Guides · Training
A full week with only dumbbells
A simple 3-day plan for home · Last checked November 2026
Dumbbells are enough to build muscle. Train 3 days a week, full body each time, with sets taken close to failure. Light weights for more reps grow muscle about as well as heavy weights for fewer reps. They’re just not as good for building max strength.
What the research says
- Light weights work for muscle. A 2017 review of 21 studies compared light loads (60% of your max or less) with heavy loads, with every set taken to failure. Muscle growth was similar. Heavy loads built more max strength.
- Train each muscle at least twice a week. A 2016 review found training a muscle twice a week grew more muscle than once a week, with the same total sets.
- More sets, more growth. A 2017 review of 15 studies found that each extra weekly set added a little more muscle.
- For health, the WHO recommends strength training for all major muscles on 2 or more days a week.
The week (Mon / Wed / Fri)
Day A
- Dumbbell squat: 3 × 10–12
- Dumbbell floor press: 3 × 8–12
- One-arm dumbbell row: 3 × 10–12 each side
- Single-leg glute bridge: 2 × 12 each side
- Plank: 3 × 30 s
Day B
- Stiff-legged dumbbell deadlift: 3 × 10–12
- Standing dumbbell press: 3 × 8–12
- Bent-over two-dumbbell row: 3 × 10–12
- Dumbbell lunges: 2 × 10 each side
- Calf raises: 2 × 15
Day C
- Dumbbell squat: 3 × 12–15
- Push-ups: 3 × as many clean reps as you can
- One-arm dumbbell row: 3 × 12–15 each side
- Stiff-legged dumbbell deadlift: 3 × 12–15
- Hammer curls: 2 × 12
That’s about 9 hard sets a week each for pushing, pulling and legs. Stop each set when you have 1–2 good reps left.
When your dumbbells get too light
- Add reps. Go past the top of the range. Sets close to failure still build muscle, even with lighter weights.
- Go one side at a time: one-arm presses, lunges, single-leg deadlifts.
- Lower slowly, for about 3 seconds.
- Add a set.
How BECOME does it
- Tick what you have. Choose “Home” and tick Dumbbells, plus a bench, bands or a pull-up bar if you have them. Your plan only uses what you have.
- “I don’t have this” on any exercise. It comes out of your plan, and so does that equipment.
- Swap any exercise for one with the same movement and muscles, using your equipment.
- Progress the simple way: more reps first, then the next weight up.
Sources
- Schoenfeld B.J., Grgic J., Ogborn D., Krieger J.W. Strength and hypertrophy adaptations between low- vs. high-load resistance training: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2017. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000002200
- Schoenfeld B.J., Ogborn D., Krieger J.W. Effects of resistance training frequency on measures of muscle hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 2016. doi:10.1007/s40279-016-0543-8
- Schoenfeld B.J., Ogborn D., Krieger J.W. Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences, 2017. doi:10.1080/02640414.2016.1210197
- Bull F.C. et al. World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2020. PMC7719906
General guidance, not medical advice.
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