Welcome to Men’s Health Dumbbell Club, your weekly plan for a fitter, stronger body using just two dumbbells. Your dose of dumbbells gets smaller each week, with 20- to 40-minute workouts designed to build muscle mass, improve fitness, and increase strength.

Click Here to go back and see previous weeks. Or check out our latest offering: Week 57, and follow the program from here.

New this week …

This week we start a three-week EMOM full-body workout phase. Each session uses movement patterns like pushing, pulling, lunges and squats, so each workout works almost every muscle in your body.

Each workout uses the EMOM format, which stands for “Every Minute On the Minute.”
Simple on paper, scary in execution, but truly effective at building work capacity and placing metabolic stress on muscles. You start a running clock and perform a set of a single movement at the start of each minute, aiming for the high end of the suggested rep range and recording your results. You rest for the remainder of the minute before moving on to the next movement. Continue in this manner until you’ve completed one round of each movement. Rest for the entire fifth minute, then start again with the first exercise. Repeat this format a total of eight times for a full-body workout that takes under forty minutes.

Make note of the reps you achieve for each movement in each set, as well as the weights you use. We’ll come back to this in the next few weeks.

DAY ONE (W57/D1)

After a thorough warm-up, grab your dumbbells, start the clock and get to work.

Min. 1. Dumbbell floor press (or bench press) x 10-12

Grab your dumbbells and lie flat on your back, bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor (use a bench if you have one). Press the weights up, straightening your elbows (A). Slowly lower them until your upper arms rest on the floor (B), close to your body. Pause here before explosively pushing yourself back up, tightening your chest. Repeat.

At least 2. Hang Cleans x 10-12

Holding the dumbbells at your sides, bend at the hips, bend your knees and let the weights swing back behind your legs (A). Explosively stand back up and use the momentum to pull the dumbbells up to your shoulders (B). Drop the dumbbells back between your legs and repeat, avoiding excessive rounding of the lower back.

Min. 3. Front rack squat x10-12

Lift a pair of dumbbells onto your shoulders. Inhale and tighten your core (A). Lower your hips back and bend your knees. Squat until the fold of your hips is under your knee (B). Explosively climb back up and repeat the exercise.

Min. 4. Romanian deadlift x10-12

Stand upright and hold a pair of dumbbells at hip height (A). Bend your knees slightly, push your hips back, and slowly lower the dumbbells toward the floor. Keep your shoulders down and your back straight. Push your hips back until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings (B), pause and explosively return to an upright position.

Min. 5. Break

After completing your fourth movement, rest for the remainder of that minute and the entire fifth minute.

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DAY TWO (W57/D2)

Min. 1. Bent-over rows x 10 – 12

Hold a pair of dumbbells at your sides and bend at the hips until your chest is parallel to the floor, the dumbbells hanging at your shins (A). Keep your back straight and pull both dumbbells towards your hips (B), press together here and lower the position in a controlled manner to the starting position before repeating the exercise.

Min. 2. Dumbbell deadlifts x 12-15

Place the dumbbells on the floor right next to your feet, bend down and grab them with soft knees and a back as straight as possible (A). Tighten your latissimus muscles, grab your weights and stand upright, pushing your feet away from the floor (B). Take a deep breath and slowly reverse the movement, bringing the weights back to the floor and keeping them close to your body the entire time. Your arms should hang straight throughout the movement – think of them as hooks.

Min. 3. Goblet Squat for cyclists x 15-20

Standing upright, hold a dumbbell in the “goblet” position close to your chest. Raise your heels on a weight plate or block, keeping your heels no more than 6 inches apart (A). Lower your hips back and bend your knees. Squat until the fold of your hips is under your knee (B). Explosively raise the exercise again, pausing just before the legs are fully extended to maintain tension in the quadriceps. Repeat the exercise.

Min. 4. Hindu push-ups x 15-20

Assume a strong push-up position with your hands shoulder-width apart. Walk your hands back until your hips are in the air, almost over your hands (A). Bend your elbows and lower your nose to the floor between your hands before shifting your weight forward. Push the floor away and straighten your arms as you drop your hips to the floor. (B). Reverse this movement until your hips are back in the air.

Min. 5. Break

After completing your fourth movement, rest for the remainder of that minute and the entire fifth minute.

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DAY THREE (W57/D3)

At least 1. Press x 10-12

Place a pair of dumbbells on the front of your shoulders. Inhale and tighten your core. (A) Bend your knees and use your legs to help (B) Lift the dumbbells over your head. Lower them slowly and in a controlled manner to your shoulders and repeat the exercise.

Min. 2. Renegade Row x 20-24 (total)

Drop into a strong plank position with both hands on your dumbbells (A). Shift your weight to your left hand and row the right dumbbell towards your hip (B). Pause briefly and then lower the weight in a controlled manner. Repeat the exercise on the left side. Left + right = two repetitions

Min. 3. Alternating reverse lunges x 20-24 (total)

Stand upright and hold the dumbbells at your sides (A), take a big step back with one leg and bend your front leg until your back knee lightly touches the floor (B). Stand up and move forward explosively, pause and repeat the exercise with the other leg. Switch legs. Left + right = two repetitions.

Min. 4. Split Squat Jump x 20-24 (total)

Step back and go into a deep lunge with your back knee lightly touching the floor (A). Jump explosively upwards and switch legs in mid-air (B) to land in a lunge position with the other leg forward. Repeat the movement, switching legs on each repetition and trying to jump as high as possible. Left+right = two repetitions.

Min. 5. Break

After completing your fourth movement, rest for the remainder of that minute and the entire fifth minute.

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