Welcome to the Men’s Health Dumbbell Club, your weekly plan for a fitter, stronger body, using just two dumbbells. With workouts lasting from 20-40 minutes, and designed to add lean muscle, build fitness and increase strength, your weekly dose of dumbbell goodness drops every Monday.
Click here to head back and check out previous weeks, or simply get stuck in to our latest offering — week 41 – and follow the programme from here.
New This Week…
This week we're embarking on a four-week ‘EMOM bodybuilding’ journey, using EMOM workouts with the goal of adding lean muscle mass across your chest, shoulders, backs, legs and arms, whilst also upping your fitness.
EMOM workouts – ‘Every Minute On the Minute' – use a simple format, but one that can be incredibly powerful. Start a running clock and at the beginning of each minute, you’re going to perform a set of a single movement, you’ll then rest for the remainder of the minute before moving into the next movement. You'll continue in this fashion until you’ve performed a round of each move. You'll then rest for the entirety of the fifth minute before beginning again with exercise one. Repeat this format seven times for a total of just 35 minutes.
Sessions will be split up across the week in a push, pull, legs fashion. Session one focuses on the muscles of your chest, shoulders and triceps, session two will hit your back and biceps, before tackling a huge leg day on session three.
Each movement has a suggested rep range. Use weight that corresponds to each range if possible, and try to work towards the higher end of the range. Keep track of the reps you achieve on each movement, in each minute – we’ll be referring back to these in a few weeks time.
Day One (W41/D1)
After a thorough warm-up grab your 'bells, start the clock and get to work. If you have a selection of dumbbells, use weights that enable you to push towards the higher end of the rep ranges, at least for the initial first few rounds. Perform seven total rounds, for just under 35 minutes of total working time.
1. Push Press x 6-10 reps
Clean your dumbbells onto your shoulders, palms facing in. Take a breath and create tension in your core. (A) Dip at the knees and use your legs to help (B) press your dumbbells overhead. Lower with a controlled tempo to your shoulders and repeat. If your weights feel a little too light, don’t use any drive from the legs and focus on a strict press from the shoulders.
2. Dumbbell Floor (or Bench) Press x 10-15 reps
Lay flat on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the ground. Press the weights above you, locking out your elbows (A). Lower them slowly until your upper arms are resting on the floor (B), close to your body. Pause here before explosively pressing back up. If you have a bench, use it.
3. Push-Up on Dumbbells x 15-20
After your final press, drop your 'bells and assume a long-arm plank position. With your core tight and hands below your shoulders stacked on top of your dumbbells (A), bend your elbows to bring your chest to the floor (B). Keep your elbows close to your body as you push back up explosively.
4. Tricep Extensions x AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible)
Lay flat on a bench or the floor with a pair of dumbbells locked out overhead (A). Bend at the elbows, slowly lowering the 'bells towards your head while keeping your upper arms locked in place. Stop just short of the 'bells touching the bench or floor (B) before pressing back up explosively. Perform as many reps as you can before you have to drop the weights, then take a few breaths and perform a few more. If you only have access to one set of dumbbells, and don’t have a lighter option, just use one bell for this movement – sitting upright and gripping the head of a single dumbbell with both hands.
5. Rest
Rest for the entirety of the fifth and final minute before beginning again from movement one. Focus on your breathing and lowering your heart rate, ready to hit the next circuit with full force.
Day Two (W41/D2)
1. Renegade Row x 8-16 (total)
Drop into a press-up position with your hands on your 'bells and midline tight (A). Shifting your weight onto your left hand, row the right dumbbell towards your hip (B). Pause briefly, then lower the weight under control. Repeat on your left side (each row equals one rep). If you have slightly heavier dumbbells, use them here.
2. Bent-Over Row x 10-15
Stand tall with your dumbbells at your sides. Hinge forward until your torso is almost parallel to the ground and allow the dumbbells to hang just below your knees (A). Maintaining a flat back, row both dumbbells towards your hips (B), squeeze your shoulder blades together and lower under control to the start before repeating.
3. Dumbbell Hang Cleans x 10-15
Stand up and hold your dumbbells at your side. Hinge at the hips to lower them to your knees (A). Stand back up with a slight jump, using the momentum to pull the dumbbells on to your shoulders (B). Stand up straight, then lower under control to your sides and repeat.
4. Single Dumbbell Bicep Curl x AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible)
Stand upright and drop one of your ‘bells, grip the remaining 'bell with both hands, holding the outer heads with palms facing each other (A). With minimal momentum, curl the dumbbell upwards until it’s beneath your chin (B). Squeeze here and lower the weight under control, fighting it all of the way. Perform as many reps as you can before you have to drop the weights, then take a few breaths and perform a few more.
5. Rest
Rest for the entirety of the fifth and final minute, before beginning again from movement one. Focus on your breathing and lowering your heart rate, ready to hit the next circuit with full force.
Day Three (W41/D3)
1. Front Squat x 8-12
Clean your dumbbells onto the front of your shoulders (A). From here, drop into a front squat by pushing your hips back and bending at the knees until your thighs pass parallel to the ground (B), before driving back up explosively. Keep those dumbbells secured high, with a strong, upright torso throughout. Push hard for the high end of the rep range here.
2. Romanian Deadlift x 8-12
Stand tall with your dumbbells at your sides, feet shoulder-width apart (A). With a slight bend in the knees, push your hips back and slowly lower the 'bells towards the ground (B), pinching your shoulders back and maintaining a flat back. When you feel a deep stretch in your hamstrings, pause and explosively return to and upright position.
3. Dumbbell Deadlift x 10-15
With your dumbbells on the floor just outside of your feet, hinge down and grip them with a flat back and neutral spine (A). Engage your lats and stand upright, pushing the ground away with your feet, keeping your chest up and black flat throughout (B). Lower them back to the ground in a hinging motion and repeat. Avoid excessive rounding in your lower back, keeping your form tight throughout. Don’t rush these — in the race to build muscle, slow and steady always wins.
4. Reverse Lunge x AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible + Drop Set)
Drop your dumbbells to your sides (A). Keeping your chest up at all times, take a step backward with one leg, bending your front knee until the back knee touches the ground (B). Stand up explosively, pause and repeat with the other leg. Alternate back and forth. Perform as many reps as you can before you have to drop the weights, then keep going with just your bodyweight until the minute mark.
5. Rest
Rest for the entirety of the fifth and final minute, before beginning again from movement one. Focus on your breathing and lowering your heart rate, ready to hit the next circuit with full force.
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With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.
As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.
Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.
You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.