Two dumbbells and these eight exercises are all you need for a full-body workout

Forget complicated gym workouts – all you need is two medium dumbbells to build muscle all over

Determined attractive female holding dumbbells while looking away. Young woman is in sports clothing showing toned stomach in gym
(Image credit: Getty Images)

We covered hundreds of full-body workouts on T3 at this point, and there is no sign of us slowing down since we love them. They are time and energy efficient and can often be performed anywhere, as long as you have some home weights at hand. Some of them don't even use any equipment! The below routine uses only two dumbbells and eight exercises but works every single muscle in your body.

To achieve this, you'll be doing a combination of compound and isolating exercises. There are some isometric moves sprinkled in there for good measure. Compound movements use multiple muscle groups, which is great for burning calories and building muscle simultaneously. Isolating exercises focus on one muscle (e.g. biceps curl), while isometric exercises require you to flex the muscle continuously (e.g. planks).

This full-body workout utilises supersets, which are two exercises performed back-to-back without rest. This method puts muscles under tension for longer but, understandably, also exhausts them more, so make sure you do a proper warm-up prior to the session. Do each superset three times before moving on to the next one. Keep around 90-120 second breaks between the supersets. The exercises in this workout are:

  • Bent arm lateral raise to external rotation (3 sets x 10 reps) 
  • Squat press (3 sets x 10 reps)
  • Superset 1 (repeat x3)
  • Bent over narrow grip row (10 preps)
  • Static hold bicep curl (10 preps)
  • Superset 2 (repeat x3)
  • Bear hold toe taps (12 preps)
  • Alternating reverse Lunge (12 preps)
  • Superset 3 (repeat x3)
  • Single leg glute bridge (8 preps)
  • Bent knee crunch (8 preps)

If you haven't got any dumbbells at home, check out T3's best dumbbells roundup for the best options available right now. For more full-body workout action, check out this 25-minute dumbbell HIIT workout to lose weight and build muscle at home, or the best full-body workout, which is only five moves. 

Matt Kollat
Section Editor | Active

Matt Kollat is a journalist and content creator who works for T3.com and its magazine counterpart as an Active Editor. His areas of expertise include wearables, drones, fitness equipment, nutrition and outdoor gear. He joined T3 in 2019. His byline appears in several publications, including Techradar and Fit&Well, and more. Matt also collaborated with other content creators (e.g. Garage Gym Reviews) and judged many awards, such as the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance's ESSNawards. When he isn't working out, running or cycling, you'll find him roaming the countryside and trying out new podcasting and content creation equipment.