EffectiVe Dumbbell Workouts You Can Use to Build Muscle and Lose Fat

Dumbbell workouts are extremely effective for building muscle and burning fat. I get a lot of questions from people who want to work out at home but don't have a lot of equipment. They want to know if they can get a good workout at home.

My answer is absolutely!

In fact, with today's advances in exercise equipment you can get as good (if not better) a workout at home as you do in an expensive commercial gym.

Even if you don't have the money or space for a lot of weight lifting equipment, it doesn't matter because you can do everything you need with dumbbells and dumbbell workouts.

Every effective weight lifting exercise you can do with free weights or machines, you can do with dummbells.

In fact, in most cases, dumbbells are a better tool than a barbell for effective weight lifting exercises. Dummbbells allow you the freedom of movement that you don't get with a barbell or, even more so, a machine. In addition, you get a greater range of motion, not to mention you won't get stuck under a heavy barbell during bench presses.

Let's look at a sample of all dumbbell workouts.

Day 1 - Chest, Shoulders and Triceps

Dummbell Bench Presses
Flat Dumbbell Flyes
Incline Dumbbell Presses
Dips
Seated Dumbbell Presses
Dumbbell Upright Rows
Lying Dumbbell Extensions
Seated Overhead Extensions

Dumbbell Workouts Day 2 Legs

Dumbbell Squats
Dumbbell Stepups
Dumbbell Lunges
Dumbbell stiff-legged deadlifts

Day 3 Back, Biceps and Abs

Dumbbell Shrugs
Dumbell Pullover
One arm dumbbell rows
Two arm dumbbell bent over rows
Seated Dumbbell Curls
Incline Dumbbell Curls
Standing Dumbbell Hammer Curls
Weighted Crunches
Reverse Crunches

As you can see, you can do all the necessary exercises in your dumbbell workouts. The only other piece of exercise equipment besides the dummbbells is an adjustable weight bench.

Dumbell only workouts, like any other weight training routines, must be consistent and intense. I also recommend that you take complete and regular five to ten day layoffs every six to eight weeks. This will go a long way toward helping you avoid overtraining, as well as keep your enthusiasm intact.

Practical weight training includes commons sense, which means stay away from the ridiculous 15 - 20 sets per bodypart routine of the drug users. You'll get nowhere on these routines. Train hard, back off from time to time, don't be afraid to miss a workout now and then, and you'll be much better off. On the other hand, don't use this as an excuse to miss a lot of weight lifting workouts or to coast when you do train. That would defeat the whole purpose.

It always amazes me how so many gym members slave away on a routine, month after month, without understanding the essence of effective training. They just keep grinding away, never making much progress, making changes with no rhyme or reason, and they wonder why they can't build muscle.

They change exercises, muscle building programs, machines, diets, training splits, but their strength and muscle size stays the same.

In order to build muscle effectively, you need to get back to the basics of what works. You want effective muscle building programs? Go back to the basics. Try working on a full body routine, three days per week, limited sets, and train intensely. And I mean with real intensity. Work to increase your reps or weight almost every workout for as long as you can. You can do all of this just as effectively with dumbbell workouts. In fact, with dumbbells, you're probably more likely to stick to the basics.

In order to design an effective program or practical weight training routine, it's important to understand the fundamentals of weight lifting

Check out all our other weight lifting articles