Dumbbell Workout Plan: Build Muscle At Home In Four Weeks

Add size to your arms, chest and shoulders with these four dumbbell workouts

Give a man a pair of dumbbells, and he can crank out a few sets of curls and bulk up his biceps. But if you give that man a pair of dumbbells alongside a dumbbell workout plan, he can make noticeable changes to his entire body in a month.

That's what this four-strong series of dumbbell workouts can do. Each session is dedicated to a different body part, or combination of body parts – chest and back, arms, legs and abs, and shoulders – so your entire body is trained over the course of the week. Of course, you can pick and choose a particular workout to add to your training if you’re looking to develop a certain body part, or if you’re looking to hit everything in one go try this full-body dumbbell workout.

But the beauty of these workouts is that they programme tweaks to the reps, sets and tempo every week to keep challenging your body and forcing it to build muscle to adapt to the increasing stimulus. It's a fundamental tenet of hypertrophy training but it's neglected in most guides to dumbbell training on the internet.

All the moves require only a pair of dumbbells, as opposed to workouts which also require a weights bench, so it's a great plan for people with a set at home and want to add muscle mass in a month.

Read on for detailed instructions on how to follow this dumbbell workout plan for the best results, along with a muscle-building expert answering some of the most common questions about using dumbbell exercises to build muscle.

If you will be following this plan at a gym, then all you need to do is set up camp by the dumbbell rack and keep a training log of how heavy you go for each exercise (and whether it was too heavy or light so you can adjust next time).

Generally you want a weight that means the final few reps of each set feel hard but leave you feeling that you have a few reps in reserve. So if the target rep total is 10, you want a weight that allows you to complete 13-14 reps if pushed.

However, if you’ll be completing it at home then you’ll need to choose which dumbbells you buy carefully. That's dumbbells, plural, because this is a full-body plan and – spoilers – your shoulders can't handle as much weight as your legs can. If you use one fixed-weight dumbbell for both lateral raises and squats, say, that's going to make one of those moves very hard or very easy.

Adjustable dumbbells – where you can add and remove plates using a spin lock – are one option, but selectorised dumbbells are best suited to this type of plan because you’re typically getting at least eight weight settings. You can quickly change the weight by either scrolling a dial or pressing a button, which means that not only do they save space compared with a full set of dumbbells, but also that it's easy to pick the correct weight for the exercise you’re about to tackle.

These modern marvels typically cost three figures, which is clearly a lot of money, but once you add up the cost of three sets of fixed-weight dumbbells then selectorised dumbbells start to look like better value. They’re also well suited to this style of bodybuilding workout, less so to the dynamic movements you’ll find with functional fitness disciplines like CrossFit.

Here are our recommendations for selectorised dumbbells, and you can read more about each in our round-up of the best dumbbells.

Here's the theory behind your four-week dumbbell workout plan.

There are four dumbbell workouts a week and each hits a different body part. Workout 1 targets your chest and back; workout 2 your arms (biceps and triceps); workout 3 your legs and abs; and workout 4 your shoulders.

The body-part workouts have been selected to help you add muscle mass and transform your torso as quickly as possible.

The first three workouts each week hit two different muscle groups, so that while one body part is working, the other recovers, allowing you to keep the intensity level high and lift the heaviest weight possible with good form to stimulate the maximum amount of muscle growth.

You can schedule the workouts throughout the week however you like, but a typical routine runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday or Sunday.

All four weekly sessions comprise six exercises divided into three supersets, labelled 1A and 1B, 2A and 2B, and 3A and 3B. In a standard reps and sets-based workout, you complete all the sets of one exercise before moving on to the next exercise. In a superset, though, you perform a set of the first exercise of the pair and then a set of the second exercise back to back, only resting after you’ve done all the reps of the second move. Once all the sets and reps of the first superset are completed, you move on to the second superset and repeat the sequence.

Let's take the first superset of the plan and write it out in full. Here are the instructions you’ll find in the plan.

1A Floor press – Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec Tempo 2010

1B Hammer bent-over row – Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 60sec Tempo 2010

That translates to the following in practice.

With the first superset completed, move on to the next superset and repeat the method.

This approach is fantastic for building muscle faster because supersets maximise both the intensity and the quality of your sets, in part by reducing the amount of rest you take. And the harder you can push your muscles in the gym, the more damage gets done to muscle tissue, which is then rebuilt bigger and stronger when you recover.

The only way to keep making fast progress is to follow a progressive training plan that continues to challenge your body in new ways each week. That's what this plan does, increasing the sets or reps in every dumbbell workout each week.

For example, in week one you’ll do four sets of 10 reps per move, which increases to four sets of 12 in week two. In weeks three and four you’ll do five sets of 10 and 12 reps respectively, so every week is harder than the previous week.

What's more, in weeks three and four the tempo (the time it takes to do the lifting and lowering for each rep) changes to make the exercises more challenging, so your target muscles experience more time under tension and greater workload.

Tempo is represented by four numbers, which relate to the four phases of any resistance exercise. The first is the time in seconds to perform the eccentric or lowering phase, the second denotes the pause at the bottom of the rep, the third is how long you should take to complete the concentric or most dynamic part of the move, usually the lift, and the final number is the time to pause at the top of the rep.

Pay particular attention to whether the exercise begins with the eccentric or concentric. For instance, a biceps curl begins with a lift, so the time it takes to complete the first movement is dictated by the third number in the tempo code.

We’re sure you’re excited about diving into this dumbbell workout plan, but first take a moment to consider your warm-up. All the workouts involve completing supersets with minimal rest, and if you haven't adequately prepared your body you’ll find the first couple of rounds far tougher than you need to, and won't get as much from them in terms of strength and size gains. You’ll also increase your risk of injury if you’re using heavy weights with cold muscles.

When warming up, merely jogging on the spot for a few minutes to raise your heart rate won't do. Each of the workouts is designed to target a specific area of the body, and you need to do the same in your warm-up so you’re priming the muscles that are about to be called into action.

You can start with this dynamic stretching routine, which will take mere minutes and will get your whole body moving. Here it is in brief, but there's a form guide for each in the linked article.

Then move on to an even more specific warm-up for the workout you’re going to do. The simplest way to do this is a round of the exercises you have lined up with no weight, or a very light set of dumbbells if you have them. It won't take long, and it has clear benefits: a better workout and a little less DOMS the following day.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec Tempo 2010

How Lie flat on the floor, holding a dumbbell in each hand above your chest with straight arms. Lower the weights towards your chest, then press them back up powerfully to return to the start.

Why Lying on the floor puts you in a stable position so you can attempt to go quite heavy with this move. The range of motion is shorter than a bench press, so focus on contracting the chest muscles being targeted.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 60sec Tempo 2010

How Hold a dumbbell in each hand with palms facing each other. Bend forward, hingeing at the hips, then row the weights up to your sides, leading with your elbows. Lower the weights back to the start under control.

Why This move hits the major muscles of your upper back, while your lower back gets worked to keep your torso upright. Using a hammer grip also hits your forearms and improves grip strength.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec Tempo 2010

How Get into position with your feet together and hands holding dumbbells shoulder-width apart. Brace your core so your body is straight from head to heels. Bend your elbows to lower your chest, then press back up powerfully.

Why You might think press-ups are easy, but they are still a useful chest-building move – especially when you factor in the instability of the weights to work your chest, as well as your core, harder.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 60sec Tempo 2010

How Bend forwards from the hips with a light dumbbell in each hand, palms facing. Keeping a slight bend in your elbows, raise the weights out to shoulder height, then lower them back to the start.

Why This move looks a lot harder than it is, and it works wonders for your upper back and rear shoulders. Start with light weights and master the movement pattern to maximise muscle gain and minimise the risk of injury.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec Tempo 2010

How Get into position with your feet together and hands holding dumbbells wide apart. Brace your core so your body is straight from head to heels. Bend your elbows to lower your chest, then press back up powerfully.

Why Placing your hands in a wider position reduces the involvement of your triceps and shoulders, so your chest has to do more of the hard work to lift and lower your torso.

Sets 4 Reps 10 each side Rest 60sec Tempo 2010

How Get into position with your feet together and hands holding dumbbells shoulder-width apart. Brace your core so your body is straight from head to heels. Row the weight up, leading with your elbow. Alternate arms.

Why It works your upper back one side at a time so you can fully engage each of the muscles, as well as recruiting your core and shoulder joints to keep your body stable.

Add two extra reps to each set.

There's a big jump in difficulty this week. The reps drop back down to 10, but an extra set is added and the tempo changes. Hold the top of the bent-over row, reverse flye and renegade row for one second, and take an extra second to lower when performing both press-up variations.

The reps go back up to 12 this week, on top of the extra sets and tougher tempo numbers.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec Tempo 2010

How Stand with dumbbells by your sides and palms facing forwards. Keeping your elbows tucked in to your sides, curl the weights up, squeezing your biceps at the top. Lower them back to the start.

Why It's the classic biceps lift for good reason: performing this move perfectly is one of the fastest ways to add size to your biceps. Just keep your reps controlled to avoid swinging the dumbbells up and down.

Sets 4 Reps 10 each side Rest 60sec Tempo 2010

How Stand tall, holding a dumbbell over your head with one hand and arm straight. Keeping your chest up, lower the weight behind your head, then raise it back to the start. Do all the reps with one arm and then switch and repeat.

Why Working one arm at a time allows you to focus on making your triceps work hard to keep the dumbbell under complete control throughout the lift and lower, while your core must be engaged to keep your torso upright.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec Tempo 2010

How Stand with dumbbells by your sides and palms facing each other. Keeping your elbows tucked in to your sides, curl the weights up, squeezing your biceps at the top. Lower them back to the start.

Why Adjusting your wrist position so that your palms face each other for the entirety of the set shifts the workload to a different part of your biceps muscles, as well as recruiting your forearms.

Sets 4 Reps 10 each side Rest 60sec Tempo 2010

How Lean forward from your hips, keeping your back straight and arm bent holding a dumbbell. Raise the weight behind you until your arm is straight, then lower back to the start. Do all the reps on one side, then repeat with the other arm.

Why The key to making this an effective triceps-building move is to make sure you fully contract the working muscle as you straighten your arm, and then to lower the dumbbell back to the start position under full control.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec Tempo 2010

How Bend down and rest your elbows on your thighs, holding a dumbbell in each hand with arms straight. Curl the weights up, squeeze your biceps at the top, then lower back to the start under control.

Why It may raise a few eyebrows in the gym, but this exercise works your biceps through a full range of motion so you hit them from a slightly different angle, meaning even more muscle fibres are recruited.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 60sec Tempo 2010

How Get into position with your feet together and hands holding dumbbells that are touching. Brace your core so your body is straight from head to heels. Bend your elbows to lower your chest, then press back up powerfully.

Why Bringing your hands close together reduces the involvement of your chest and shoulders so your triceps muscles have to do a lot more of the hard work to lift and lower your torso.

As with dumbbell workout 1, week 2 of workout 2 increases the reps by two.

Again, the reps drop to 10 but another set is added and the tempo changes. Pause in the middle of the movement for one second for the first five exercises.

Add two more reps to each set.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec Tempo 2010

How Stand tall holding a dumbbell in each hand. Keeping your chest up and core braced, bend your knees and push your hips back to squat down as deep as you can, ideally until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Push back up through your heels to return to the start position.

Why It's the classic lift for building bigger and stronger legs, and it's a big compound lift that recruits multiple muscle groups too.

Sets 4 Reps 10 each side Rest 60sec Tempo 2010

How Stand holding a dumbbell in both hands to one side. Squat down then stand back up while raising the weight up and across your body until it's above your shoulder. Reverse the movement. Do all the reps then switch sides.

Why It's not as well known as other abs exercises, but do it right and you will build muscle across your entire core, as well as working your shoulders and lower back.

Sets 4 Reps 10 each side Rest 0sec Tempo 2010

How Stand with a dumbbell in each hand. With your chest up and core braced, take a big step forwards with one foot and lower until both knees are bent 90°, then push off your front foot to return to the start. Do all the reps with one leg, then switch.

Why The lunge provides many of the same benefits as the squat, but keeping your body stable as you lower and raise works your core harder.

Sets 4 Reps 10 each side Rest 60sec Tempo 2010

How Stand tall holding a dumbbell in both hands in front of your face. Raise it and move it around your head in a clockwise direction. Do all the reps, then repeat in an anti-clockwise direction.

Why It will work your abs, which must be fully braced and engaged to keep your torso stable and upright, and it will improve the strength and mobility of your delicate shoulder joints for added injury-prevention benefits.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec Tempo 2010

How Stand tall holding one end of a dumbbell with both hands. Squat down, keeping your back straight and core braced, until the weight almost touches the group. Stand back up to return to the start.

Why At this point of the session your legs will already be close to fatigue but this move, with a single dumbbell as resistance, will tax a few more muscle fibres for growth and keep your heart rate high for fat-loss benefits.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 60sec Tempo 2010

How Lie flat on the floor, holding a dumbbell across your chest. Engage your abs, then raise your torso off the floor. Squeeze your abs at the top, then lower yourself slowly and under control.

Why The crunch is great for developing your upper abs, but only if you do it right. And the added resistance of the dumbbell will force those muscles to up their game to lift and lower your torso without help from momentum.

Increase the challenge in the second week by adding two reps to every set.

The reps drop back to 10 this week, but the sets rise from four to five. An extra second is added to the eccentric phase for the squats and lunge, and pauses are added to the remaining three exercises.

An extra two reps are added to every set in this final week.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec Tempo 2010

How Stand tall holding a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height, with your palms facing forwards and elbows out to the sides. Keeping your chest up, press the weights directly overhead until your arms are straight, then lower them back to the start.

Why The key to building bigger, wider shoulders is to make these muscles work through their full range of motion, so make sure you lower the dumbbells all the way back to the start position at the end of each rep.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 60sec Tempo 2010

How Stand with light dumbbells by your sides and palms facing each other. Lean forwards slightly, then raise the weights to the sides, leading with your elbows. Slowly lower them back to the start under control.

Why This is a fantastic move for hitting your side delts – the section of the shoulder muscles that, when developed, creates a strong and wide upper body.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec Tempo 2010

How Stand tall with a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height with palms facing you. Press the weights directly overhead, rotating your wrists as you lift, until your arms are straight, then lower them back to the start.

Why It's a similar lift to the straight overhead press, except your wrists rotate as you move the weights – and it's this added movement that will fire up even more muscle fibres.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 60sec Tempo 2010

How Stand tall holding a pair of dumbbells in front of your body with straight arms. Keeping your chest up and leading with your elbows, row the weights up until your hands reach chin height. Lower back to the start.

Why Building bigger shoulders means you also need to work your traps, which is what this lift does brilliantly. Don't go too heavy at first – it's better to perform quality reps than max-weight ones – and never jerk the weights up and down.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec Tempo 2010

How Stand tall holding a pair of dumbbells in front of your body with straight arms. Keeping your chest up and arms straight, raise the weights in front of you to shoulder hit. Lower back to the start.

Why This lift hits the front of your shoulders predominantly and, as with all shoulder moves, make sure you are controlling the weight at all times – it should never be controlling you. You can't add muscle if you’re injured.

Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 60sec Tempo 2010

How Stand tall holding a dumbbell in each hand with straight arms. Keeping your chest up, core braced and arms straight, shrug your shoulders. Pause at the top, then lower the weights back to the start.

Why It's another great move for bigger traps, and the best thing about this move is that you can go heavy because its range of motion is so short. Keep everything tight and shrug the weights up powerfully to make it more effective.

Progress this working by adding two reps to every set of every exercise.

Add an extra set in the third week, but drop the reps back down to 10 per set. Take an extra second to lower the weights in the press exercises, and pause for one second after lifting the weights for the other four exercises.

Repeat the sets, rest and tempo from week three, but add two more reps.

"Yes, you can most certainly pack on muscle using dumbbells alone," says personal trainer Emily Servante, global trainer education manager at Ultimate Performance.

"Research shows that when you factor in variables such as frequency and intensity, machines and free-weight exercises trigger similar amounts of muscle growth. The reason for this is simple: when you’re lifting weights, your body doesn't know whether you’re using barbells, dumbbells, resistance bands, machines, rocks or even carrier bags filled with tinned cans. All the body experiences is the resistance they provide, and the tension your muscles generate to move the load, which is the primary stimulus for building and developing muscle tissue.

"And, in most cases, machines, barbells and dumbbells can apply similar amounts of stress to your muscles, meaning the muscle-building potential is broadly similar.

"If you exercise in a reasonably well-stocked gym, chances are you will have access to dumbbells ranging from 1kg to 50kg, or perhaps even heavier. For the vast majority of people, that is going to be enough to ensure you can continue to progressively overload, which is crucial for hypertrophy [the process of building muscle]."

"With dumbbell exercises, you have a greater range of motion than you do with machines or barbells," says Servante. " For example, if you’re performing a dumbbell chest press, you aren't only pushing the weight upwards, you’re also stopping it from falling sideways. As a consequence, dumbbell exercises distribute resistance across more muscle groups than machines. And a greater range of motion will certainly help with increased mobility in your joints.

"Another great benefit of dumbbells is their ability to let you perform isolation moves. Isolation moves are single-joint exercises that are really effective at targeting specific muscles in a way that is more difficult with barbells, which lend themselves more to compound exercises.

"While it's not always the case, most dumbbell exercises also allow you to provide more variation to your training by manipulating factors like grip width. For example, during a close-grip dumbbell bench press your triceps must work harder than with a conventional bench press. In contrast, machines lock you into a given range of motion and are generally less versatile, so you would need multiple machines to allow you to train your whole body."

When you’re exercising this hard you need to make sure you’re giving your body enough fuel to both complete the workout and repair itself afterwards. That means eating a balanced diet, ideally of home-cooked food if possible.

We’re sure you’re well aware that protein plays an important role in building muscle and you may think you should eat more of it while following this dumbbell workout plan. When we asked dietitian Susan Short how much protein you should eat each day to build muscle, she said 1.2-2g per kg of bodyweight a day, an increase on the 0.8-1.2 per kg of bodyweight a day that's recommended for everyone. Before mixing up a protein shake, try to keep a rough tally of what you’re eating because you may well find you’re hitting the requirements already – typical diets in the UK and US skew protein-rich already.

Short also recommended eating a 15-20g portion of protein reasonably soon after your workouts, but don't rush – there's no need to choke down a chicken breast before you’ve showered.

Don't let the importance of protein make you neglect carbs. Short explained that your body will use protein for energy instead of rebuilding muscle if you aren't getting enough carbs. And, of course, eating a variety of fruit and veg will supply the micronutrients and vitamins needed to build muscle and help your body cope with the demands this plan places on it.

If you need some direction, take some ideas from this muscle-building meal plan, and our guides to what to eat before a workout and what to eat after a workout – you may be surprised how much protein you can cram into a healthy meal.

Joe Warner worked for Men's Fitness UK, which predated, and then shared a website with, Coach. He was a staff writer from 2008 to 2009, then deputy editor until 2013. He returned as editor of Men's Fitness UK from 2016 to 2019. He is currently group editorial director of IronLife Media and editorial director of the New Body Plan.

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