And so what I hold before me is the official list. That's right,
the greatest dumbbell exercises of all time when it comes to building muscle.
So with that said, guys, we had a lot to cover here, let's start revealing them one by one.
What s up guys, Jeff Cavaliere, athleanx.com. Did you ever wonder what the best dumbbell exercises
you could possibly do if your goal was to build muscle? Don't worry about it because as I said,
I put together a list that I'm going to reveal here for you today. But before we even get started
guys, this is a participation opportunity here. If you could only have five dumbbell exercises
that you could do, list them for me below in the comments. Tell me what your five favorite are of
all time. That being said, I've gone a little bit more comprehensive than that 30 in total, breaking
them down muscle group by muscle group to help you so that you know what places to focus your efforts
on and maybe what exercises not to. Now this is not an all-encompassing list, of course, there's
more exercises than just these 30. But I believe these are the ones that hold the best opportunity
to help you grow. So that being said, guys, let's start breaking them down one by one.
Now, I m going to kick off the list with where I always like to kick off my list and that's biceps.
And the easy thing here is you're going to be looking at a bunch of curl variations, but
specific reasons why some rank better than others. And I say rank, there is no ranking between the
exercise in terms of this one is better than that or this one is better than that. If you want to
know that information, guys, make sure you check our exercises ranked series videos. I'll link
those for you at the end of this one. That being said, let's start looking at the
curls. And the first thing for me is the Standing Alternating Dumbbell Curl. And I've mentioned
before, when I'm looking to build my biceps, I don't want to be undermined by a weakness in
the core, so I'm not going to move both dumbbells at the same time. I'm going to focus on one at a
time, and this gives me the opportunity to do just that. Of course, the Waiter s Curl is my
favorite exercise for creating that contraction on the biceps in the peak contracted state.
This kneeling option is actually one that helps those that find it uncomfortable
with the dumbbell hitting into their junk at the top of a standing variation here. The Cross Body
Hammer Curl now shifts the focus to the brachialis rather than the biceps. And because we're able to
get into this pronated position and keep the arm close to the body, we can handle heavier weights
and really overload this important muscle. The Dumbbell Drag Curl gives us a chance to
hit the biceps long head, and we do that by keeping that arm back into extension. Oftentimes,
we never even think about doing this unless we're doing a Dumbbell Incline Curl. This is a
great way to overload that long head and get some additional growth. And of course, the Dumbbell
weighted Chinup has always been one of my favorite exercises for building bigger biceps. You take a
classic calisthenic exercise that's difficult for many, you add additional load because of the
dumbbell in between your feet, and you've got now one very capable of helping you to build out those
biceps and stretch out those short sleeves. And so now we move around to the other side of
the arms, are talking about the triceps. And for me, there's four exercises here I want you to
focus on. First and foremost is the Lying Tricep Extension, I ve mentioned many times before that
this is the exercise when it comes to building big triceps because it has that important component
of placing a stretch on the long head that a lot of tricep exercises like the Push Down say
do not. The next one is the Dumbbell JM Press and unlike the tricep extension,
this one actually doesn't have that long head stretch. But what it does do is it gives you a
chance to load the exercise up. And when we're talking about building bigger triceps without
machines and without barbells, this is going to give you the chance to actually use heavier
dumbbells and get the overload that's going to be able to create the size you're looking for.
Of course, we keep it going here with something completely on the light end of the spectrum,
it's the Dumbbell Kickback. And I know a lot of people are like, there's no way that that's one
of the best exercises of all time. But yes, it is, because it is actually one of the very few
exercises that would place that long head of the triceps in its peak contracted state. So while the
stretch exercises do a great job of putting it in that stretch position, the peak contracted state
is one we don't want to ignore either and the Dumbbell Kickback does that phenomenally.
The last exercise that's going to be the Dumbbell Incline Powerbomb when we do it in the incline sit
up like I show here, I'm clearing all of the problems with the shoulders. I
have my elbows facing forward, I get plenty of clearance of the dumbbell back behind my head,
so I don't have to worry about it hitting me. And I get once again that stretch on the long head.
That makes this the great exercise that it is. And so now let's go back to something else like
the back. My favorite back exercises with dumbbells are going to lead off with a Row.
But you know, I don't like the kneeling One Arm Row on a bench because I talk about the
increased hernia risk by doing that. But we do have the Dumbbell Tripod Row and when we get from,
this is the opportunity to keep our feet in contact with the ground without changing the
mechanics of the exercise in terms of its ability to grow the lats. This is a safer
alternative and still allows you to do everything you would want to do with a Dumbbell Row.
Next on here is the Dumbbell Pullover, and we talk about this one actually being multidimensional,
you're going to hear it again later on. But for now, when we're trying to build the lats,
you keep those elbows flared out. You get that nice, good stretch reflex on the lats
in the bottom position. You don't have to go down incredibly low if you have a problem with
your shoulders. You can still get an amazing lat stretch, especially if you drop your hips on this.
It's one of my favorite exercises when you're trying to build bigger lats.
Then we go into the next exercise here, which is the Dumbbell High Pull. And this
is definitely one of my favorite exercises because it's the Anti-Upright Row. You see,
instead of having those wrists trailing those elbows as you would on an upright row,
I talked about the importance of just flipping that orientation around and getting those elbows
underneath the wrist. And it's an all-important difference because external rotation is replacing
internal rotation. And of course, just like with the chin up, you can't forget the Weighted Pullup
when it comes to building bigger lats. And that brings us to the legs. And guys,
people think that you can't really build your legs without a barbell. That's not true. You
can take the right dumbbell exercises and load them up and actually start building your legs
pretty damn well. And the first exercise here that proves that is the Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat.
It happens to be my all-time favorite leg exercise when it comes to utilizing just dumbbells. It's a
multidimensional exercise, but importantly, it's one that can be overloaded very successfully with
just dumbbells and still create the muscle growth you're looking for. But of course, a bench is not
required to make an effective exercise for your legs. I can stand up and do a Reverse Lunge.
And I mentioned here before it's my favorite way to do a lunge because by stepping back where I
could take away some of that anterior stress on the knee and still cause the overloading growth
that they need to create new size in their legs. I could also do something called the Dumbbell
Offset Lunge because what I can do is challenge the body in a little bit different plane.
The frontal plane allows me to now have some more hip involvement and again controlling this lunge
through more control of the abductors of the hip. And for that, it's going to belong here as its
own entry into the best exercises. And of course, the last exercise here will be the Dumbbell RDL.
And when it comes to training the hamstrings, this one gives us a chance to get that same
stretch benefit that we would from let's say, the pullover applied here to the hamstrings,
giving us the chance to tie them in also to glute function through hip extension.
Another great exercise here and all these round out the best selections for legs.
And that brings us to the chest here, guys. When we're talking about chest, there are definitely a
lot of dumbbell exercises at your disposal. But what are the best ones? In my opinion,
here they are. Right up off the bat here, guys it doesn't get any more basic than the Dumbbell Bench
Press. And while of course you can increase the intensity via a bunch of different intensifying
techniques at its root level, doing this exercise has got to be one of the staple in your arsenal
when you're trying to build a bigger chest. And of course, we could add some weight to another
classic exercise too, to increase its benefits, and we're talking about the Weighted Dip. This
is one of my favorite exercises, particularly if I get the mechanics right by leaning my body
more forward and allow this to help me build a bigger, lower chest. The Dumbbell Floor Fly is the
only fly endorsed here by Athlete-X and for good reason. Because I just don't see the value in the
benefit of doing the exercise unsupported. Not to mention the fact that it's oftentimes compromised
in terms of the weight that you can use. When we utilize the floor, as we do in a Floor Fly,
I'm able to increase the load that I have in my hands here. That's going to actually
more effectively overload the eccentric and give me a better muscle building option.
The Dumbbell Squeeze Press is going to introduce an additional stress of the isometric adduction.
And we're talking about the best of the best in trying to eke out more muscle gains from the
exercises you're doing, this is a great option for you to do that. And of course, it doesn't end here
without including that Pullover again. Yes, the Pullover, because, you know, as I said before,
the way you do the exercise matters and when you incorporate a much tighter arm position
and squeeze your arms together adduct them as hard as you can at the top of the exercise, you can
shift the focus from the lats to the upper chest, making this another option, particularly for those
that don't have access to an incline bench. And moving on here, we now have to talk about our
shoulders and of course, we have three different heads of the shoulders, and we're going to have to
pick some exercises to get the job done across the entire shoulder. But let's start with one of my
favorites, it's called the Dumbbell Scoop Press. And what the Scoop Press does, it almost starts as
a front delt exercise that then transitions into a front delt, middle delt press overhead.
So of course, I love the pressing exercises for shoulders. They're the best of the best and we
always have to do them. But this one just gives me an option to get that front delt a
little additional work before it enters into that middle delt, front delt combination press.
The next exercise is called the Dumbbell Hip Hugger, which does a great job of actually placing
both the rear delt and the middle delt in that contracted state. And you'll notice as I'm pulling
the dumbbells up, as if I'm trying to almost pull up a pair of pants that have fallen too low,
I'm getting a bit of abduction at the shoulder as my arm drifts away from me. And again getting
the arm into extension, which is going to light up that rear delt. When it comes to the middle
delt though, there is no exercise for me that I like better than the Dumbbell Cheat Lateral. I've
talked about before the benefits of sometimes just going a lot heavier than usual and swinging the
weight around a little bit. With the idea being not to have the prettiest looking concentric part
of the exercise, but to have the most effective eccentric part of the exercise, which is a great
driver of growth when we're looking for new drivers of muscle size in the shoulders.
Keeping with that same theme there, if I pick up those heavy dumbbells, I can move them a lot more
effectively, if I use some of that momentum in this case with a push press instead of,
let's say, a regular press. When it's the front door specifically that I'm trying to target,
there's nothing better than the classic Dumbbell Front Raise. There's nothing pretty about it, but
what I do try to do is split this up into one side at a time so I could focus on driving that arm
out in front of my body and not rely on too, too much momentum because here I'm trying to make that
front delta the work and not necessarily have it bleed over into the other heads of the Delts.
And the same thing would go here when we're talking about the rear delt. I want to do
something that I can effectively target the rear delt as much as possible. This is the Dumbbell
Rear Delt Row. The key here again, is to get that arm back into extension behind the body. The main
driver of getting the rear delta activation that we're looking for and besides that,
we're looking for in that rear head. Of course, we have one of my favorite move the dumbbell around
exercises and it s the Dumbbell Over and Back. I like to load this one up, just simply pull
it from one shoulder up and overhead to the other shoulder. It's a variation, obviously, of a press,
but it's something unique if you haven't done it before, and it is a great overload
exercise and one capable of packing on some additional size to those delts of yours.
And then it seems like with every single list we have, there's always that one thing that sort of
falls as an outlier, it doesn't really fit in any one category.
Well, it doesn't mean that we don't do it and for me, that's the Dumbbell Carry. And again,
there's a lot of different ways we can do this exercise, and it does a lot of different things.
It tests not only your fortitude, but it tests your grip, strength and test your stamina
and test your ability to kind of grind out a few extra steps when you don't want to grind
out any more steps. Guys, I love the exercise is definitely one that's going to help you to
bulk up your forearms and your traps. Make sure you do it if you're looking to round
out the development of your entire body and you only have dumbbells at your disposal.
And so now I have a very important question for you, now that you have seen this list
of 30 exercises, I want to know what are your opinions? What are your thoughts? What are your
favorite exercises, guys? If you could only do those five, would you change them now? If
you did leave another comment and tell me what you want to do now? We're looking for programs,
guys, when we put the science back in strength and in the exercise selection we make,
you can find them over at athleanx.com. In fact, an entire dumbbell only training program called
Jacked is waiting for you over there as well. If you found the video helpful make sure you leave
your comments two thumbs up below. If you're looking for more exercises, guys, I have them
all broken down in a categorized list. The best chest exercises, the best shoulder exercises,
I'll write those over here for you. And don't forget to subscribe at turn on your notifications
so you never miss a new video when we put one out. All right guys, see you soon.