No Gym, No Problem: Beginner DB Only Program

New to lifting? Don't want to attend a public gym? Not willing to buy a lot of equipment? Limited on time and can't work out for very long each day? Give me two hours of your life a week and I got you.

Read this document before starting the program!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UVE0NqfoeSHVPKcBgFQFBniDCck67oDx24rczPErKWI/edit?usp=sharing

This program is a 4 day split designed with people who want to improve their physical abilities, body composition, and health. ALL YOU NEED IS DUMBBELLS AND A BENCH! It might seem like a big upfront cost for a pair of adjustable dumbbells, but remember that they're going to last a long time. Plus, what better investment could you make than in your own wellbeing?

Each session is meant to only take 30-40 minutes depending on how long you rest between sets. Almost every exercise has an antagonistic superset (Do exercise x, rest, do exercise y, rest, do exercise x again, etc.) This effectively cuts the downtime between sets by over half. Yes, this means it may be less pleasant at first, but it is way more time efficient.

There is no fluff work in this program. Every exercise is to be performed with intensity. I take the "vital few" approach to training volume for beginners. WE ARE NOT DOING CARDIO WITH WEIGHTS; WE ARE RESISTANCE TRAINING! Our goal is to eek out as much benefit from each set as we can get. This means you're going to have to train hard if you want those strength and hypertrophy gains.

The volume of this program isn't anything crazy. It was designed for beginners to get enough practice on the movements but also not feel overwhelmed by the amount of time they have to spend lifting. The split is 4x a week, but remember that each session is very timely. My goal with this program is to make the person running it say "That's it?" by the time they finish a workout so that as they learn more and become more advanced, they're ready for more. Bonus: If you don't have time one day but do you do have more time another day, you can combine one torso and one limb lift together and have it still be feasible.

By the end of the three months I designed this program to be run for, I think you will have "graduated" and be ready for something a bit more advanced-assuming you're form, intensity and understanding of progression are all in check. However, you can pretty easily run this again for another month or two with absolutely zero worries.

Recommended schedules:
Option 1: No weekends
Sun: Rest
Mon: Torso 1
Tues: Limb 1
Wed: Rest
Thurs: Torso 2
Friday: Limb 2
Saturday: Rest

Option 2: Weekends
Sun: Limb 2
Mon: Rest
Tues: Rest
Wed: Torso 1
Thurs: Limb 2
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Torso 2

Option 3: Dispersed
Sun: Torso 1
Mon: Rest
Tues: Limb 1
Wed: Rest
Thurs: Torso 2
Friday: Limb 2
Saturday: Rest

There's a lot of flexibility with a 4x/week split. As long as you give one full day of rest between hitting each muscle group, you'll be okay (chest, rest, chest is fine. Chest, chest, rest is not as good)

default

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Lying Leg Raise

Torso 1

Limbs 1

Single Arm Row (Dumbbell)

Lying Side Lateral Raise

Torso 2

Single Leg Romanian Deadlift

Limb 2

0 reviews for No Gym, No Problem: Beginner DB Only Program