Working out with a single dumbbell may sound foolish, but imagine the following scenarios. You walk into the gym, ready to roll, and it is packed, and most of the equipment is taken. This makes completing your current program an annoying challenge. Or the will to train is strong, but time is short, or you could be looking for some variety in your workout for whatever reason.
What do you do?
Here’s a suggestion. Grab a dumbbell and do the following exercises and workouts below. These single dumbbell workouts will have you sweating—perhaps even smiling—in no time and able to quickly hit the showers while others are still wrapping finish up their day.
Here we’ll dive into the advantages of using dumbbells, the best single dumbbell exercises, and a couple of single dumbbell workout examples to get your sweat on.
Advantages of Training with a Single Dumbbell
Decreases strength imbalances: Training with one dumbbell will help strengthen imbalances between sides when performing unilateral exercises if any exist. When training with barbells, one side can take over for another, creating strength imbalances.
Ease of use: You need to take the plates on and off the barbells, and often, another piece of equipment is required to do exercises like a bench or a squat rack. This is not a big deal, but this can be an issue when the gym is busy, and equipment is scarce.
Freedom of movement: Barbells and trap bars will lock you into a specific range of motion, which is great for lifting more weight. But with dumbbells, you can hold them with different grips, like the neutral grip. Changing your grip can make it easier on your wrist, elbow, and shoulder joints.
Improved muscle development: Holding and lifting a single dumbbell in offset, goblet, or rack style will strengthen imbalances between sides, leading to better muscle development on the smaller or weaker side.
How to Hold a Dumbbell
There are a few ways to hold a single dumbbell to increase the training effect, particularly on the squats, lunges, and carries. Holding one dumbbell by your side, like with a suitcase carry, provides an offset load that challenges your balance and core stability.
Holding the dumbbell goblet style provides more anterior core action and is more difficult because the weight is further from your legs. Plus, holding a single dumbbell in the front rack position will challenge your upper back, balance, and glutes more. And having one dumbbell overhead is the most challenging position for a reason already listed.
There is no right or wrong way to hold a dumbbell. Use a position that challenges you and aligns with your fitness goals.
Common Single Dumbbell Exercises
Theoretically, for most exercises where you use two dumbbells, you can use one, but some exercises IMO work better with one dumbbell. Here is a selection of exercises you can use in any single dumbbell workout.
Total body: Snatch, squat to press, push press, hang clean, and hang clean and press.
Carries: Suitcase, goblet, rack, and overhead carry.
Rows: Bench single arm row, RDL row, deadstop row, chest supported row, 3-point row, lawnmower row, bent over row, and Birddog row.
Squats: Sumo, goblet, suitcase, offset front squat, offset overhead squat, and split squat variations.
Lunges & other lSingle-leg exercises: Reverse, side, forward, and curtsy lunge using any dumbbell positions listed above. Single-leg deadlifts and step-ups.
Chest & shoulders: Bench press, pullover, floor press, deadbug floor press, Standing and seated shoulder presses, and Arnold press.
Hinges: Dumbbell deadlift, hip thrust, single-leg hip thrust, and offset bilateral RDL.
Single Dumbbell Workouts To Burn Fat and Build Muscle
Note: You can sub in a similar exercise of your choosing. The following suggestions are not written in stone.
Take these single dumbbell workouts for a spin when you’re short on time or equipment. You’ll strengthen imbalances between sides while burning calories and hitting the showers early. You can thank me later. Or not.
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Dumbbell Unilateral Complex
You’ll finish all the reps of one exercise before moving on to the next, and the dumbbell doesn’t touch the ground until you’ve completed all the exercises in the complex. Do all exercises and reps on one side before switching to the other. Both sides equal one round. Do two to four rounds of 3 to 8 reps per exercise.
Snatch
Overhead Carry
Front Squat
Push Press
Lawnmower Row
Design Your Single Dumbbell Complex
Dumbbell complexes are one way to make a lightweight feel heavy and are a great combo of strength and conditioning training. Putting together your complex is fun and keeps this interesting, and you can only blame yourself (and not me) if it sucks. If you’re interested in making your own, here are a few things to consider.
Keep the complexes between 4 to 6 exercises.
Your weakest movement determines the weight you will use for the rest of the exercises in the circuit.
Ensure the lifts occur logically, like the workout above. For example, how did the dumbbells get there if you did a bent-over row followed by a front squat? Performing bent-over rows to a dumbbell clean makes more sense because the dumbbell is in a better position to do the front squat after the clean.
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Single Dumbbell Circuit Workout
The circuit workout is different because you’ll be doing both sides when it’s a unilateral exercise, and you can perform it for repetitions or time. Now literally any combination of exercises works in a circuit, but it can be argued that a full-body circuit using five to six exercises and alternating between upper- and lower-body exercises may work best.
Alternating between upper and lower body exercises makes the heart work harder because it has to push blood from the upper to the lower body and vice versa. This process, called peripheral heart rate training, encourages more fat burn and has some cardiovascular benefits. Like with the complex, let your weakest movement determine the weight for the other exercises.
Here’s an example and a format you can use to design your single dumbbell circuit.
1A. Goblet Squat 8 to 15 reps.
1B. Floor press 8 to 15 reps on each side.
1C. Suitcase Carry 40-100 yards on each side.
1D. Front Racked Reverse Lunge 8-15 reps on both sides.
1E. RDL Row 8 to 15 reps on each side
Here’s a simple format to design your dumbbell circuit using the exercises above or the ones of your choosing.
