The Two Dumbbell At-Home Workout

Complex Training

By Thomas King, MSc, CSCS, CEP

It’s only Day 2 off work from the COVID-19 related measures and I’m already starting to go a bit stir-crazy. Food is flying off supermarket shelves and your children may be driving you nuts at this point. If you would like a 30-minute distraction from the chaos that has become everyday life this last week, give the following workout a try.

To minimize the amount of equipment you’ll need, it will be a five-exercise “complex” workout. This means you do all five exercises with the same two dumbbells without putting them down. For the workout, try starting with 8 reps per exercise. Do 8 reps per exercise and transition to the next one. When you get to the end, rest about 2 minutes and repeat again for 3 to 5 rounds.

For added benefit, add our “5 At-Home Stretches for Total Body Flexibility” in your warm prior to doing this workout.

1. Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

  1. Hold one dumbbell in each hand.
  2. Stand tall and soften the knees.
  3. Push the hips directly backwards while reaching towards the floor with your hands stopping just below the knee.
  4. Contract the hamstrings to pull yourself back up while squeezing the glutes hard. Repeat for 8 repetitions.
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift Start Position
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift Stretched Position

2. Dumbbell Bent Over Row

  1. Stand tall, soften the knees and bend down to a position similar to the bottom of your Romanian deadlift.
  2. Hold this position and row the weights up until you feel a good squeeze in the shoulder blades. Be mindful that you are not shrugging your shoulders while doing this.
  3. Lower the weights to the starting position and repeat for 8 repetitions.
Dumbbell Bent Over Row Start Position
Dumbbell Bent Over Row Contracted Position

3. Dumbbell Squat to Press

  1. Hold the dumbbells in the front rack position.
  2. Squat down to your full squat depth.
  3. Explode upwards pushing the weights overhead as you do.
  4. Seamlessly begin the next rep. Repeat for 8 repetitions.
Dumbbell Squat to Press Starting Position
Dumbbell Squat to Press Bottom Position
Dumbbell Squat to Press Top Position

4. Dumbbell Push-Up

  1. Place the dumbbells on the floor about 1.5 times shoulder width apart.
  2. Perform full range push-ups touching your chest to the floor each time.
  3. Repeat for 8 repetitions.
Dumbbell Push-Up Starting Position
Dumbbell Push-Up Bottom Position

5. Dumbbell Plank Row

  1. Place dumbbells about two inches apart.
  2. Assume a push-up position on the dumbbells with your hands narrow and your feet about 2 times hip width wide.
  3. Row one dumbbell up, return to the ground and row the other one up. Ensure your hips do not rotate while doing this to properly engage the core.
  4. Repeat for 8 repetitions per arm.
Dumbbell Plank Row Starting Position
Dumbbell Plank Row Contracted Position

There you have it. Complex workouts are a great way to squeeze a high quality workout into a short amount of time. If your dumbbells are heavier, try for 4-6 reps/exercise. If they are lighter, aim for 10-12 reps/exercise.

Only have a resistance band? Check out our “One Band Full Body At-Home Workout“

~Thomas 🏋️‍♀️

Do you have weights at home, but not sure what to do? We offer Online Strength Coaching. Receive a custom workout based on what equipment you have, your goals, needs, and current ability. Only 1-week commitment required.

St. John's Fitness Coach

Find out more HERE.

David Squires

Personal Strength Training by Jon-Erik Kawamoto

Not having much if any experience with professional gyms I though it would be along the lines of going to a facility and doing your own thing, getting some instructions from time to time, if you asked for it, and for most part working out on your own, in a large impersonalized setting. I was a bit apprehensive as I figured I’d be standing around a lot looking at all this equipment wondering what to do with it, or worst doing something to hurt myself. Well I couldn’t have been more wrong. Both Jon and Thomas are very attentive, professional trainers, who lay-out an exercise program, from start to finish, for you. They demonstrate the exercise they want you to do and then watch you do it to make sure you got it right. Jon and Thomas are very thorough, patience and non-assuming.

Chris Spurvey

Nutritional Coaching by Julia Howard

I heard somewhere that achieving your health goals is determined largely by what you do in the kitchen. I am grateful to have found Julia who brought direction and accountability to this most important piece for me. Having Julia in my corner has brought me confidence and certainty that I am on my way to achieving my goals. I highly recommend her if you are serious about making a change and feeling better about your health.

Emily Noble

Personal Strength Training by Jon-Erik Kawamoto

I recently visited Newfoundland for one month, and was looking for a good place to train while I was there. Jon and the team at JK conditioning really took the time to assess what I already knew, and set achievable goals for the time that I had with them. The gym was such a great place to push yourself. It had everything you needed, but more importantly it had a well organized, very knowledgeable, and really motivating group of trainers to push you at each workout. Not to mention a really nice group of other members who also motivated me to go that little bit further. I would highly recommend the gym to anyone who has a goal and wants to find a place to help them achieve it.

Dane Woodland

Personal Strength Training by Jon-Erik Kawamoto

I came to JKC through recommendations from my peers from lululemon. As a current ambassador, I’ve been introduced to legacy ambassadors, like Jon, and I knew a bunch of other people from the store were working out here so I wanted to give it a go. I often dread lower body workouts so I started coming here to do legs. I’ve had such great progress that I now come twice a week— and, I no longer hate leg day!

I’ve never experienced this sort of hybrid between group workouts and personalized service. Many group strength training services offer a sort of one-size-fits-all workout for the general population, which has never been of interest to me, because I want my workout tailored to my needs! I LOVE that you can be in a group setting while doing your own personal program; I love the camaraderie and community at JKC, and, I’ve seen incredible results thus far! Jon is always so attuned to what I need.

Chris Stratton

Personal Strength Training by Thomas King

I had been struggling with work-life balance resulting in not exercising or playing hockey as much as I had been doing in the past. In addition to being out of shape, I was starting to experience some back/shoulder issues and realized I needed to make some changes. Around this time, a friend (who was also a client) recommended JKC and that’s when I started!

You really feel part of a community where everyone is welcoming and supportive. You get a program that is designed specifically to achieve your goals, with the ongoing coaching, progress tracking and support required to achieve them. The JKC team are very knowledgeable about fitness and conditioning, and very engaging with everyone to answer questions or discuss anything and everything training related. I also like the flexible scheduling and gym times that work for my schedule (I like early mornings and evenings).

See All Reviews Write a Review
As Seen On: