How to Use Dumbbells to Build Muscle

Impressive as expensive pieces of exercise equipment may look, dumbbells are often just as effective in building up muscle, because of the additional effort needed to balance the weight throughout the movement. Outside of a bench for some exercises, you won't need anything but the weights themselves. For extra strength-building, alternating between two exercises after every set, known as "super-setting," is a great way to use dumbbells.

Things You'll Need

• Dumbbell hand weights
• Weight bench

Instructions

1. Add and remove weights on each dumbbell until you find a weight you can lift with a moderate-to-challenging degree of effort.

2. Assume the position for the upper or lower body exercise you wish to perform, and perform between eight and 12 repetitions of the exercise. Rest for one minute.

3. Assume the position for the second exercise, and perform eight and 12 repetitions of this second exercise. Rest for one minute.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 two more times, making sure to have performed three alternating sets of eight to 12 repetitions for both exercises. This is a "super-set," with a full weight-training routine being composed of anywhere from three "supersets" (six total exercises) to 10 supersets (20 total exercises).

5. Perform a different routine of dumbbell superset exercises which work out different parts of the body each day you lift. Don't train the same areas two days in a row, as each exercised area needs 48 hours to heal.

Tips & Warnings

• In order to maximize the benefits of your workouts, it's important to get adequate protein in your diet. For meat eaters and ovo-lacto vegetarians, this shouldn't be a problem. For vegans, this may mean taking soy protein dietary supplement powders.

• Don't swing the weights while exercising. Lift the dumbbells in a slow and controlled movement.

References

• Shawn Lebrun's Peak Performance Fitness
• Building Muscle For Skinny Guys
• Men's Fitness: Dumbbell Workout