Dumbbell exercises effectively target all major muscle groups. To train the entire body over seven days, exercise specific muscle groups on designated days. On Monday and Friday, focus on lower body. Tuesday and Saturday, train your chest, triceps and abdominals. Wednesday and Sunday, exercise your back, biceps and shoulders. Thursday is a day of rest. This program allows proper rest time for individual muscles to recover before they are trained again.
Sets, Reps and Weight
Before you begin, decide if you are training primarily for muscular strength, endurance or size. Your goals determine the number of sets, repetitions and weight you lift. If you are seeking strength gains, perform three to five sets of each exercise with a weight that allows you to complete six to eight repetitions. Rest for two to three minutes between sets. If your goal is increased muscle endurance, do two to four sets of 12 to 15 repetitions and rest for 30 to 60 seconds between sets. Training for size requires completion of three to five sets of eight to 12 repetitions. Rest for no longer than one to two minutes if growth is your goal.
Lower Body
Monday and Friday, focus on the muscles in the lower body. Start with the walking lunge and step-up, followed by the sumo squat, and conclude with the stiff-legged deadlift. The first three exercises target your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and gluteals while the deadlift emphasizes the hamstrings. Relative to upper body training, your weights will be the heaviest on these days because of the size and strength of the lower body muscles.
Chest, Triceps and Abs
Tuesday and Saturday, train your chest, triceps and abdominals. Begin with exercises that involve the larger chest muscles, including the chest press, incline chest press and chest fly. Isolate the triceps with the overhead dumbbell extension followed by kickbacks. Finally, do weighted crunches to target the abdominals and oblique side bends to work the lateral torso.
Back, Biceps and Shoulders
Target your back, biceps and shoulders Wednesday and Sunday. Start with back exercises because they involve the largest muscles and require the most core stabilization. Do the bent-over row, one-arm row and pullover exercise to focus on the back muscles. Next, do the upright row and shoulder press to build the shoulders. Perform biceps curls as the last exercise in your routine.
References
- "Essentials of Strength Training & Conditioning"; Thomas Baechle, Robert Earle; 2008
- "Strength Training"; National Strength & Conditioning Association; 2007
- "Strength Training Anatomy"; Frederic Delavier; 2010
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