The Best Dumbbell Exercises for Building Muscle (GET JACKED!)

The best dumbbell exercises for building muscle could entail a lot of movements, but which ones are the best? In this video, I am going to show you my selection of the 30 best dumbbell exercises to build muscle. Not only that, but I am going to break them down into specific muscle groups as well to

And so what I hold before me is  the official list. That’s right, the greatest dumbbell exercises of all  time when it comes to building muscle. So with that said, guys, we had a lot to cover  here, let’s start revealing them one by one.

What s up guys, Jeff Cavaliere, athleanx. com. Did  you ever wonder what the best dumbbell exercises you could possibly do if your goal was to build  muscle? Don’t worry about it because as I said, I put together a list that I’m going to reveal  here for you today. But before we even get started guys, this is a participation opportunity here.

If you could only have five dumbbell exercises that you could do, list them for me below in the  comments. Tell me what your five favorite are of all time. That being said, I’ve gone a little bit  more comprehensive than that 30 in total, breaking them down muscle group by muscle group to help you  so that you know what places to focus your efforts on and maybe what exercises not to. Now this is  not an all-encompassing list, of course, there’s more exercises than just these 30. But I believe  these are the ones that hold the best opportunity to help you grow.

So that being said, guys,  let’s start breaking them down one by one. Now, I m going to kick off the list with where I  always like to kick off my list and that’s biceps. And the easy thing here is you’re going to  be looking at a bunch of curl variations, but specific reasons why some rank better than others. And I say rank, there is no ranking between the exercise in terms of this one is better than that  or this one is better than that. If you want to know that information, guys, make sure you check  our exercises ranked series videos.

I’ll link those for you at the end of this one. That being said, let’s start looking at the curls. And the first thing for me is the Standing  Alternating Dumbbell Curl. And I’ve mentioned before, when I’m looking to build my biceps,  I don’t want to be undermined by a weakness in the core, so I’m not going to move both dumbbells  at the same time. I’m going to focus on one at a time, and this gives me the opportunity to do  just that.

Of course, the Waiter s Curl is my favorite exercise for creating that contraction  on the biceps in the peak contracted state. This kneeling option is actually one that  helps those that find it uncomfortable with the dumbbell hitting into their junk at the  top of a standing variation here. The Cross Body Hammer Curl now shifts the focus to the brachialis  rather than the biceps. And because we’re able to get into this pronated position and keep the arm  close to the body, we can handle heavier weights and really overload this important muscle. The Dumbbell Drag Curl gives us a chance to hit the biceps long head, and we do that by  keeping that arm back into extension.

Oftentimes, we never even think about doing this unless  we’re doing a Dumbbell Incline Curl. This is a great way to overload that long head and get some  additional growth. And of course, the Dumbbell weighted Chinup has always been one of my favorite  exercises for building bigger biceps. You take a classic calisthenic exercise that’s difficult  for many, you add additional load because of the dumbbell in between your feet, and you’ve got now  one very capable of helping you to build out those biceps and stretch out those short sleeves. And so now we move around to the other side of the arms, are talking about the triceps.

And for  me, there’s four exercises here I want you to focus on. First and foremost is the Lying Tricep  Extension, I ve mentioned many times before that this is the exercise when it comes to building big  triceps because it has that important component of placing a stretch on the long head that a  lot of tricep exercises like the Push Down say do not. The next one is the Dumbbell JM  Press and unlike the tricep extension, this one actually doesn’t have that long head  stretch. But what it does do is it gives you a chance to load the exercise up. And when we’re  talking about building bigger triceps without machines and without barbells, this is going  to give you the chance to actually use heavier dumbbells and get the overload that’s going to be  able to create the size you’re looking for.

Of course, we keep it going here with something  completely on the light end of the spectrum, it’s the Dumbbell Kickback. And I know a lot of  people are like, there’s no way that that’s one of the best exercises of all time. But yes, it  is, because it is actually one of the very few exercises that would place that long head of the  triceps in its peak contracted state. So while the stretch exercises do a great job of putting it in  that stretch position, the peak contracted state is one we don’t want to ignore either and the  Dumbbell Kickback does that phenomenally. The last exercise that’s going to be the Dumbbell  Incline Powerbomb when we do it in the incline sit up like I show here, I’m clearing all  of the problems with the shoulders.

I have my elbows facing forward, I get plenty of  clearance of the dumbbell back behind my head, so I don’t have to worry about it hitting me. And  I get once again that stretch on the long head. That makes this the great exercise that it is. And so now let’s go back to something else like the back. My favorite back exercises with  dumbbells are going to lead off with a Row.

But you know, I don’t like the kneeling One  Arm Row on a bench because I talk about the increased hernia risk by doing that. But we do  have the Dumbbell Tripod Row and when we get from, this is the opportunity to keep our feet in  contact with the ground without changing the mechanics of the exercise in terms of its  ability to grow the lats. This is a safer alternative and still allows you to do everything  you would want to do with a Dumbbell Row. Next on here is the Dumbbell Pullover, and we talk  about this one actually being multidimensional, you’re going to hear it again later on. But  for now, when we’re trying to build the lats, you keep those elbows flared out.

You get  that nice, good stretch reflex on the lats in the bottom position. You don’t have to go  down incredibly low if you have a problem with your shoulders. You can still get an amazing lat  stretch, especially if you drop your hips on this. It’s one of my favorite exercises when  you’re trying to build bigger lats. Then we go into the next exercise here,  which is the Dumbbell High Pull.

And this is definitely one of my favorite exercises  because it’s the Anti-Upright Row. You see, instead of having those wrists trailing  those elbows as you would on an upright row, I talked about the importance of just flipping  that orientation around and getting those elbows underneath the wrist. And it’s an all-important  difference because external rotation is replacing internal rotation. And of course, just like with  the chin up, you can’t forget the Weighted Pullup when it comes to building bigger lats. And that brings us to the legs.

And guys, people think that you can’t really build your  legs without a barbell. That’s not true. You can take the right dumbbell exercises and load  them up and actually start building your legs pretty damn well. And the first exercise here that  proves that is the Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat. It happens to be my all-time favorite leg exercise  when it comes to utilizing just dumbbells.

It’s a multidimensional exercise, but importantly, it’s  one that can be overloaded very successfully with just dumbbells and still create the muscle growth  you’re looking for. But of course, a bench is not required