Dumbbell workout plan at home: 3 days
Three full-body workouts at home with dumbbells and a bench, 45 minutes each. For a start: every workout has a press, an exercise for the legs and a row.
Every exercise has two working sets close to failure, and the main lifts repeat on the first and the third day, so you learn them. Liftava suggests the next weights and reps every workout.
- workouts a week
- 3
- minutes a workout
- 45
- exercises
- 15
- sets a week
- 30
- MonFull body
- TueRest
- WedFull body
- ThuRest
- FriFull body
- SatRest
- SunRest
A week as an example. Train on any days: the plan goes on in its order.
Full body A
- Dumbbell Bench Press2 × 6–8+ 2 warm-up
- Goblet Squat2 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Dumbbell Row2 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Sliding Leg Curl2 × 12–20
- Dumbbell Lateral Raise2 × 12–15
Full body B
- Dumbbell Incline Bench Press2 × 6–8+ 2 warm-up
- Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift2 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Dumbbell Step Up2 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Inverted Row2 × 8–15
- Overhead Dumbbell Triceps Extension2 × 10–12
Full body C
- Dumbbell Bench Press2 × 6–8+ 2 warm-up
- Goblet Squat2 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Dumbbell Row2 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Sliding Leg Curl2 × 12–20
- Dumbbell Standing Calf Raise2 × 12–15
Rest after a set: 3 min after the day’s first exercise, 2.5 min after the other big ones, 1.5 min after the rest.
Hard sets a week
Sets close to failure each muscle gets in a week: a working set counts whole for each muscle the exercise mainly trains, half for one that helps.
What you need
A pair of dumbbells whose weight you can change, and a bench that inclines: the presses and the dumbbell row are done on it, and day B has an incline press. Day B also has step-ups, for which you need a sturdy box or a step, and an inverted row under a bar at about hip height or a sturdy table. The leg curl is done lying on the floor with your heels on a towel, so the floor has to be smooth.
Weight steps with dumbbells
Liftava adds 2 kg at a time on dumbbells, unless you set another step. If your dumbbells go up in steps of 2.5 kg (10, 12.5 and 15 kg, say), Liftava sees that jump in the sets you log and uses it from then on.
How the plan is built
- With two days a week or more, every split trains each muscle at least twice a week.
- A day starts with the big movements (a squat or leg press, a press, a row, a hinge) and ends with smaller exercises for shoulders, arms, calves and abs, as many as fit the time you chose.
- Each movement has a list of exercises from the best to the furthest alternative. The main lifts keep to the best one or two all week, so a beginner learns their lifts; the smaller exercises take the next one each time, so two days do not repeat each other.
- Every exercise starts with two working sets close to failure. A workout longer than an hour adds a third, and once you train regularly so does an hour in a gym three days a week or more, for the exercises of the big muscles. A muscle you want to bring up gets a set more.
- Extra exercises and sets stop at a weekly ceiling for each muscle: 14 hard sets for a beginner, 18 for regular training, 20 when experienced (4 more for a muscle you bring up), counting what the presses and pulls give it too. The table under the plan shows how many each gets.