20 minute weight bench workout to enhance total body strength and muscle

Forget complicated weight machines, build muscle using just a weight bench and pair of dumbbells

Man doing single arm dumbbell rows
(Image credit: Getty Images)

There are really only two pieces of home gym equipment that you need to increase your strength and size and that’s a weight bench and a pair of dumbbells. These two bits of kit go together like peanut butter and jelly and, with them, you’ll be able to work a multitude of muscles and watch your gains soar. 

Whether you’re a complete newbie to strength training or a diehard gym rat, this weight bench workout is ideal if you’ve got limited time as it targets your entire body using supersets. We mean it, your arms, shoulders, back, legs, glutes and even core will all be left on fire afterwards, so make sure you have your massage gun at the ready for a bit of post-recovery TLC.

For this workout work your way through the three supersets below. Just in case you're new to supersets, a superset is where you perform two exercises back to back without any rest in between. You'll do each exercise for 40 seconds of work and once you've completed one round of the superset, rest for 45 seconds, then go into your next set. Once you've completed one entire superset, rest for 120 seconds, then start the next one. Here's your workout:

Superset 1

Complete three rounds 

  • Dumbbell step ups
  • Single arm dumbbell row

Superset 2

Complete three rounds

  • Chest flies
  • Reverse crunches

Superset 3

  • Bulgarian split squats
  • Tricep dips

For similar workouts, check out this four-move weight bench workout to help sculpt upper body muscle, or this lower body dumbbell workout for a quad and glute burn. Although the workout above did include an ab exercise, don't forget to dedicate some time solely to your core; this five-move workout from fitness expert Dr Aaron Horschig is perfect.

Bryony Firth-Bernard
Staff Writer, Active

Bryony’s T3’s official ‘gym-bunny’ and Active Staff Writer, covering all things fitness. In her spare time, you will find her in her natural habitat - the gym - where her style of training is a hybrid of bodybuilding and powerlifting. Bryony loves writing about accessible workouts, nutrition and testing innovative fitness products that help you reach your fitness goals and take your training to the next level.