Tag: at-home workouts

  • The dumbbell workout plan to build muscle at home

    The dumbbell workout plan to build muscle at home

    You’ve gotta have a dumbbell workout plan in your arsenal.

    I love my pair of 20-pound dumbbells. Actually, I love my 15-pounders, too. For me, I usually use them to supplement my typical workouts in the gym, but after going through COVID, sometimes I’ll train at home for weeks on end.

    While I believe the fastest, most effective way to building muscle and losing fat is traditional weight training, bodyweight or minimal equipment workouts can still create serious results. You don’t need to go to the gym to get fit. You can do a lot with a little, and this plan is all you need.

    And if you’ve been following HFP for a while now, you’re very well aware that a large majority of weight management is diet. Still confused about food? Check out this piece on intuitive eating for lean muscle. It’s a solid, straight-forward, no-bs, layman’s guide to your body on food and how to figure it out for yourself.

    Now, back to that pair of two dumbbells. The following plan will help you build muscle, lose fat, and increase your endurance in under an hour. Read on.

    Now, back to that pair of two dumbbells. The following plan will help you build muscle, lose fat, and increase your endurance in under an hour. Read on.

    How the 2-dumbbell workout plan works

    Plan 1 is 4 days. Plan 2 is 3 days.

    The 4 day plan is broken into splits of upper body and lower body. After you work one part of the body it has chance to recover the next day as you work the other. Cardio is optional, depending on how you physically feel and how well you’re seeing results.

    The 3 day plan is broken into full body splits with a day of rest in between each of them. This is probably the best option for complete beginners as we train the entire body and have ample amount of rest. However, intermediates can easily add more reps, rounds, or reduce the rest to make this one serious challenge. More on that below.

    If you’re more interested in bodyweight training, check our 10 best bodyweight workouts for building muscle and losing weight

    Both plans, the 4-day and the 3-day will incorporate the three following techniques:

    Circuits: all of the workouts will consist of a series of exercises in which you will perform one after the other with no rest (unless you need a little bit because you’re gassed). The purpose of this is to elevate your heart rate to increase the caloric burn. The overall goal is to move through the circuit or circuits as quickly as possible with good form.

    Slow eccentrics: Eccentrics are a focus on the lowering or returning of the weight. When you lower a curl down, that’s the eccentric. When you curl the weight up, that’s the concentric. Slow eccentrics increase the intensity of an exercise by recruiting more muscle fibers. You’ll see what we mean when you start doing them. There will be specified exercises listed with “eccentric” before the name.

    Statics: Statics are a pause in the finish spot of the exercise. To us the same example as above with the curl, when the weight is at the top, you’ll hold it there and squeeze for a prescribed amount of time. This is another great way to add variety into your workouts, especially when you’re limited with the amount of resistance you can use. There will be specified exercises listed with “static” before the name. Hold the last rep of the exercise for as long as possible.

    The Benefits of Dumbbell Workouts

    Dumbbell workouts are fantastic for several reasons. They’re versatile, allowing you to target multiple muscle groups for overall muscle mass enhancement. Adjustable dumbbells offer the flexibility to vary your resistance as you progress, making them suitable for all fitness levels. Whether you’re looking to build muscle or burn fat, dumbbells are a convenient and effective tool.

    Maximizing Muscle Growth with Dumbbells

    To capitalize on muscle growth, focus on exercises that work multiple muscle groups simultaneously. This approach, known as compound movements, includes exercises like dumbbell squats and deadlifts. They help increase muscle mass and improve functional strength. Additionally, varying your training volume – the number of sets and reps – can stimulate different aspects of muscle growth and endurance.

    Tips for Maintaining Proper Form and Safety

    Proper form is crucial for effective training and injury prevention. Especially for beginners, working with a personal trainer, even virtually, can provide valuable guidance. Key tips include keeping your core tight during exercises, ensuring your back is straight during movements like the bent-over row, and always controlling the weight during lifts to maintain muscle engagement.

    Incorporating Dumbbells into Full Body Workouts

    Dumbbells are not just for isolated exercises; they can be incorporated into dynamic full-body workouts. Use them in movements like the squat to press (thruster) to work both the lower and upper body simultaneously. Exercises like the dumbbell clean and press engage the entire body, providing a comprehensive workout that builds strength and improves cardiovascular fitness.

    Building a Dumbbell Workout Routine

    Creating an effective dumbbell workout routine involves balancing exercises for different muscle groups. Ensure you’re targeting both the upper and lower body evenly throughout the week. Incorporate dynamic movements for overall fitness and core exercises for stability and posture. This balanced approach ensures comprehensive development and reduces the risk of muscle imbalances.

    Related: 35+ free workout plans for different goals and ability levels

    The 4-day 2-dumbbell workout plan

    Day 1: Upper Body

     

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    1A. Eccentric DB push-up x10
    1B. DB alternating bent-over row x10 (each side)
    1C. Pull-up/chin-up x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    2A. DB hammer curl x10
    2B. DB neutral-grip shoulder press x10
    2C. Incline close-grip push-up x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    3A. Lying leg raise x10
    3B. Superman x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    Day 2: Lower Body

    1A. Eccentric DB squat x10
    1B. DB reverse lunge x10 (each side)
    1C. DB single-leg deadlift x10

    2A. Plank shoulder tap x10 (each side)
    2B. Glute bridge x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3,5,7, or 10 rounds

    Day 3: OFF/Cardio

    Day 4: Upper Body

    1A. Pull-up/chin-up x10
    1B. Eccentric DB bent-over row x10 (both arms)
    1C. Eccentric DB floor press x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    2A. Static DB side lateral raise x10
    2B. DB open-palm curl x10
    2C. DB lying tricep extension x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    3A. DB plank row x10
    3B. Traditional sit-up x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    Day 5: Lower Body

     

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    1A. Eccentric DB front squat x10
    1B. Eccentric DB Bulgarian split squat x10 (each side)
    1C. DB single-leg deadlift x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    2A. Traditional sit-up x10
    2B. Single-leg glute bridge x10 (each side)

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    Day 6: OFF/Cardio

    Day 7: OFF/Cardio

    In week two, attempt 11 or 12 reps per exercise. Or add an additional round.

     

    The 3-day 2-dumbbell workout plan

    Day 1: Full Body

     

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    1A. DB thruster x 10
    1B. Single-leg DB deadlift x10
    1C. Traditional sit-up x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    2A. DB push-up x10
    2B. Pull-up/chin-up x10
    2C. DB reverse lunge x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    3A. DB side lateral raise x10
    3B. DB alternating bent-over row x10
    3C. DB front squat x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    Day 2: OFF/Cardio

    Day 3: Full Body

    1A. DB push-up and row x 10
    1B. Pull-up/chin-up x10
    1C. Plank shoulder tap x10 (each side)

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    2A. DB front squat x10
    2B. DB single-leg deadlift x10
    2C. Lying leg raise x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    3A. DB neutral-grip shoulder press x10
    3B. DB hammer curl x10
    3C. Jump/hop squat x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    Day 4: OFF/Cardio

    Day 5: Full Body

    1A. DB squat+curl+press x 10
    1B. DB push-up x10
    1C. Traditional sit-up x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    2A.  DB reverse lunge x10
    2B.  DB high pull x10
    2C.  DB open-palm curl x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    3A. Pull-up/chin-up x10
    3B.  DB alternating bent-over row x10
    3C.  Close-grip/diamond push-up x10

    Rest 45-60 seconds. Repeat for 3-5 rounds.

    Day 6: OFF/Cardio

    Day 7: OFF

    How to progress with the 2-dumbbell workout plan?

    If you’re feeling it’s time to crank up the intensity a bit (and you should from week-to-week) in some way or another. You can easily do the following three things:

    Add more rounds: start by adding 1 round to each of the circuits, then maybe 2 or 3.

    More reps: Instead of going with the prescribed 10 reps, bump that up to 11, 12, 13+, whatever you can do.

    Less rest: If you’re really just turning into a workout machine, drop the rest periods. Get even faster. Make your heart pound!

  • How to Build Something Big with Aly Orady, CEO of Tonal

    How to Build Something Big with Aly Orady, CEO of Tonal

    Aly Orady spent over 15 years in technology building super computers. Professionally, he was doing very well, but his health started taking some hits. While he struggled with his weight since childhood, things progressively got worse as the years passed.

    After being diagnosed with diabetes and sleep apnea, Orady decided it was time to tell the supercomputers they’d have to be a bit less super while he focused on his  fitness. In 2013, he quit his job for nine months and lost 70 pounds.

    Throughout that process,  he learned about how difficult strength training is for most people.

    Ultimately, he wanted to figure out a way to strength train from the convenience of home, shrink the equipment down, and have modern measurement tools and on-demand coaching to support him. In 2015, Orady began quietly working on Tonal, a wall-mounted fitness system using “digital weights”, a first-ever technological contribution to fitness.

    Now that it’s officially on the market, check out what we thought of it after our first look here.

    Orady knows a thing or two about technology, fitness, and business. Here are some lessons on how to be a little bit better at whatever it is you do, from the Bay Area CEO himself.

    Aly Orady, Founder and CEO of Tonal used his weight loss journey to inspire his creation.

    What was the worst idea you ever had and what did you learn from it?

    Well, this isn’t my first startup. I had another startup where we were trying to reinvent the way desktop computing was done. The startup was, by some measure, successful. We got to a point where we were raising $10 million and we were selling $10 million worth of product every year. In many other ways, it was a huge failure. We were trying to get to the point where we were selling $100 million worth of product a year.

    It was a terrible idea because I didn’t really know what I was up against. We thought that we had reinvented the way desktop computers worked but we failed to really recognize who all the key players were in the industry, what control they had, what levers they had and how we basically had no great path to get what we believed to be a great technology out to the world.

    It’s not just about the technology sometimes. It’s about figuring out how to really deliver it to the end user, understanding how the ecosystem works. That was a six-year lesson for me.

    Say someone has a great idea, what should be their very first move?

    I would tell people to write down the three or four or five things that they’re going to need in order to be successful and then go find, on that list, the thing that they’re least comfortable with. Go figure that out first.

    As entrepreneurs, and actually it’s human nature, we all have a tendency to want to immerse ourselves in the most comfortable parts, the things that we’re so good at. We tend to put off and neglect the pieces that we’re not good at. If you really believe something is important, you have to go after it, even if you’re not comfortable.

    I’ve looked at a lot of different ideas over the years. I tell myself, “You’re not allowed to write code until you’ve talked to at least ten customers first” or “You’re not allowed to do xyz until you do this other really hard thing first.” It’s about really pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, doing things that are important that we might otherwise be inclined to want to put off.

    What does it actually mean to be an entrepreneur aside from “long hours” and “hard work”?

    At the end of the day, the buck stops with you. Whenever something absolutely has to get done, whenever something goes wrong, people will help you. Employees who are passionate and employees who are driven will do as much as they can, but there comes a point where you’re ultimately responsible and what that translates into is, as an entrepreneur, you’re the one who is doing all the gap-filling in the organization.

    You’re constantly trying to hire people to fill gaps. You’re doing intern jobs. You’re putting your finger in this hole to keep the water from leaking out. You’re trying to whack this mole over here. That just turns into more work than you ever expected.

    Often, it’s a surprise. A lot of these things happen, you can’t anticipate a lot of this stuff. It’s happening last minute. That’s probably the hardest thing. You’re trying to constantly hire people to do your job and you never succeed at that. There’s just always one more person you’ve got to hire, if you’re being successful.

    What’s your take on learning from failure and staying positive when everything seems to be going wrong?

    I’ve actually always had this saying, which is, “As an entrepreneur, you have to have thick skin and not a thick head.” What I mean by that is a thick head means you’re stubborn. You keep insisting on doing the same thing over and over again without learning. A thick skin means you take failure in stride and you learn from it.

    You will fail and you have to take what you’re learning and use that as an opportunity to iterate and do the next thing, not just keep persisting mindlessly at doing the same failing thing. That’s really, I believe, the most important part, driving that cycle of learning.

    Entrepreneurs by definition are doing something that’s never been done before. The path forward is not clear. You have to discover that path and you have to do it with an open mind and an open heart.

    How do you stay ahead of the competition?

    You have to be very aware of your strengths and very aware of their blind spots. Every company, as it grows, develops blind spots, even its own. As we grow, at some point, we’re [Tonal] going to develop blind spots and have to work hard to try and see what we can’t see. If you’re aware of the places that your competition naturally will not go, it really shows you where a lot of your opportunity is.

    How do you cause a positive disruption and spark change?

    My first instinct is, and I know this sounds cliché, but you have to challenge assumptions. You have to challenge conventional wisdom.

    I feel like there’s this thing that I call institutionalized discouragement. What I mean by that is if you walk into a kindergarten classroom, and you say, “Hey, kids. Raise your hand if you think you’re an artist,” everyone will raise their hand. If you walk into a fifth-grade classroom and ask the same question, you’ll be lucky if you see two or three hands. At some point, the kids were told or came to believe that they weren’t artists. They gave up on being an artist and they no longer believe that it’s possible.

    I’ve been inside big companies and I’ll say things like, “Hey, why don’t we do it this way?” or “why don’t we do this?” or “have we considered that?” and everyone in the room will look at you and with one voice are like, “Oh, that’s not possible.” At some point, the institution had learned not to do certain things, not to try certain things, not to think in certain ways. That limits the possibilities for them. If you want to be innovative, if you want to be disruptive, you have to look beyond all these things that people think are impossible.

    Who or what was your childhood inspiration growing up?

    They’ve changed tremendously. Its’ funny. I know this is crazy but I remember watching Gilligan’s Island as a child. My favorite character was The Professor. I was the type of kid who would take my toys apart rather than playing with them. I was more interested in how they worked. I think I was always inspired by just curiosity and how things worked.

    And how have they changed in your adult life?

    Right now my inspirations are all amazing business leaders. I’ve found that the greatest technological innovations often happen by yourself in a lab late at night whereas building an amazing business takes thousands of people working together and figuring out how to lead thousands of people with their various backgrounds and attitudes and emotions and skills and blind spots and strengths. That’s an incredibly difficult thing to do and I have tremendous respect for people who have done it well, anyone from Jeff Bezos to Howard Schultz to Steve Jobs. It’s really inspirational how they are able to build up those organizations and build the DNA to get them to do what they’ve done.

  • The 4-week Intermix workout plan for building more lean muscle in less time

    The 4-week Intermix workout plan for building more lean muscle in less time

    When the weather is great, no one wants to spend too much time cooped up in the gym. The 4-week Intermix workout plan by HFP contributor Bryan Olson (@thebryandavidolson) is the perfect solution for building lean muscle when you want to keep training time to a minimum. Another added bonus: cardio is kept to a minimum too.

    There’s two parts: weight lifting days and conditioning days. Only two days are in the gym and three can be done outdoors or at-home.

    How the Intermix plan works

    The weight lifting days (two) are solely focused on building rock-solid lean muscle with the five big lifts: squat, deadlift, bench press, row, and overhead press. You’ll perform each exercise for 10 reps and rest for approximately 90 seconds. This is a sweet spot for building mass.

    Need some tips and cues on how to do the main lifts better? Check out our how-to guide of the best exercises for men and women

    In between the weight lifting days are the bodyweight-only conditioning workouts (three). These routines will compliment the muscle-building routines and act as fat-loss accelerators. They’re high-intensity, non-stop circuits to get your heart rate elevated and metabolism firing.

    With the combination of these two, you’ve essentially transformed your body into a lean, mean, muscle-building machine. You’re bulking up and cutting fat, simultaneously.

    Want more gut-busting, metabolism-stoking routines? Check out our 5 high-intensity Hurricane workouts for fat-loss.

    Directions

    Work out for five days straight, then rest for two days. Day 1 and day 4 are in the gym, day 2, 3, and 5 are outdoors or at-home. Follow the plan for 4 weeks then cycle through another round but increase the weight used. Or, transition onto another program. If you want more mass, try our 4-week Bulk Up plan. More strength? Try the 4-week Pre-cut plan or the 3-day Monster plan. If you want a similar program, check out our Quick-Switch workout plan. If you’re looking for more weight training, check out the BUILT for the BEACH v2 workout plan.

    The Intermix Workout Routines

    DAY 1 — In the gym


    1. BACK SQUAT 3-5 sets 10 reps rest 90 sec

    2. BENCH PRESS 3-5 sets 10 reps rest 90 sec

    3. BENT-OVER ROW 3-5 sets 10 reps rest 90 sec

    4. OVERHEAD PRESS 3-5 sets 10 reps 90 sec

    DAY 2 — Outdoor/at-home


    Complete 3 rounds with 60 seconds rest
    1A. BURPEE x 10
    1B. MOUNTAIN CLIMBER x 20
    1C. FLUTTER KICK x 30

    Complete 3 rounds with 60 seconds rest
    2A. PUSH UP x 10
    2B. JUMPING SPLIT SQUAT x 20
    2C. HOLLOW ROCK x 30

    Complete 3 rounds with 60 seconds rest
    3A. JUMP SQUAT x 10
    3B. ICE SKATERS x 20
    3C. JUMPING JACKS x 30

    Day 3 — Outdoor/at-home


    1. RUN 1-2 miles

    Repeat the following circuit until 100 reps are reached.
    2A. PUSH UPS x 10
    2B. SQUATS x 10
    2C. PLANK SHOULDER TAPS x 10
    2D. SUPERMAN x 10

    3. RUN 1-2 miles

    Day 4 — In the gym


    1. DEADLIFT 3-5 sets 10 reps rest 90 sec

    2. BENCH PRESS 3-5 sets 10 reps rest 90 sec

    3. FRONT SQUAT 3-5 sets 10 reps rest 90 sec

    4. OVERHEAD PRESS 3-5 sets 10 reps 90 sec

    Day 5 — Outdoor/at-home


    1. JUMP ROPE x 4 minutes with no rest.

    2. DB THRUSTER x 20 seconds on. 10 seconds off. Complete for 4 minutes.

    3. DB RENEGADE ROW WALKS x 20 seconds on. 10 seconds off. Complete for 4 minutes.

    4. 40 YARD DASH x Sprint very minute on the minute for 4 minutes.

    5. LUNGES FOR TIME x 4 minutes with no rest.

    This workout series was originally produced by HFP for MensFitness.com.