Dumbbell Exercises for 2025

Dumbbell exercises have always been a perfect complement to barbells, cable equipment, and fitness classes. In recent years, dumbbell workouts have garnered broader attention. When performed correctly and using the right weight, isolation exercises and those targeting major muscle groups provide tremendous benefits.

We hope the following information helps you avoid common mistakes and maximize the efficiency of your dumbbell workouts.

Why Dumbbells Are Smart Choices

Incorporating dumbbells into your weight lifting or fitness routine provides benefits that exceed machines and barbells. While all resistance and strength training can help tone and increase muscle mass, the dumbbell workouts offer fitness enthusiasts added value. These are advantages to performing dumbbell exercises that differ from other weight training movements.

• Functional Strength: Barbell exercises are great for building muscle and body symmetry. But working with a dumbbell in each hand mimics real-life physical labor.
• Range of Motion: Machines and barbells offer gym-goers balanced weight and resistance. The best dumbbell exercises allow you to fully stretch and perform movements that increase your flexibility.
• Improve Balance: When the best dumbbell exercises are done using proper form, your lower and upper body must stay in a fixed position. The process helps people improve balance, which translates into everyday life.

Dumbbell workouts can supplement other types of exercise or serve as your primary method for exercising specific muscle groups.

Chest Exercise Mistakes

Dumbbell sets rank among the common secondary movements following the barbell bench press and machines. When using proper form, they are among the more productive upper body exercises. Unfortunately, these same dumbbell exercises can lead to muscle strains and injuries when not performed correctly.

Dumbbell Pullovers

This dumbbell exercise doesn’t seem to enjoy the same popularity it did back in the early bodybuilding era. Videos of Arnold performing this inspired lifters to train this major muscle group using dumbbells.

Perhaps the most common flaw when performing this upper body movement involves speed. Sometimes, people allow the weight to drop too quickly, resulting in muscle pulls and joint strains.

Take a single dumbbell and place it on a bench. Put your shoulders on the padding, forming a “T,” with your legs extended out. Put your feet flat and thighs horizontal with your upper body.

Take the weight in both hands, hold it over your upper body, then lower it back behind your head slowly. As the dumbbell is lowered, inhale. Then, exhale as you raise it back up.

Dumbbell Flies

Dumbbell flies are different from a chest press largely because they allow you to get a more robust stretch while building muscle mass and getting a pump. Although it’s one of the best dumbbell chest exercises, more than a few people don’t use the proper form.

Errors include overstretching, locking out your elbows at the top of the movement, and using heavier weights than necessary.

To perform these dumbbell movements, lay back on a bench, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Hold the pair of moderate weights close to the upper body. Raise them like a chest press, then extend them out with the elbows slightly bent.

Get a healthy stretch without forcing the elbow joint too far below the upper body. Slowly lift the weights in a circular motion. Before locking out at the top of the movement, repeat the process. Using lighter weights helps top off a chest workout with a terrific pump.

The same concept applies to addressing the upper chest with inclined dumbbell flies. Some free-weight users also perform flies on a decline bench for building muscle in their lower chest and adding definition.

Shoulder Exercise Mistakes

The best dumbbell exercises for toning and building shoulder muscles focus on the three heads of the deltoids and the trapezius, aka delts and traps, that run from the collar bone toward the ears. The best dumbbell exercises that target this muscle group include three basic types of movements: presses, raises, and shrugs.

Shoulder Presses

Common mistakes involve allowing the elbow joint to dip too far below a 90-degree angle at the lower end of the exercises. Good form also calls for not locking the elbow joint out at the top. Instead, stand with a dumbbell in each hand, feet hip width, and raise the weights to shoulder height.

Press the weights steadily above your head, feeling the shoulder muscles as you push. Lower the weights slowly until each elbow and shoulder joint is approximately level, and repeat.

Shoulder Raises

For the purpose of correcting bad habits in dumbbell workouts, grouping front, rear, and lateral raises may be more practical than addressing them individually. That’s primarily because the faux pas tend to mirror each other. These are common mistakes associated with this class of upper body dumbbell exercises.

• Using heavier weights than advisable
• Jerking the dumbbells
• Hunching forward when performing front raises
• Not placing feet shoulder width apart

The best way to perform dumbbell raises for this muscle group calls for a firm footing. You should be able to slowly lift the dumbbells without needing to lean too far forward or to one side. Place your feet shoulder width with a dumbbell in each hand.

Raise one dumbbell to shoulder height or just above level, with one of your arms straight out. Then, slowly lower the dumbbell and perform the same steady repetition with the other arm.

The lateral raise is basically the same movement. Some fitness buffs like doing reps one arm at a time, while others do both sides simultaneously.

It’s essential to avoid heavier weights when doing lateral raises because they put an unnecessary strain on the shoulder joint, force an awkward posture, and don't actually target the muscle tissue as well. A lighter weight with more repetitions tends to be the winning formula.

In terms of using dumbbells for the rear delts, your posture will be different. Place your feet hip width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand, and slightly bend your torso forward. Then, slowly lift the weights with your elbows slightly bent.

As you slowly lift the dumbbells, pulling them back to a comfortable position, you’ll be working the rear head of the deltoid as well as the muscles between your shoulder blades.

Shoulder Shrugs

Dumbbell shrugs help build powerful-looking shoulder muscles. While strength training seems to call for using heavier weights, these dumbbell exercises are equally effective at a moderate and lighter weight.

The common mistakes some workout warriors make include excessively heavy dumbbells, not achieving a full range of motion, and rolling the shoulders.

Place your feet hip width apart and grip the knurl firmly. Slowly stand up, holding a dumbbell in each hand with your arms straight by your side. To maximize tone and muscle growth, raise the weights by literally performing a steady, controlled shrug.

Pause at the top of the exercise and slowly lower the dumbbells. The full range of motion for shoulder shrug dumbbell exercises is relatively short. It’s simply a few inches up to the peak muscle squeeze and back down. Rolling your shoulders and attempting heavier weights than you’re ready to handle opens the door to rotator cuff injuries.

Arm Exercise Mistakes

The barbell and dumbbell curl may be the most well-known and popular movements in a fitness and strength training workout, bar none. The major muscles consist of the biceps and triceps. Strong, toned, and well-defined arms are telltale signs someone is physically fit.

That being said, the dumbbell exercises used to build arm muscles are not always performed properly. These rank among the miscalculations involved in movements for the upper arms.

Dumbbell Bicep Curl Mistakes

The more common errors made when doing various bicep curl exercises include using heavier weights than the muscle can handle, improper starting points, range of motion issues, and jerking the dumbbells. These are popular dumbbell bicep curl exercises and form pointers.

Basic Dumbbell Bicep Curl

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart or sit on a bench. Your starting position should be with a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing toward your thighs. As you slowly perform a basic dumbbell curl, turn your palms facing forward.

Start to slowly lower the dumbbells before pressure on the biceps is relieved at the top of the exercise. Steady pressure on the muscle group with a manageable poundage typically yields the best results. It’s important not to lean forward and jerk the weight for two reasons — potential injury and reduced tension in the muscles.

Hammer Bicep Curl

The hammer curl places primary resistance on the outer head of the bicep and upper forearm. It begins precisely the same as the supination curl, with your arms straight by your side, a dumbbell in each hand, and palms facing toward your thighs.

Rather than rotate the lower arms during the movement, this dumbbell bicep curl tasks lifters with maintaining a palms facing inward position. Like the basic dumbbell curl, keep your feet flat, hips width apart, and avoid leaning forward too far or jerking the weights. A slight bend is only normal.

Concentration Curls

Using a lighter weight than other bicep movements, concentration curls can be used to target the long head of the bicep. Productive concentration curls normally involve using lighter weights from a seated posture.

Rather than holding a dumbbell in each hand, you can place one between your feet while sitting on the edge of a bench. Lean forward and grip the knurl with your palms facing the opposite leg.

Place one of your elbows slightly bent on your inner thigh for leverage, and slowly lift the weight to work the upper arms. Some people like to hold and squeeze their biceps at the top. It’s also important to slowly lower the dumbbell and feel the resistance going down.

One of the pro tips of concentration curls involves balancing out your upper arms. By starting with the weaker arm and performing equal reps with the same weight, you can improve symmetry.

Lower Body Mistakes

Like many other dumbbell exercises, lower body miscues generally involve heavier weights than the muscles and ligaments can handle, range of motion issues, and posture.

Consistently training the lower body typically benefits the strength of multiple muscle groups and promotes muscular endurance. Building strength, improving tone, and enhancing overall physical fitness are attainable as long as gym-goers follow the correct form.

These are common mistakes when exercising muscles located in the lower extremities and ways to curb poor habits.

Dumbbell Lunges

It’s not uncommon for people to put a dumbbell in each hand with a heavier weight than they can grip during the movement. This leads to focusing on holding onto the weight, detracting from the repetitions required to perform dumbbell lunges.

Along with too much poundage, there’s a tendency to lean forward instead of keeping the back straight. The cure for these problems involves using a lighter weight and keeping your posture taut. 

Goblet Squats

The most common error with goblet squats involves the awkward lean forward. This can occur because the dumbbell exercises are done with an excessive poundage. In other cases, people who begin doing dumbbell workouts prefer to keep the weight away from their bodies.

Goblet squats are best performed with the dumbbell held with two hands close to the chest. With feet flat on the mat and shoulder width apart, you can get a clean range of motion, sinking your thighs parallel with your hips in a squat position.

Dumbbell Calf Raises

Like dumbbell squats, working the calf muscles can also be done with these weights. Holding a dumbbell in each hand, feet flat, keep your back and legs straight. Beginners can rise up on the front of their feet and toes.

It’s also feasible to place the front portion of your feet on a 2-inch block to gain a greater range of motion. The keys to building strong calf muscles rest on good form, lighter weights, and relatively high repetitions.

Back Exercise Moves

Not adhering to good form and using excessively heavy weights are the common failings in dumbbell exercises for the back. Consider using a dumbbell that you can get 8–12 repetitions with over a few sets to start.

That is, as long as that equation makes sense for your unique health and fitness status. In terms of form mistakes, awkwardly leaning forward leads to otherwise avoidable strains and sprains.

Dumbbell Deadlift

Rounding the back and not positioning the feet shoulder width apart are critical dumbbell deadlift mistakes. Your starting point involves holding a dumbbell in each hand in a standing posture. Slowly bend your knees and lower body, sinking no deeper than the hips being parallel to the knee.

Touch the dumbbells to the floor outside your firmly planted feet. Keep your back relatively straight to prevent unnecessary strains and reduce the impact on your calf muscles.

One-Arm Dumbbell Rows

There are some advantages to performing one-arm dumbbell rows. Barbell and cable exercises tend to place more strain on the lower back. One-arm dumbbell exercises allow you to put one knee on a bench and take some of the stress off the lower back.

It’s essential to hold a dumbbell in one hand, leaving your arm straight and your knee on a bench. Steadily pull the dumbbell to just above your hip and slowly lower it to almost full extension. Repeat the process.

Dumbbell Workouts Deliver Added Value

Dumbbells are often used as secondary isolation exercises. Advanced equipment, cardio workouts, and programs designed to enhance muscular endurance continue to integrate dumbbell exercises.

If you plan to add dumbbell conditioning to a routine or want to create a new program, consider working with a personal trainer to ensure you have the form down pat.

FAQs on Dumbbells

Are dumbbell exercises good for warming up?

Yes. Dumbbell exercises using light weights are excellent warm-up options. It’s also important to stretch.

Are dumbbell workouts good for building strength?

The short answer is: Yes. Effective strength training requires placing stress on specific muscle groups, followed by rest and adequate nutrition. Like barbells, cable-based equipment, and others, dumbbell exercises can help build strength and muscular endurance. 

Can I do a full-body workout with dumbbells?

There are dumbbell exercises that can work every major muscle group. While dumbbell workouts provide significant benefits, a personal trainer can help customize a routine that enables you to achieve your goals. 

Improve Your Fitness with Dumbbell Exercises at Chicago Athletic Clubs

If you want to build strength, improve your range of motion, or enhance your cardio capacity, we encourage you to find a nearby Chicago Athletic Club location. As a CAC member, you’ll also get access to weekly classes, yoga, Pilates, swimming pools, personal training, and more. Join today, and let’s get the process started.