34 Best Dumbbell Exercises For Building Muscle

Are Adjustable Dumbbells Worth it? Can I Do Dumbbell Exercises Everyday? There's many reasons why dumbbell exercises are so popular - not only do they offer more variety than almost any other piece of gym kit going, providing you use a little imagination, dumbbell exercises will also help you expedite fat loss, develop total-body strength, build maximum muscle mass and even level up your cardio. If you're using dumbbells, you haven't got to fiddle with weight plates, you'll never need to stress about barbell collars and you can guarantee that there will always be a pair of dumbbells available on the gym floor. Something we can't guarantee about the weight bench - especially if it's chest day. But more fool them. For those in the know, there's a pot of gold waiting for you, a world of exercises you never knew existed and workouts that will achieve the same results as those lifting heavy iron from the floor.



And we're going to show you how. Dumbbell exercises are more advanced as they require more stabilisation and activation muscles that might not get used or missed in bilateral or barbell exercises,' explains MH fitness director Andrew Tracey. Dumbbell exercises allow for movement - think how rigid barbell exercises are - and therefore, build muscles that are more transferable to everyday life. Also, because you are able to manipulate and move dumbbells around more than a fixed machine, you can get a greater range of motion. For example, the barbell bench press. When the bar hits your chest, your arms are in a locked position. With dumbbells, you are able to go that little deeper and get a bigger stretch through the chest which will result in more muscle growth. Are Adjustable Dumbbells Worth it? If you're struggling to use your gym membership and your living room isn't big enough to house the squat rack, weight bench and barbell, then adjustable dumbbells are worth their weight in gold.



Naturally, they will be a bit pricier than a pair of 16s, but a good adjustable dumbbell set that can provide up to 24 different weight options will help minimise clutter and maximise gains. Ok, it may be tricky lugging the whole thing to the park, but pick a weight, choose a workout (from the list below), Prime Boosts and there's no stopping you. If you prefer to get your information visually, check out these five most underrated dumbbell exercises from our fitness director. Not only does Tracey demo the moves, he also explains why each exercise deserves its spot on the list. How's that for personal training? Can I Do Dumbbell Exercises Everyday? While completing dumbbell exercises frequently is a brilliant way to gain muscle mass and strength, it's important to take adequate rest. Naturally, if you are pushing yourself to a high intensity during training sessions, you will require more rest in comparison to lighter workouts. As a rule of thumb, high intensity training requires at least 48 hours rest in between sessions.



Not only will this help ensure you avoid injury, but it will mean you make the performance gains necessary to see the results you want. A study published by The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research analysed the training recovery of men after they completed exercises to failure and concluded that 24 hours rest wasn't enough. At 48 hours of recovery 40% were recovered, and after 72 and 96 hours of recovery 80% were recovered. Therefore, if you are thinking about pushing to a high intensity and training every day without rest, you could be hurting your results. Keep an eye on your recovery and make a sensible decision based on your training exertion and how your body is feeling. Here, PT Ollie Frost and Prime Boosts Men's Health fitness experts recommend the best dumbbell exercises to add to your arsenal. Scroll on for our pick of the best dumbbell exercises for building muscle - all 34 of them.