While women like to create long, lean muscles, men tend to like the bulky, chiseled look. Developing this body style takes discipline and dedicated hours in the gym or basement, if you train at home. Using dumbbells for a total body workout is advantageous because they require you to contract stabilizing muscles with exercises. This boosts your overall muscle fiber recruitment and gets you to your goal faster.
Warming Up Before Your Workout
A good warm up should not be overlooked when you perform any workout, especially a total body workout. If you go into a training session cold, your connective tissue is at risk of suffering an injury. The best way to prevent this is by doing five to 10 minutes of light cardio then a series of dynamic stretches, which are performed in motion. Dynamic stretches acclimate your body to exercising movements. Perform stretches like leg swings, arm crossovers, side bends, lateral lunges, shoulder shrugs, arm circles and ankle bounces.
Major Muscle Groups
A total body workout needs to be focused on targeting all the major muscle groups in the body. These include the muscles of the chest, back, arms, legs and butt. Your best bet is to include compound exercises which work multiple muscles at the same time. These not only cause fast gains in muscle size, but they also boost the body's production of testosterone which is a muscle-building hormone. Perform exercises like bench presses, shoulder presses, bent-over rows, twist curls, deadlifts and lunges.
Technique
Proper technique and lifting mechanics is very important, especially when using dumbbells. If you make a slight wrong move while holding a dumbbell overhead for example, you can end up in the emergency room. Every exercise needs to be performed with a full range of motion and in a controlled fashion. Take bench presses, for example; lie face-up on a weight bench and hold the dumbbells an inch apart above your chest with your palms facing your knees. Keeping your abs tight and lower back on the bench, bend your elbows and lower the weights to your sides. Once you feel a good stretch in your chest, push the weights back up and repeat. Make sure to inhale as you lower the weights and exhale as you push them up.
Heavy Resistance
Pushing and pulling light weights in your workouts is not going to get the job done when it comes to maxing out your muscles. Aim for a resistance that is so heavy you can only do eight to 12 reps with good form. If you feel more comfortable, train with a spotter. Aim for three to five sets with each exercise and work out every three days. If you want to boost your caloric expenditure, keep your rest breaks less than 60 seconds.
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