Best Dumbbell Movements for Building Muscle – 30 Exercises Included

If you are unsure of all the plethora of dumbbell exercises which one to choose from, here is a little help – a list of the 30 best dumbbell movements for building muscle.

Such a small and relatively cheap equipment, yet it is a must-have when it comes to training. The versatility makes dumbbell exercises perfect for athletes of all levels. However, which exercises should you choose since there are too many to wrap your head around it?

The list of the 30 best dumbbell movements for building muscle below was created by Jeff Cavaliere.

Jeff Cavaliere was the head physical therapist of the New York Mets for 3 years and is now a YouTube sensation. He delivers clear information without noise on his ATHLEAN-X YouTube channel.

To make things easier, Cavaliere decided to divide the dumbbell exercises depending on the muscle group they work on:

• Biceps
• Triceps
• Back
• Legs
• Chest
• Shoulder

Best Dumbbell Movements for Building Muscle

The list of the best dumbbell movements for building muscle are:

Biceps:

• Standing alternating dumbbell curl
• Waiter curl
• Cross-body hammer curl
• Dumbbell drag curls
• Dumbbell weighted chip-ups

Triceps:

• Lying triceps extension
• Dumbbell JM press
• Dumbbell kickbacks
• Dumbbell incline powerbombs

Back:

• Dumbbell tripod row
• Dumbbell pullover
• Dumbbell high pull
• Dumbbell weighted chin-ups

Legs:

• Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squats
• Dumbbell reverse lunges
• Dumbbell offset lunge
• Dumbbell Romanian deadlifts

Chest:

• Dumbbell bench press
• Weighted dip
• Dumbbell floor fly
• Dumbbell squeeze press
• Dumbbell upper chest pullover

Shoulders:

• Dumbbell scoop press
• Dumbbell hip hugger
• Dumbbell cheat lateral
• Dumbbell push press
• Dumbbell front raise
• Dumbbell rear delt raise
• Dumbbell over and back

Outlier:

• Dumbbell Carry

The last exercise is an outlier because it tests different parts of your body and not mainly one of the above, such as grip strength and stamina, along with bulking up your lats and your traps.

Check out more dumbbell content from BOXROX.

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15 Underused Dumbbell Exercises Every Athlete Should Do