The Basics

• Dumbbell workouts can be done at home, but the gym will often offer more weight options without you having to purchase an entire set. You should set up a basic schedule. Muscles need time to rest in between workouts to repair from the stress. Ideally plan to rotate muscle groups, arms one day, chest and back the next, and a day of rest.
  
  

Arms

• There are three major arm muscle groups to work: biceps, triceps, and deltoids. Work the biceps by doing curls. Hold the weights in your hands, arms at your side to start, then curl the arms up toward the chin. This can be done one arm at a time or simultaneously. To work the triceps, hold the weight in your right hand, while the left hand and left knee rest on the bench. Move from a curl position to a straight arm position to perform a triceps extension. For deltoids, hold weights in both hands and raise your arms straight out to the side while seated on the bench. This is called a lateral raise.
  
  Start with a weight you can comfortably do 10 repetitions for three sets, then move up in weight as needed until the last couple of repetitions in each set require effort. Add other exercises that work the muscles in similar ways to increase the workload of each muscle group. Move mindfully to ensure you are working the muscle intended and not just swinging the weights up. This will not give you results and can lead to injury.
  
  

Chest and Back

• The torso can be split into two areas to focus on, the chest or pectorals, and the back or latissimus dorsi. Both can be worked quite well using dumbbells. To work the chest, have dumbbells in both hands, lie on the bench, and lift in a press straight overhead. This can be modified to work upper and lower pecs by changing the inversion of the bench so your head is above, level with, or below your waist. This works the upper, middle, and lower chest.
  
  To work the back, place the left hand and knee on the bench so you are bent over, with the weight in the right hand. Pull the weight toward the torso in a rowing motion.
  
  For these exercises, the protocol of repetition and sets mentioned earlier applies.