Dumbbell exercises should be performed every week to be effective. Most dumbbell exercises require a significant amount of joint stability. You also strengthen and stretch the muscles, bones and connective tissues when exercising with dumbbells. During these exercises, you must also maintain a very stable trunk by contracting your abdominal and lower back muscles during standing dumbbell exercises, which tones your core.
Chest and Back
Do a chest and back workout as your first workout of the week on Mondays. If you are not doing barbell bench presses, your initial weekly chest exercise should be flat dumbbell bench presses or incline dumbbell chest presses; if you do barbell chest exercises, do the dumbbell presses after the barbell exercises every week. Include either flat dumbbell chest flies or incline dumbbell chest flies in your Monday workout. Your first back exercise should be one-arm dumbbell rows, because you can add lots of muscle mass and muscular strength with this fundamental exercise.
Legs and Shoulders
Legs and shoulders are commonly trained during the middle of the week, so set your second workout for Wednesdays or Thursdays. Barbell squats and barbell dead lifts should be the first workout in your leg program, followed by dumbbell exercises. Include dumbbell lunges whether you are performing walking lunges or stationary lunges every week to more strongly engage and tone your glutes.
The posterior division of the deltoid muscle is often overlooked. Perform posterior deltoid raises every week, working one arm or both arms at a time, which will enhance the look of the back of your shoulders.
Biceps and Triceps
The arm workout for your biceps and triceps could be done at the end of your week, on Fridays. Dumbbell curls are performed after barbell curls. You may rotate your palms so they face upward as you curl the dumbbell or keep the dumbbell in a vertical position with your palms facing inward throughout the exercise.
Triceps dumbbell extensions can significantly build the mass and strength of your triceps. This exercise is usually done every week as the first exercise of a triceps workout. Use two hands to hold one dumbbell, working both triceps at the same time, or use one hand to focus on one triceps at a time.
Abs
Strong, tight abdominals require exercising against resistance just as you would train any other muscle. Hold a dumbbell above your chest with your arms straight as you do crunches every week. Do regular crunches, crunches on a decline bench or crunches on an exercise ball as you hold a dumbbell.
References
- "Personal Trainer Manual"; American Council on Exercise; 1997
- "Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning"; Thomas R. Baechle and Roger W. Earle; 2000
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