24 Weight Loss Dumbbell Exercises to Sculpt Your Body w/PDF

Whether you do dumbbell, barbell, or machine exercises, they will not help you lose weight directly. It’s the calorie deficit that does.

Eating low-calorie nutritious foods and restricting your calorie intake helps you lose fat over time.

However, dumbbell cardio training is the best option if you want to increase your fat loss efficiently without losing muscle mass.

In this article, I’ll show you the best dumbbell exercises for burning substantial calories, enhancing cardiovascular fitness, building lean mass, and improving body composition.

Whether you are a male or female, you can perform these exercises to speed up weight loss.

I recommend trying this full-body dumbbell workout routine for weight loss. It includes 30 days of complete workouts with reps and sets included.

24 Best Dumbbell Exercises for Weight Loss and Muscle Development

1. Dumbbell Jump Squat
2. Push Press
3. Goblet Squat
4. Sit-up
5. Russian Twist
6. Step-up
7. Walking Lunges
8. Squat to Overhead Press
9. Deadlift to Upright Row
10. Dumbbell Thruster
11. Dumbbell Plank
12. Bent-Over Dumbbell Row
13. Single-Arm Dumbbell Swing
14. Dumbbell Surrenders
15. Dumbbell Man Makers
16. Lunges to Hammer Curl
17. Incline I-Y-T Raises
18. Dumbbell Arnold Press
19. Farmers Walk
20. Squat with Swing
21. Dumbbell Oblique Twist
22. Plank Drag
23. Overhead Squat
24. One-arm Dumbbell Snatch
25. In & Out Squat Jump

Let’s see how you can do the above weight-loss dumbbell exercises with step-by-step instructions.  

1. Dumbbell Jump Squat

1. Holding one dumbbell in each hand, stand straight with your feet about hip-width apart and your arms straight by your sides.
2. Lower partial squat, and while returning back to the standing position, press through your feet and jump explosively while keeping your arms extended at your sides.
3. Softly land in a half squat and repeat.

You may be doing plenty of sets of squat jumps, but if you want to enhance your calorie burn, I recommend doing it with dumbbells. The DB jump squat is an explosive exercise that bolsters your legs and abs simultaneously and improves your power and endurance.

2. Dumbbell Push Press

1. Grab a dumbbell in each hand and stand in the hip-width stance.
2. Bend your elbows and hold the dumbbells at your shoulder level.
3. Do a half squat by bending your knees and hips.
4. While returning to the standing position, press the dumbbells overhead until your arms are straight.
5. Return to the start and repeat.

The push press is a high-intensity exercise that strengthens your legs and shoulders while burning fat.

If your goal is to torch more calories in less time, I recommend doing it instead of a standard dumbbell overhead press. For strength, you can still perform military press.

3. Goblet Squat

1. Grab a dumbbell and stand straight with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Bend your arms and hold the dumbbell against your chest with your elbows pointing down.
3. Push your hips back and bend your knees to squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
4. Hold for a second and then slowly return to the standing position.

Squats help lose fat and improve lower body appearance.¹ Serin, Emre. (2020). The Effect of 8 Weeks Squat Exercises Program on Body-Composition in Young Males. International Journal of Disabilities Sports & Health Sciences. 28-32. 10.33438/ijdshs.716858. The goblet squat is one squat variation that involves going deep and providing decent stretch to the lower body muscles. It reinforces the quadriceps and glutes, increases bone density, builds lean mass, and supports weight loss.

4. Sit-up

1. Grab a dumbbell in each hand, lie on your back, and bend your knees.
2. Keep your arms straight over your face. That’s the starting position.
3. Lift your torso off the ground until your abs are fully engaged.
4. Uncurl your torso and complete all repetitions.

I understand that performing weighted sit-ups is the most grueling task for Weight Watchers, but they are also an important part of a fat loss program.

Dumbbell sit-ups hammer the abdominal muscles, which help perform other exercises more efficiently and thicken your rectus abdominis.

5. Russian Twist

1. Sit on the floor with your knees slightly bent and feet just above the floor into the air.
2. Grab one dumbbell, hold it firmly, and slightly lean your torso back.
3. Brace your core and twist your torso from side to side.
4. Perform this exercise slowly and in a controlled motion.

Core training is the foundation of a weight loss workout regime because it helps build concentrated abs and allows you to perform heavy compound lifts, such as deadlifts and squats.

Your core workout is incomplete without an oblique exercise, and the most popular oblique exercise is the Russian twist.

The Russian twist involves sitting with your legs out and twisting your torso, making your obliques work harder and building concrete abs.

6. Dumbbell Step-up

1. Grab one dumbbell in each hand with a neutral grip and stand upright against a box.
2. Keep your arms straight by your sides, or hold the dumbbell at your shoulder level.
3. Step up your right foot on the box, followed by the left one, until they are straight.
4. Reverse the movement and perform an equal number of reps and sets.

You can perform lunges, deadlifts, and squats on a flat surface, but they do not burn as many calories as step-ups.

The dumbbell step-ups involve consistently moving up and down, all while holding dumbbells, allowing your body to burn fat faster.

Besides, they also build athletic legs and improve functional fitness.

7. Walking Lunges

1. Grab a pair of dumbbells in each hand and stand upright with your arms straight by your sides.
2. Take a step forward and lower into a lunge until your rear knee is almost close to the ground.
3. Extend your knees, bring your feet together, and now perform a lunge on the opposite side.
4. Keep the dumbbells close to your body throughout the movement.

Stationary lunges are good for growing your leg mass. However, I recommend dumbbell walking lunges to destroy considerable calories in a short time because they provide the benefits of lunges and farmers walking simultaneously. The more you move, the more calories you burn.

8. Squat to Overhead press

1. Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand straight in the hip-width stance.
2. Bend your elbows and hold the dumbbells at shoulder height, palms facing each other.
3. Lower into a squat until your thighs are paralleled to the ground.
4. While returning to the standing position, press the dumbbells overhead until your arms are straight. That’s one rep. Repeat as many times as possible.

The squat-to-overhead press is a full-body exercise. It primarily strengthens legs and delts and burns calories faster than doing squats and overhead presses individually, making it a time-efficient exercise for building muscle and increasing fat loss.

9. Deadlift to Upright Row

1. Holding a dumbbell in each hand, stand upright with your arms straight by your sides.
2. Push your hips back, bend your knees, and slowly lower the weight while maintaining a flat back.
3. Go as low as you can. Hold for a second, then return to the standing position.
4. Now, driving your elbows out, lift the dumbbells toward the chin until you feel the full contraction in your upper back.

The deadlift to upright row is a pull exercise that involves lifting dumbbells from the floor up to the chest.

It helps you build strong glutes, legs, and trapezius and improve your body composition.

However, it is an advanced exercise that requires keeping your spine neutral, core tight, and dumbbells close to your body throughout the movement.

10. Dumbbell Thruster

1. Grab one dumbbell in each hand and stand upright.
2. Bend your elbows and hold the dumbbells on your shoulders with your palms facing in.
3. Keep your back straight and core tight, and then squat down by bending your hips and knees.
4. Stand up explosively by pushing through your heels and press the weights straight overhead until your arms are fully extended.

The dumbbell thruster is similar to squat-to-press but with more explosiveness.

It involves utilizing the lower body to generate power to press the dumbbells overhead as fast as possible.

Because of its high intensity, it allows your body to burn calories more quickly than other exercises and helps build athleticism and aesthetic physique.

11. Plank Drag

1. Place a dumbbell on the floor and get into a high plank position. Ensure the dumbbell is close to your hands.
2. Lift your right hand off the floor, grab the dumbbell, and drag it to your right.
3. Return your right hand back to the initial position, and repeat the same with the opposite side.
4. Drag the dumbbell ten times on each side.

Planks are crucial exercise for any fitness regime as they bolster abs and boost endurance. However, I want you to try a fat-burning plank variation, the plank drag.

The plank drag involves getting into a straight-arm plank and dragging the dumbbell from one side to another.

This exercise engages the abdominals, reinforces shoulders, back, and triceps, and helps develop muscle, mobility, and aerobic fitness.

12. Bent Over Dumbbell Row

1. Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand straight.
2. Slightly bend your hips and knees to hinge forward.
3. Keep your back straight and chest up. Let the arms hang below your abs. That’s the starting position.
4. Lift your shoulder blades slightly up, and driving your elbows in, pull the dumbbells to your sides until your hands are close to your ribs.
5. After a brief pause, return the dumbbells to the starting position.

Bent-over dumbbell row is a muscle-building exercise that strengthens the lats, traps, abdominals, and lower back. It also increases bone density, builds lean mass, and prevents muscle loss in the long run.

13. Single-Arm Dumbbell Swing

1. Hold a dumbbell in your right hand with a neutral grip and stand in a shoulder-width stance.
2. Push your hips back and allow the dumbbell to swing back between your legs.
3. Now, extending your hips, swing the dumbbell forward until it reaches chest height.
4. Perform the desired repetitions and repeat the same on the opposite side.

You don’t always need a kettlebell to perform a swing exercise, you can even do that with a dumbbell.

The dumbbell swing engages multiple muscles, from the abs and shoulders to the hamstrings and lower back, builds aerobic and anaerobic fitness, and helps shape your physique over time.

14. Dumbbell Surrender

1. Stand on your knees while holding a dumbbell in each hand with a neutral grip and your arms extended at your sides.
2. Take one step forward with your right foot and raise the dumbbell at shoulder height.
3. Bring the left foot forward to meet your right foot to stand straight, then press the dumbbells overhead until your arms are extended.
4. Return to your knees and repeat again.

Lunges are excellent, but doing them every time can lead to boredom. To make your workout effective and exciting, you need to add a variety of exercises, and here, I want you to add the dumbbell surrender to your workout rotation.

The dumbbell surrender is an underrated high-intensity functional exercise that strengthens your lower body and enhances your V02 max. The quicker you do it, the more calories it will burn.

15. Dumbbell Man Maker

1. Hold a dumbbell with a neutral grip in each hand, and stand upright with your feet together.
2. Get into a high plank position with your arms extended and body straight.
3. Perform a pushup, then row the dumbbell at your sides (one arm at a time).
4. Once rowing is done, jump your legs in, position your heels on the floor, and stand upright.
5. Slightly jump your feet, put and lower into a squat.
6. While returning to the upright position, thrust the dumbbells overhead until your arms are fully extended.

If you’ve been exercising for a while and consistently perform burpees, you should try the Dumbbell Power Maker (DPM).

The DPM combines push-ups, renegade rows, squats, and overhead presses, making it a time-efficient exercise to bolster every muscle throughout the body.

Doing it at a fast pace quickly raises your heart rate and body temperature and incinerates calories faster than you think.

16. Lunges to Hammer Curl

1. Holding one dumbbell in each hand, stand upright in the split stance with your arms straight by your sides.
2. Do a lunge, and after returning to the start, perform a biceps curl on each side.
3. Perform as many reps as possible, equally on each side.

We always perform lunges, but adding an additional movement, such as a biceps curl, to a basic lunge can be more interesting and effective.

The lunges-to-hammer curl is a mixture of compound (lunge) and isolation (biceps curl) exercises that help build functional legs and strong arms. And because of multi-movement, it also burns good calories and improves cardiovascular fitness.

17. Incline Dumbbell I-Y-T Raises

1. Grab one dumbbell in each hand and lie prone on a 30-degree incline bench.
2. Ensure your chest is at the end of the bench and your arms are extended below.
3. Raise your arms forward until they are parallel to the ground. Return to the start.
4. Now, raise your arms diagonally until you feel your shoulders contract. That’s Y raise.
5. Finally, lift your arms out to your sides until your upper back is fully engaged. That’s one rep.

A good weight program combines high-intensity and muscle-building exercises. This combination improves aerobic and anaerobic fitness and builds lean mass while losing fat, leading to better physical appearance over time. That’s what inspired me to include the IYT raise in this article.

The incline dumbbell IYT targets the shoulder and back and helps develop a brawny torso over time. You may not see that on fat, but you’ll see the aesthetic look once you start losing weight.

18. Dumbbell Arnold Press

1. Set an adjustable bench to a 75-degree incline and sit on it with your back resting on the bench.
2. Grab one dumbbell in each hand and hold it at your shoulder height with your palms facing in.
3. Rotating your hands, press the dumbbells overhead until your arms are straight and your palms turned forward. That’s one rep.
4. Return to the start and repeat the desired number of times.

The Arnold press is a modified overhead press variation that involves twisting your arms while pressing the dumbbells up.

It strengthens both anterior and lateral deltoids and builds your shoulders strong and functional.

Strong shoulders will help you perform various other exercises mentioned in this blog, including the plank drag, power maker, and cluster.

19. Farmers Walk

Farmer’s walk involves holding dumbbells, keeping your arms straight, and walking as far or long as possible.

It is a simple yet effective exercise for strengthening arms and core, improving cardiovascular fitness, and shaping your physique.

20. Dumbbell Squat and Swing

1. Grab one dumbbell with a neutral grip in each hand and stand upright with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Holding dumbbells in your hands, raise your arms straight in front of you as high as you like, and return to the start.
3. Now, get into a squat position by bending your knees and pushing your hips back.
4. Pushing through your feet, return to the standing position. This is your one rep.
5. Do as many reps as possible in 30 seconds at your maximum pace, followed by 30 to 60 seconds of rest, and repeat.

You can merge squats and dumbbell swings to burn more calories and work on more muscles in a short time. The squat-to-swing exercise requires you to push yourself a little harder than other exercises and helps you get lean and fast.

21. Dumbbell Oblique Twist

1. Grab a dumbbell with your hands and stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Keep your arms straight toward the ground and hold the dumbbell to the side of your left hip.
3. Raise your arms upward toward the right side without bending your elbows until they reach over your shoulder.
4. Return to the start, complete all repetitions, and repeat on the opposite side.

Many people still perform side bends even though research has shown that they put the lower back in a bad spot and increase the risk of injury in the long run. But if you want to give your love to your love handles, I suggest swapping this exercise with a dumbbell oblique chop.

The oblique chop involves lifting a dumbbell from one side of your hip to the opposite side of your shoulder. It won’t help cut fat around your waist, but it will definitely bolster your obliques and build a burly core.

22. Overhead Squat

1. Grab a dumbbell in each hand and stand tall in the shoulder-width stance.
2. Extend your arms upward and hold the dumbbells overhead.
3. Brace your core and perform as many squats as possible.
4. Keep your arms straight and weight overhead throughout the movement.

The overhead squat builds muscle, improves balance, strengthens your shoulder, abs, and legs, enhances mind-muscle connection, and helps you level up your functional fitness.

Basic squats are incredible for growing your legs, but if you want to be functional, fit, and strong, I recommend including overhead squats in your training plan.

23. One-arm Dumbbell Snatch

1. Holding one dumbbell in your right hand, stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Bend your torso forward until the dumbbell reaches close to the floor.
3. Lift the dumbbell (like a deadlift), and as it reaches your hip, snatch it over your head in an explosive manner.
4. Return to the start, complete as many reps as possible, and repeat on the opposite side.

Dumbbell snatch is an explosive exercise that strengthens arms, legs, and shoulders and improves one’s ability to move quickly.

This exercise is worth trying if you have been training for a while. It only requires one dumbbell and a little space where you can hop, nothing else.

24. Squat Jacks

1. Grab a pair of dumbbells and hold them close to your chest with your palms facing each other.
2. Keep your feet together, core tight, and torso upright.
3. Jumping your feet out, land into a squat position.
4. Now, jumping your leg in, return to the standing position. It’s one rep.

The squat jack is a high-intensity dumbbell exercise that combines squats and jumps. This exercise bolsters your legs, allows your body to release calories quickly, and encourages your metabolism to function better.

Does Lifting Dumbbells Lower Weight?

Weight loss primarily depends on calorie intake. Consuming fewer calories than your body needs for a considerable period will help you lower your body fat.

However, dumbbell cardio training is the best option if you want to increase your fat loss efficiently without losing muscle mass.

The fat-burning dumbbell exercises burn substantial calories, promote cardiovascular fitness, build lean mass, and improve body composition.

You can also pair bodyweight high-intensity interval training (HIIT) with resistance exercises outlined above to maximize your fat burn and shape your physique.² Ho, Suleen S et al. “The effect of 12 weeks of aerobic, resistance or combination exercise training on cardiovascular risk factors in the overweight and obese in a randomized trial.” BMC Public Health vol. 12 704. 28 Aug. 2012, doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-704

How Often Should You Perform These Exercises?

You can train with dumbbells four to five times a week to stimulate fat loss, build lean mass, and take your fitness to the next level.

When I had to lose weight a couple of months ago, I did all the above exercises. I combined the above dumbbell workouts with bodyweight cardio exercises and did them for one month. It also helped me shed 2 kilos without any special diet.

Everyone’s body responds differently, but if you do the right exercises and eat the right foods, you’ll also achieve your goal. You just need to be consistent and honest with your approach.

Plan Your Weight Loss Dumbbell Workout

As you’ve seen, you have plenty of dumbbell exercises to increase weight loss. Now, it’s time to use them to create a workout program.

I’ve designed a 5-day routine, for example, that you can use to enhance your weight loss. You can make changes according to your needs.

• Sessions/week: Five
• Duration/session: 30-45 minutes
• Workout Goal: Burn calories and accelerates weight loss
• Target Gender: All
• Equipment Required: Dumbbells Only
• Workout Type: Full Body Cardio
• The number of rounds: Three to Five

Perform a couple of bodyweight cardio exercises to increase your body temperature and prepare your muscles for intense dumbbell workouts.

Monday

• 10 Goblet Squat
• 12 Walking Lunges (6/leg)
• 10 Arnold Press
• 10 Crunches
• 12 Standing Oblique Chops (6/side)

Tuesday

• 10 Push Press
• 10 Overhead Squat
• 10 Dumbbell Swings
• 10 Dumbbell Snatch
• 12 Russian Twist (6/side)

Wednesday

• 10 Bent-over Rows
• 10 Dumbbell Surrenders
• 20 Steps Farmers Walk
• 10 Incline I-Y-T Raises
• 10 Deadlift to Upright Row

Friday

• 10 Jump Squats
• 10 Step-ups
• 10 Dumbbell Thrusters
• 20 Plank Drag (10 per side)
• 20 Dumbbell Snatch (10 per arm)

Saturday

• 10 Squat with Swing
• 10 Dumbbell Sit-up
• 20 One-Arm Dumbbell Swing (10 per side)
• 10 Push Press
• 12 Russian Twist (6/side)

Download The Dumbbell Weight Loss Exercises PDF

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Helpful Weight Loss Resources:

References

• 1
  Serin, Emre. (2020). The Effect of 8 Weeks Squat Exercises Program on Body-Composition in Young Males. International Journal of Disabilities Sports & Health Sciences. 28-32. 10.33438/ijdshs.716858.
• 2
  Ho, Suleen S et al. “The effect of 12 weeks of aerobic, resistance or combination exercise training on cardiovascular risk factors in the overweight and obese in a randomized trial.” BMC Public Health vol. 12 704. 28 Aug. 2012, doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-704