with the first program, all sets listed do not include warm-ups.

Workout 1

Two-dumbbell deadlifts: 5x5-7 reps

Goblet squats: 5x5-7

One-arm snatches: 5x3-5 (each arm)

Two-arm cleans: 5x3-5

One-arm rows: 5x5-7 (each arm)

Farmer walks: 3 to 4 sets for time or distance

Workout 2

Two-dumbbell overhead presses: 5x5-7

Dumbbell benches (flat or incline): 5x5-7

One-arm overhead presses: 5x5-7 (each arm)

Alternate dumbbell curls: 5x5-7 (each arm)

Weighted sit-ups holding a dumbbell on your chest: 4x8-10

High-Set, Low-Rep Specialization Program

     The following program is intended to really bring up your strength on a few select lifts.  It will also build muscle because of the amount of volume that is used, despite (or perhaps because of) the limited exercises.  You don’t have to utilize the lifts that I have selected, but if you swap to a different movement, just make sure that it’s also a similar compound movement.

     This one used 3 different workouts.  I would recommend starting with a 2-on, 1-off, 1-on, 1-off split.  After using that for a couple of weeks, you should be able to gauge whether you need more or less days off.

     As with the other programs, all sets listed here are work sets.

Workout 1

Goblet squats: 10x5 reps (Use a dumbbell heavy enough so that 8 to 10 reps would be really tough.  If you’re strong, this should be upwards of 100 pounds for the dumbbell being used.  If you’re not that strong, then that should be your eventual goal.)

One-arm overhead presses: 8x5 (each arm)

Workout 2

Two-dumbbell deadlifts: 10x5

One-arm snatches: 8x3 (each arm) (Use a weight where 6 reps would be tough for one hard set.)

Workout 3

Dumbbell flat bench presses: 10x5

Alternate dumbbell curls: 8x5 (each arm)

     Add in some weighted ab work and some loaded carries to every other workout session.

     Don’t add any additional movements, at least at first.  After training for a couple weeks, then you could add some lunges to workout 1, some cleans to workout 2, and perhaps a set of incline benches to workout 3.

     As with all mass and power programs, make sure you’re consuming enough calories each day and getting enough protein.  Also, make sure you’re resting enough when you’re not training to aid in recovery.

     At the very least, I hope you understand that dumbbell-only workouts are equal to their barbell counterparts, if not superior in many ways.