14 effective dumbbell exercises for at home!

Dumbbell exercises

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Put an end to thin arms! Muscles are sexy, even for women. Grab your dumbbells and start training now. We have the most effective dumbbell exercises for you!

Gone are the days when dumbbells were reserved exclusively for men.

We women also want defined biceps and triceps.

Why? Because it's sexy!

Every woman has a different training goal. However, trained upper arms are more and more often on the wish list.

They should not be too muscular, but beautifully defined.

Untrained muscles and excess weight lead to flabby upper arms. These are also known as angled arms.

We want to prevent that with our dumbbell exercises and turn our flabby arms into beautifully defined upper arms.

Best of all, you don't even have to go to the gym. Our exercises are also suitable for the living room.

If you train regularly, you will also see the first successes after the first few weeks.

Let's declare war on the angle arms together!

What you should keep in mind when training with dumbbells at home

Dumbbell exercises are just great. You can easily train posture, stability, back health and important deep muscles from home.

However, you also have to consider a few things here.

1. choose the right weight

The right weight is the be-all and end-all for an effective dumbbell workout.

Beginners start with about 2-4 kilos, depending on the exercise. Advanced users can use dumbbells with 5-8 kilos.

Each exercise is repeated 15 times. After the 15 repetitions there is a break of 60 seconds and then the next set follows.

As a beginner you can start with 2 sets per exercise. Later you can increase to three sets.

You have chosen the right weight when you can still perform the last repetition cleanly.

As soon as the movement is no longer technically correct, you should reach for lighter dumbbells.

2. warm up before the dumbbell exercises

Before you start with the dumbbell exercises, you should warm up for 5-10 minutes. This will get your circulation going and prevent injuries.

3. pay attention to a proper execution

Perform the exercises correctly. During the exercises the muscles should be permanently under tension. Do not put the dumbbells down between repetitions of a set.

In addition, you should not fully extend your arms and legs at the inversion point. This protects the joints and maintains the load on the muscles.

To control the execution, a mirror or a training partner can be very helpful, especially in the beginning.

Use fewer weights rather than exercising in a messy, joint-straining manner.

4. give your muscles new stimuli

Of course, there's no point in training with the same weights for months. Your muscles require new stimuli after some time to make progress.

So if you can do more than 15 reps with your current weight, you should increase the weight in your next workout.

Now you can start again with two sets of 15 repetitions.

If you can do less than 9 reps, then you have increased the weight too much.

14 effective dumbbell exercises for home

Enough theory! Let's finally get started with the dumbbell workout. You don't have to do all the exercises in one workout at once. As a beginner, it's enough if you start with 6 exercises of two rounds each.

1. lunge with dumbbell

Lunges with weight

  • Take a dumbbell in each hand.
  • Hold it next to your body with your arms outstretched.
  • Start position is an upright stance. Legs hip width.
  • Now take a big step forward. At the same time, lower the back knee toward the floor. But do not put it down!
  • Let float nicely 3-4 cm above the mat. :) Pay attention to the front knee! Breathe calmly to keep the balance.
  • The buttocks and legs are tense. And with the muscle strength from the heel you push yourself back to the starting position.
  • 2 sets of 7 repetitions per side.

2. dumbbell lateral lift

Dumbbell lateral lift

 

  • Stand up straight and about shoulder width.
  • Raise the stretched arms up to shoulder height at the sides.
  • Hold the position briefly and then slowly lower the weights again.
  • Do 2 sets of 15 repetitions each.

3. dumbbell exercises: Biceps Curls

Biceps curls with dumbbell

  • Starting position: upright, shoulder-width stance.
  • You have the dumbbell next to your body.
  • Bend the arms while bringing the weight upwards.
  • The elbows always remain close to the body.
  • Slowly bring the arms back down.
  • Do 2 sets of 15 repetitions each.

4. rowing on both sides

Rowing with dumbbell

  • Take one dumbbell in each hand.
  • Bend your knees slightly and walk forward with your torso straight.
  • From this position, pull the dumbbells up to your torso.
  • The palms face the body.
  • Hold the position briefly and then lower the arms again.
  • Do 2 sets of 15 repetitions each.

5. crunches with stretched arms

Crunches with dumbbell

  • Lie down on the exercise mat and bend your legs.
  • The feet are flat on the floor.
  • Hold a dumbbell in each hand. The palms of your hands face inward.
  • Extend the arms backward so that they form a straight line with the torso.
  • Now move your upper body slightly forward towards your knees.
  • The arms remain stretched.
  • Slowly lower again.
  • Do 2 sets of 15 repetitions each.

6. sumo squats as dumbbell exercise

Squats dumbbell exercise

  • Start in an upright stance. The legs are shoulder width apart.
  • Take a dumbbell with both hands.
  • Go down with your buttocks until your legs form a 90 degree angle.
  • The knees should not protrude above the tips of the toes. The upper body remains straight.
  • Push yourself back up.
  • 2 sets of 15 repetitions.

7. good mornings with dumbbells

Good Mornings with dumbbell

  • Stand about shoulder width with the dumbbells in your hands.
  • Push your butt back and bend forward in a controlled manner.
  • Keep your legs as straight as possible.
  • Attention: The back remains straight and your arms stretched.
  • Straighten up again.
  • Perform 2 sets of 15 repetitions each.

8. shoulder press

Shoulder press dumbbell exercise

  • Starting position: upright stand.
  • Take a dumbbell in each hand.
  • Keep your arms bent at shoulder height.
  • The palms of the hands point forward.
  • Stick your arms up.
  • Hold briefly and lower again in a controlled manner.
  • Do 2 sets of 15 repetitions each.

9. reverse butterfly as dumbbell exercise

Dumbbell exercise for home

  • Take a dumbbell in each hand and let your arms hang down.
  • Bend forward with your upper body.
  • Now lift your arms up to the sides.
  • Briefly hold the tension and return to the starting position.
  • 2 sets of 15 repetitions.

10. triceps train with dumbbell exercises

Train triceps with dumbbell

  • In this exercise you need only one dumbbell.
  • Raise your arm with the dumbbell above your head and bend it.
  • Now extend your hand and press the dumbbell upwards.
  • Carefully lower your arm behind your head again.
  • 2 sets of 6 repetitions per arm.

11. dumbbell merge in front of the body

Train arms with dumbbell

  • Stand up straight. Make your back straight. Hold a dumbbell in each arm.
  • Stretch your arms sideways away from you. The palms are level with the shoulders and point downward.
  • Now bring your arms together in front of your body. The arms remain well stretched throughout the exercise.
  • 2 sets of 15 repetitions each.

12. one-arm planks with weight

Triceps press dumbbell

  • Get into the plank position with arms extended. To do this, touch the floor only with your toes and the palm of your right hand.
  • In your left hand you hold a dumbbell.
  • Pull the dumbbell to the chest.
  • Now extend the forearm backwards.
  • And then slowly lower it again.
  • With the weight you touch your shoulders.
  • Then extend the dumbbell back again.
  • 2 sets of 6 repetitions per side.

13. dips for triceps and biceps

Dumbbell exercises arms

  • Hold the dumbbell very firmly (!) in your hands.
  • Lift it above your head and stretch your arms firmly.
  • Now lower the weight slowly and as deep as you can.
  • Then up again.
  • It is important that after 6 x lifts, you alternate the upper and lower hand. So that both upper arms are trained equally.
  • 2 sets of 12 repetitions each.

14. dumbbell exercises: Cross arms

Dumbbell exercises

  • Extend your arms forward. In each hand you hold a dumbbell.
  • Cross the dumbbells.
  • Now change the position of the right and left hand alternately by moving the right hand to the right and the left hand to the left.
  • At first you do this with very small movements. Then the distance between the arms becomes larger and larger as you change.
  • Make sure your arms are always fully extended.
  • 2 sets of 15 repetitions each.

What is the advantage of training with dumbbells

Dumbbells have the advantage that you can train muscles in isolation. Here, even the smallest muscle parts are trained. The movement sequences are also much more natural with dumbbells.

In addition, dumbbell exercises help improve balance and coordination.

If you perform the exercises cleanly, you can even prevent or compensate for muscular imbalances.

Training with dumbbells also increases metabolism and makes body fat just melt away.

Especially for beginners, the training is well suited to build a stable foundation of strength.

How dumbbell exercises make your muscles grow

In order for muscles to grow, they must be subjected to correspondingly intense stress.

Properly executed dumbbell training with the appropriate weight results in tiny tears in the muscle cells.

The body repairs this damage, the muscles regenerate and you gain strength. The more you train, the bigger the muscles naturally become.

On the one hand, the individual muscle fibers increase in size, and on the other hand, the fluid sac surrounding the muscles becomes larger.

What you should definitely keep in mind: Muscles grow during the recovery phase. The training itself only stimulates them to do so. That's why you should never do without regeneration.

Beginners should give their muscles 48 hours to recover. Advanced users can shorten this time to 24 hours.

Our conclusion

You don't have to join a gym to train your arms. You can also do dumbbell exercises at home in your living room.

The exercises are super effective and help you build muscle. In the beginning you can also start with water bottles. But later you should get dumbbells.

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