6 Best Full-Body Dumbbell Workouts to Do at Home

While barbell and bodyweight exercises are great, you can do a variety of full-body dumbbell workouts because they can be used in many different ways. Dumbbells are probably the best way to work out your whole body.

Dumbbells will allow you to move through a wider range of motion and improve your flexibility and mobility. As a form of resistance training, this exercise will ensure that your muscles have more stretch and contraction tension, which is great for building muscle.

Full-Body Dumbbell Workouts to Do at Home

Check out the following six full-body dumbbell workouts that work out the entire body.

1) Dumbbell Squat with Bicep Curl

The dumbbell squat with bicep curl is a great full-body dumbbell workout for most people, irrespective of their fitness levels, because it is a total-body compound exercise that is easy to do.

To do this full-body dumbbell workout:

Stand up straight, keeping your feet about hip-width apart, and hold the dumbbells out to your sides with a neutral grip.
Squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Keep the dumbbells out to your sides.
Drive up from your heels while curling the dumbbells at the same time.
As you curl the dumbbells, try to keep your elbows close to your sides.
When you're standing, slowly lower and rotate the dumbbells down to your sides until your grip is neutral. This is one repetition.

2) Dumbbell Forward Lunge with Tricep Extension

The dumbbell forward lunge with tricep extension is an excellent full-body dumbbell workout for your legs, glutes, and triceps. It also offers a good way to improve your athleticism because it will test your balance and coordination, which will help you build a strong core.

To do this exercise:

Stand up straight with your feet about hip-width apart and a dumbbell in each hand.
Press the dumbbells up over your head and down behind your head so that your elbows are bent about 90 degrees or less.
Step forward with your left foot and lunge down until your legs are about 90 degrees apart.
From the lunge position, straighten your elbows to bring your arms up and over your head.
Bring the dumbbells back behind your head and press through the heel of your front leg to stand up again.
Do the same thing on the other side. This is one full rep.

3) Dumbbell Close Grip Shoulder Press Sit Up

The dumbbell close grip shoulder press sit up is not technically a "full-body" exercise because it doesn't work the lower body. However, it uses the upper body as a whole, so it is still a good fit for your workout routine.

To do this exercise:

Get down on your knees.
You want something to hold your feet down, if possible.
Like a close grip hammer press, put the dumbbells on your chest and upper abs.
Do a sit-up while pressing the dumbbells up and overhead at the same time.
When you get to the top of a sit-up, your arms should be straight up over your head.
Slowly lower back down from the sit up as you carefully lower the dumbbells.
Don't let your elbows flare out.

4) Dumbbell Thruster

This is the most complex full-body dumbbell workout that you can do because it works on all your joints. Consequently, while it really does work almost every muscle in your body, your quads, glutes, core, and shoulders get the most work.

To do this exercise:

Standing with your feet about shoulder-width apart, bring the dumbbells up to your shoulders while keeping your grip neutral.
Your elbows will point in front of you.
Get as low as you can while keeping good form.
Drive up from the heels of your feet and press the dumbbells up overhead at the same time.
As you press the dumbbells up, turn your hands outward so that when the dumbbells reach the top, your palms are facing forward.
Bring the weights back down to shoulder level with a neutral grip. This is the end of one rep.

5) Dumbbell Push Press

The dumbbell push press is a powerful full-body dumbbell workout that uses the knees and hips to help lift heavier dumbbells. Because of this, it is a great way to build muscle mass and quick strength.

To do this exercise:

Straighten your back and put your feet shoulder-width apart.
Bring the weights up to your shoulders, although you have to be careful that they do not touch your shoulders.
During the whole exercise, you should hold the dumbbells with a neutral hammer grip.
Do a quarter squat, then press the dumbbells straight up overhead as you explode back up.
When the dumbbells reach the top of the press, your legs will be stretched out, and your hips will be in a neutral position.
Slowly bring the weights down to shoulder level. This is one repetition.

6) Dumbbell Burpee

The dumbbell burpee is an advanced exercise for sure, since the bodyweight burpee is already a killer workout.

To do this full-body dumbbell workout:

From a standing position with a dumbbell in each hand in a neutral position, squat down.
Put the dumbbells on the floor about shoulder-width apart, and hop your feet back into a plank.
From the plank position, you can either do a push-up or jump back into the squat/deadlift position and lift the dumbbell up while keeping your spine as straight as possible.
As you get up, explode off your feet, so you jump into the air with the dumbbells at your sides.
Try to land as softly as possible. To do this, land with your knees slightly bent instead of fully straight. This is the end of one rep.

Takeaway

If you already know how to do bodyweight exercises, these dumbbell exercises can be a nice change.

When you do the same exercises over and over again, you can sometimes hit a plateau. This means that you stop losing weight and that doing the same exercises over and over does not challenge your body anymore. These full-body dumbbell workouts can add some variety and introduce a new challenge to your workout.