Dumbell Exercises For Building Muscle And StrengthDumbells should be one of the staples of any hard core strength trainers routine. Look around any gym and you'll see rows of shiny dumbbells ranging from 1 pound "cute" sets to 200 pound monsters. Why do so many of todays top body builders and strength trainers rely on dumbell exercises? The answer lies in the fact that training with dumbells stimulates a large number of muscle fibers and therefore can result in muscle growth at an alarming rate. The reason being is that training with dumbells to extreme intensity will push just about anyone into the pain zone. If you can handle the extra pain, than you maybe ready for extreme dumbbell action! Why dumbells? Dumbells allow you to to train with complete range of motion. The reason is that a deeper stretch can be obtained with dumbbells at the bottom of the movement than with a barbell or machine. Dumbells also allow you to place more stress on the target muscle groups. Take the bench press for example. By using dumbells, you can bring the weight to the sides of your chest as oppossed to the top of your chest as with a barbell. At the top of the movement you can bring the dumbells together for a tight squeeze adding more muscle and definition to your pecs. Dumbells also help strengthen the stabilizer muscles which over time, will build thick, dense muscle. The workout Alright, let's get to the good stuff. Before I do, you might want to check out the fantastic dumbell routines at Dumbbell Routines.com. A great selection of dumbell routines for the beginner and advanved trainer. You'll find complete routines with full illustrations at Dumbbell Routines.com. The following dumbell routine is a 5 day split. You will train chest on day one, back on day two, shoulders on day three, arms on day four and legs on day five. You will rest days six and seven and repeat the program. Here is the workout and dumbbell exercises: Day 1 Chest Day 2 Back Day 3 Shoulders Day 4 Arms Day 5 Legs Day 6 Rest Day 7 Rest Chest The movements for the chest that go well with dumbells are presses and flyes. For pressing movements, you have three differently angled dumbell exercises (incline, flat, and decline) that each hit different parts of the chest (upper, middle, and lower) for complete pec stimulation. Here are the dumbell exercises:
4 sets of 10 repetitions
4 sets of 8 repetitions
4 sets of 12 repetitions 3 sets of 12 repetitions
Back There are many mass building exercises that can be performed with dumbells. As with barbells, you can perform bent over rowing, deadlifts, shrugs, and pull overs. Here are the dumbell exercises.
3 sets of 10 repetitions 3 sets of 12 repetitions
3 sets of 10 repetitions 3 sets of 8 repetitions 3 sets of 10 repetitions Shoulders As with chest, dumbbells work best with pressing movements and lateral movements. Basic exercises like the shoulder press, dumbell laterals, front raises and rear dumbell laterals will add size and strength to your shoulders. Here are the exercises: 3 sets of 12 repetitions 3 sets of 10 repetitions 3 sets of 10 repetitions
3 sets of 10 repetitions Arms Everyone's favourite, arms. Dumbells has all the bases covered when it comes to training arms. You can sit, stand, alternate, or incline with dumbells. That is, you can do some of the more popular biceps exercises like alternate dumbells curls, dumbell preacher curls, dumbbell hammer curls, seated incline dumbell curls, or seated concentrations curls. For triceps, you can doe overhead dumbell lying french presses (skull crushers), dumbbell overhead extensions, dumbbell kickbacks, and weighted dumbell dips. It's all here for you! Here are the dumbell exercises:
3 sets of 10 repetitions (Thanks ShapeFit.com for the image) 3 sets of 10 repetitions
3 sets of 10 repetitions
3 sets of 12 repetitions
3 sets of 12 repetitions
Legs Yes, you can build some pretty decent wheels with dumbells. The more popular dumbell exercises for the legs are the dumbell squat, dumbell lunges, dumbell stiff legged deadlifts, lying dumbell leg curls and calf raises (off a wooden block). Here are the dumbell exercises:
4 sets of 10 repetitions
3 sets of 10 repetitions
4 sets of 12 repetitions
3 sets of 12 repetitions Dumbell standing calf raises(standing on a block, hold dumbell in one hand and hold onto something solid for balance with the other)
4 sets of 15 repetitions
That's it. If your looking for a more detailed plan, try building muscle 101's dumbbell workout routine here.
To see more Dumbbell Exercise Illustrations, please click here. Nutrition You must understand that hard training will only be effective if you take in enough nutrients to support optimal growth. Ensure that you are taking in at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight and at least 3 to 4 grams of quality complex carbohydrates per pound of body weight. Protein should come from clean sources such as egg whites, chicken, lean beef, turkey, fish and whey. Carbs should be coming from such sources as oatmeal, rice, potatoes, yams, fibrous veggies (ie: broccoli) and pasta. Remember to take in good fats as oppossed to bad saturated fats such as flaxseed oil, fish oils, almonds, olive oil, and other nuts. For more information on how to build your nutritional diet, I strongly suggest you give Will Brink's ebook, Muscle Building Nutrition a shot. It will show you exactly how much calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat you need for optimal growth. Blake
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