Plus, training at home can present challenges. Some guys lack equipment (although there are always bodyweight workouts). Roommates, family, and chores provide easy distractions. That’s why lots of guys tend to view at-home workouts as time saving substitutes for when they can’t make it to the gym, or as lighter, maintenance routines.
All of that may be true. But in a time-crunched world when fitting in a workout can be difficult, the occasional at-home workout is a good option to have. Unlike most gyms, your home (be it your garage or basement) is open 24/7. You can fit in a quality workout in the time you’d otherwise need to commute to the gym.
The 20-minute At-home Workout: How It Works
In this workout, we’re going to focus on a quick, efficient way to train at home in 20 minutes with a pair of adjustable dumbbells and a bench. The workout is structured like a circuit: Do these seven exercises consecutively, resting only once you’ve reached the end of the round. Do three rounds of the circuit total.
We’ll alternate between pushing and pulling exercises, or upper- and lower-body exercises, to keep moving. This will maximize your muscle-building time while even getting some cardio benefit along the way.
Pete Williams is a NASM-certified personal trainer and the author or co-author of a number of books on performance and training.
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Per Bernal / M+F Magazine
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift
Why It Works: RDLs are great for building the proper activation patterns in your hamstrings and glutes while also strengthening your back. All of those muscles are vital at the start of a workout, which is why they’re up first.
How to Do It: Start with a light set of dumbbells. Form is especially key to getting full benefit from the RDL. Don’t think of the exercise as bending forward, but rather as sitting back with your torso moving forward instead of staying upright.
Prescription: 10 reps
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Per Bernal / M+F Magazine
One-Arm, One-Leg Bentover Dumbbell Row
Why It Works: With this move, you stretch the hamstrings in the same time you’d spend with a traditional row. A variation on the traditional one-arm row, this exercise challenges you to maintain total-body stability and balance while concentrating on rowing the dumbbell efficiently.
How to Do It: Balance your free hand on a dumbbell rack or bench, and extend the corresponding leg of your lifting hand back.
Prescription: 10 reps per side
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Per Bernal
Dive-bomber Pushups
Why It Works: This pushup variation requires you to recruit the biceps, triceps, and shoulders more effectively than a standard pushup.
How to Do It: Start with your hips in the air and your feet shoulder-width apart. Lower your head and shoulders down, as if going under a bar. As you push your head and shoulders into position, arch your back. Reverse the process to return to starting position.
Prescription: 10 reps
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Per Bernal / M+F Magazine
Lateral Lunge with Dumbbells
Why It Works: Lateral movement is important for everyday life, but often gets ignored in training. It’s especially useful because it mimics daily movements, providing the “functional fitness” that is so popular these days.
How to Do It: Stand holding dumbbells on your shoulders with elbows up. Step to one side and squat back and down with the stepping leg, keeping the other leg straight. Return to starting position by pushing up with the bent leg. Switch sides and repeat movement.
Prescription: 10 reps per side
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James Michelfelder
Farmer’s Carry (Racked Position)
Why It Works: The traditional farmer’s carry is an effective total-body move that also challenges endurance as you carry the weights over a greater distance. By carrying the dumbbells in a racked position (heads of dumbbells at shoulder level) we further challenge the shoulders and biceps.
How to Do It: Carrying the dumbbells in a racked position, walk for 30 seconds around your home.
Prescription: 30 seconds
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Per Bernal / M+F Magazine
Split Squat
Why It Works: Squatting in the gym and in daily life works the glutes, but the split version with dumbbells places them fully on stretch.
How to Do It: Step out into a lunge with dumbbells at arm’s length at your sides. Lower your hips by squatting back and down. Without letting your back knee touch the floor, drive your weight back up with the front glute. Do 10 sets on one leg and then repeat with the other.
Prescription: 10 reps to each side.
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Per Bernal
Alternating Dumbbell Bench Press
Why It Works: The dumbbell press challenges your shoulders to stabilize the weight more intensively than a barbell bench press. The extra pulse at the end also works the shoulders.
How to Do It: Use a bench if you have it, but if you’re taking the minimalist equipment approach to your at-home workout, the floor will do. (That variation is called a floor press.) Lying face up, holding dumbbells at the outside of your shoulders, and with palms facing your thighs, lift both dumbbells over your chest. Keeping one arm straight, lower the other dumbbell, touch the outside of your shoulder, and push it back up. At the top of the movement, push farther with both hands, as if trying to punch the ceiling.
