Beginner workout using dumbbells?

brownvs

Hi everyone,

I just moved to a new apartment, was curious about exploring some form of weightlifting/strength training. I looked around their gym and they have dumbbells of varying sizes - they range from the 3lb dumbbells to 75lb dumbbells. They have 3 sized kettle bells and a bunch of machines (most of which look like those old Bowflex commercials I used to see as a kid). They don't have a bar for deadlifts, squats, and bench presses.

How would you use the dumbbells correctly in a workout?

Thank you!

MisterDerpington

The same way people prescribe a novice progression program with a barbell. Start at a moderate weight for 3 sets of 5 worksets, and then progress in weight how you see fit (depends on the jumps in weight of the DBs) with compound exercises. I generally base my lifts off of Starting Strength/Stronglifts/Greyskull LP big 4-5 lifts.

A squat. I think the best Dumbbell Squat is the Goblet Squat because it forces you to make your torso rigid if done properly.

An overhead press. What to do is in the name. Stand up with the DBs and press then overhead.

A bench press. If there isn't a bench available you could try Floor Presses (though you won't get as full of a ROM) or bringing a backpack and some padding and doing pushups that gradually become weighted.

A deadlift variation. Don't know a lot of these with DBs besides Romanian Deadlift, but you could look some up.

The last lift would depend on what you want to do. SS gives you Power Cleans and SL gives you Rows. There are variations of both for Dumbbells, so pick which you prefer and go with that. (Note: If you can do chinups, there's also that option).

You'd do an A/B routine which can look many different ways. I'll show the SS way.

A:
Goblet Squat 3x5
Overhead Press 3x5
Deadlift 1-3x5 (your discretion for number of sets)

B:
Goblet Squat 3x5
Bench Press 3x5
Power Cleans 5x3 (5 sets of 3) or rows 3x5

You could also add one more lift and make the squats and deadlifts be on opposite days such as:

A:
Goblet Squat 3x5
Overhead Press 3x5
Rows 3x5

B:
Deadlift 1-3x5
Bench Press 3x5
Power Cleans 5x3

I hope this helped a little bit.

rick_po

Here's my "Middle of Nowhere Hotel Fitness Center Dumbbell Workout" (MONHFCDBW)

One workout every other day, alternating between A and B. Concentration on compound movements.

Workout A:

Dumbbell squats
Dumbbell bench press
Dumbbell stiff-legged deadlifts
Lat pull-downs (not always possible in MONHFCs).

Workout B:

Goblet squats
Dumbbell overhead press
Dumbbell lunges
Dumbbell bent-over rows

I do one warmup set at about half weight, then 3 work sets (except deadlifts, which is only 1 work set).

For your first few workouts, use light weights and 15-20 reps per set until you have the form right (check YouTube for form videos)

Then add a little weight every day you workout and do all the reps you can until you can't maintain good form. Keep a log book so you remember how much weight/reps you do with each lift. Keep adding weight each workout until you are down to 5 reps per set.

After that, you're done being a beginner!

brownvs

Thank you, super super helpful, both of you. I'm excited to get started. I guess I'll start at the low end of weights and then if I don't feel sore the next day I'll do a higher set of weights.

Definitely going to YouTube to check form.

3x5 = 3 sets of 5 lifts, yes?

MisterDerpington

3x5 = 3 sets of 5 lifts, yes?

Yup. When you start doing heavier on the lifts, make sure you do a few warmup sets with lighter weights.