: How to maximize dumbbell workouts? So I do not belong to a gym, but my apartment building has a one. All I have access to are dumbbells that start at 10 and go up to 50. How could I maximize my workouts with these dumbbells?

Just because your apartment gym only has dumbbells doesn't mean you have to limit yourself to them, bodyweight training is also a fantastic way to get yourself in shape.

An exact routine would depend on knowing your goals, but essentially movements break down into one of about 6 different movement patterns (I'm not going for the 7 primal movement patterns here, before anyone decides to contradict me). They are:

Push
Pull
Hinge
Squat
Lunge
Everything else

There are various ways of splitting these up, you could do a push / pull split, push / pull / legs split, upper / lower split, full body every day, it's entirely up to you. The most important things are consistency and progress (progress with dumbbells can be tough with the larger weight jumps, instead of trying to jump between bells to progress, you could also consider adding reps or sets to slowly increase the volume before jumping in weight, or decreasing your rest between sets).

Push
This is when you extend your arms to push something, e.g.

Dumbbell bench press
Dumbbell overhead press
Dumbbell floor press
Press up
Dips
Handstands
Handstand push ups

And variations on all of the above. Dumbbell exercises can be either with one dumbbell (unilateral movement) or two (bilateral movement), using a single dumbbell can also be a nice challenge for your core.

Squat and some lunge movements can also be included in this is you just want to do a push / pull split.

Pull
This is bending the arms to pull things towards you, or yourself towards things, e.g.

Dumbbell row variations
Renegade row
Inverted row (also known as an Australian push up by some)
Chin / pull up
Front / back lever
Dumbbell high pull

Hinge movements and the lunge and reach can also be included in this if you want to do a push / pull split.

Hinge
This group of movements involve hinging at the waist (like when you bend forward to touch your toes, or pick something up off the floor), e.g.

Dumbbell deadlift variations
Dumbbell swing
Back extension
Reverse hyper

This is probably where you're doing to see the greatest variation from traditional barbell exercises. Most people thing of deadlifts as being bar bending, massive weight pulling exercises. But try doing a few sets of high rep stiff leg deadlifts with the 50's and see how your glutes and hamstrings feel the next day.

Squat
As the name suggests, this is when you squat (think, the resting position quite commonly seen in parts of Asia and Africa), e.g.

Dumbbell squat
Goblet squat
Rear foot elevated split squat
Bodyweight squat
Shrimp squat
Pistol squat

As with deadlifts, these are usually thought of as having massive weight across your shoulders and squatting while your face goes the colour of beetroot, but try working up to a set of 10 pistol squats on each leg, you'll have pretty solid legs.

Lunge
Possibly one of the most hated movements with anyone I've asked, from a position of one foot a few feet in front of the other, bend both legs until your back knee touches the floor, then stand up again. Simple.

Bodyweight / dumbbell lunges (or split squats, same thing)
Front / back lunges
Walking lunges
Lunge and reach

Think lunges are too easy? Grab the 50's and do walking lunges until either your legs give out or your grip does.

Everything else
As the name suggests, this is everything that doesn't fall under the above. When thinking about a workout routine, you should base it on the above, and throw in a couple of exercises from here, normally at the end

Core work
Dumbbell farmers walks
Bridging exercises
Turkish get ups
Direct arm work
Grip work

So, a push / pull split could be:

Heavy rear foot elevated split squat
Bodyweight walking lunges
Heavy dumbbell overhead press
Press ups
Hanging leg raise
Dumbbell triceps extension

On one day, then

Heavy dumbbell stiff leg deadlift
Lunge and reach
Pull ups
Dumbbell bent over row
Dumbbell swings
Dumbbell curls

On the next.

Hopefully that'll give you some ideas, if all else fails and you're completely lost, look up a bodyweight workout routine, such as on www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness and go with that.

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