- Level
- Beginner
- Days a week
- 3–4 days
- Goal
- General fitness
- Equipment
- Dumbbells
- How long
- 8–16 weeks, then repeat with heavier dumbbells
- Created by
- Splyt
This is Splyt’s program for training at home with a pair of dumbbells, adjustable or fixed. It is an upper/lower split you can run three or four days a week, built around movements that load well with dumbbells: split squats, Romanian deadlifts, presses and rows.
The challenge at home is progression when you only have a few weights. The program handles that with rep ranges, tempo and single-leg work, so the same dumbbells stay challenging for longer.
This program is Splyt’s own. Use it, share it and adapt it as you like.
Who it’s for
Anyone training at home, in a hotel or in a garage, from complete beginners to people with a year or two of lifting. A bench helps but isn’t required; the floor press and a sturdy chair cover most of it.
The weekly schedule
| Day | Four-day week | Three-day week |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Upper A | Upper A |
| Tuesday | Lower A | — |
| Wednesday | — | Lower A |
| Thursday | Upper B | — |
| Friday | Lower B | Upper B, then Lower B next week |
Every workout
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dumbbell bench press | 4 × 8–12 | Floor press without a bench |
| Dumbbell row | 4 × 10 each arm | |
| Seated dumbbell shoulder press | 3 × 8–12 | |
| Dumbbell curl | 3 × 10–15 | |
| Overhead triceps extension | 3 × 10–15 |
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Goblet squat | 4 × 10–15 | 3-second lowering |
| Dumbbell Romanian deadlift | 4 × 8–12 | |
| Bulgarian split squat | 3 × 8–12 each leg | |
| Calf raise | 3 × 15–20 | Hold a dumbbell, one leg at a time |
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Push-up | 4 × as many as possible | Elevate feet as they get easy |
| Chest-supported dumbbell row | 4 × 10–12 | On an incline bench or chair back |
| Dumbbell lateral raise | 3 × 12–20 | |
| Hammer curl | 3 × 10–12 | |
| Dumbbell reverse fly | 3 × 12–15 |
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dumbbell lunge | 4 × 10 each leg | |
| Single-leg Romanian deadlift | 3 × 10 each leg | |
| Dumbbell step-up | 3 × 10 each leg | |
| Glute bridge | 3 × 12–15 | Dumbbell on the hips |
Rest 60–120 seconds between sets. If your heaviest dumbbells are light for a lift, slow the lowering to three seconds or pause at the bottom; both make a light weight work much harder.
How to progress
Use double progression: reach the top of the rep range on all sets, then use the next dumbbell up. With adjustable dumbbells that is easy. With fixed pairs, add reps first, then sets, then switch to the single-leg or paused version of the lift before you need heavier weights.
Stalls and deloads
Every six to eight weeks, take a week at about half the sets. If your sleep or energy drops, take it sooner.
How long to run it
Run a block of eight to sixteen weeks. When you can do 20 or more reps on squats and presses with your heaviest dumbbells, it is time for heavier dumbbells or a gym.
What to do next
With access to a gym, move to the 4-day upper/lower program or a barbell linear progression. Without one, a set of heavier adjustable dumbbells extends this program for a long time.
Common mistakes
Chasing reps with sloppy form
At home, reps creep upward because form slips. Keep the tempo honest.
Only training upper body
Lower days feel harder with dumbbells, but they are where most of your muscle is.
Never progressing
Without heavier weights, add reps, slow down or move to one-leg variations. Something must get harder every few weeks.
Running it in Splyt
Build each workout above as a template in Splyt. When you finish a session, the weights you actually lifted carry into the next run of that template, so every set shows last time’s numbers beside it and you can see at a glance whether to add weight. Log on iPhone or Apple Watch, and the Watch counts your reps for you.
Have the program in a spreadsheet or screenshot already? Import it and Splyt turns it into editable templates. Use the one-rep max calculator to set a training max, the warm-up calculator for warm-up sets in whole plates, and strength standards to see where your lifts sit for your bodyweight.
Questions
Can you build muscle with just dumbbells?
Yes. Muscle responds to hard sets close to failure, and dumbbells provide that for years if you progress reps, tempo and single-leg variations.
What weight dumbbells should I buy?
Adjustable dumbbells that go to at least 50 lb (22–25 kg) each will last most people a long time. Fixed pairs: a light, a medium and a heavy pair.
Do I need a bench?
It helps for presses and rows but isn’t essential. Floor presses and chest-supported rows on a chair work fine.
Similar programs
- Bodyweight Recommended Routine — beginner, 3 days
- 3-day full body beginner program — beginner, 3 days
- 4-day upper lower program — intermediate, 4 days
- Every program, by level and days
More for your training
- Workout splits: how push pull legs, upper/lower and full body compare
- Ready-made workouts for every muscle and piece of equipment
- The exercise library: how to do every lift above
- Strength standards by lift and bodyweight
Run this program in Splyt, the workout tracker for iPhone and Apple Watch that remembers what you lifted. Get Splyt free on the App Store