Don’t believe the hype! You don’t need a gym membership or lots of fancy home fitness equipment to change your body from skinny and flabby to toned and aesthetically pleasing. Both men and women can make serious improvements to their physique which just a few simple pieces of home exercise equipment and the right home workout guide.

You can start making positive changes with just one dumbbell. If you are unhappy with your current shape and size, doing anything is better than nothing. If you haven’t yet got your hands on a dumbbell, have a look at our recent guide to the best affordable adjustable dumbbells on the market. For those of you with access to a dumbbell or two, let the workout commence!

Starting From Scratch

This workout is ideal for anyone who is both skinny and fat, and wants to start putting things right. If you are starting from scratch and are new to exercising with weights, you can probably get away with using just one dumbbell, but over time it will be necessary to upgrade to a bigger range of weights or invest in a good set of adjustable dumbbells. To keep on seeing results you need to increase the weight, and as we want to get from zero to hero, we will need to increase the weights once you start noticing things getting too easy!

Home Dumbbell Full Body Workout

As we are just starting out we will do a full body workout, i.e. work the whole body each time we exercise, as opposed to breaking the workout up into different body parts. Complete this home dumbbell workout every fourth day (two days rest in-between each home dumbbell workout). If you want to exercise more often than that, do something else on those days such as home cardio which could be skipping, circuit training or running. Just try not to do any heavy lifting on those days.

Dumbbell Floor Press: Chest and Shoulder Muscles

This exercise is like the bench press but can be done without a bench or any home gym equipment.

1. Lie on your back on the floor.
2. Take the dumbbell in one hand and bend your arm at the elbow with your upper arm flat on the floor and your forearm standing vertically.
3. Push the weight up towards the ceiling, keeping your back and head flat on the floor.  Use your chest and shoulder muscles to lift the weight.  Lift the weight until your arm is straight and the weight is as close the ceiling as you can get it while still keeping your back flat on the floor.
4. Slowly lower the weight to the starting position to complete the exercise.

Complete 8 reps of this exercise then change arms. Take a short rest (60 seconds), and then start again.

You should do 6 sets of 8 reps for each arm for the dumbbell floor press.

Overhead Dumbbell Press: Shoulder and Tricep Muscles

This is a great exercise for developing your shoulder muscles and firming and toning the underside of the upper arms, where bingo wings can be a problem.

1. Stand up and place your feet on the floor, shoulder width apart.
2. Take the dumbbell in one hand and hold it by your side.
3. Bend your arm at the elbow and bring the weight up.
4. Hold the dumbbell with your palm facing outwards in front of you.
5. Now push upwards with the weight and lift it up above your head, straight up towards the ceiling.
6. Lower the weight slowly until your elbow is back by your side and the weight is in line with your shoulders to complete the rep.

Complete 8 reps of the overhead dumbbell should press before changing sides.

Do 3 sets of 8 reps with each arm to complete the exercise.

Dumbbell Tricep Extensions: Tricep Muscles

This will continue the work on the triceps we did in the last exercise in order to ensure these upper arm muscles get a thorough going over.

1. Stand up and place your feet on the floor, shoulder width apart.
2. Holding the weight in one hand, lift it as high as it will go, until your arm is straight up.
3. Bend your arm at the elbow and lower the weight down, behind your head, keep your elbow as high as you can.
4. Now raise the weight, bending your arm at the elbow, until your arm is pointing straight up and the weight is as high as you can get it.

Complete 8 reps with each arm and aim for 3 sets of 8 reps for each arm.

Dumbbell Bent Over Rows: Back and Bicep Muscles

Now it’s time to start working the back and bicep muscles with some pulling movements. As you can see, a one dumbbell home workout routine like this can help you start improving your body without the need for an expensive gym membership or home gym.

1. Stand up, feet shoulder width apart and bend your knees slightly.
2. Keeping your back straight and not bent, bend forward at the waist.
3. Keep your head up and look forward, straight ahead of you.
4. Holding the weight in one hand, let your arm hang loose.
5. Now pull the weight up to your shoulder, bending your arm at the elbow, in a rowing motion.
6. Lower the weight to complete the rep.

Do 8 reps before changing arms. Try to complete 3 sets of 8 reps for each arm before moving on.

Dumbbell Bicep Curls: Bicep Muscles

The last exercise hit the bicep muscles, in conjunction with the back muscles, but now we are going to hit them again.

1. Stand up, feet shoulder width apart with arms by your side and the weight in one hand.
2. With your palm facing forwards, bend your arm at the elbow and lift the weight through 180 degrees.
3. Lower the weight slowly to return to the starting position.

Aim for 8 reps before changing arms then repeat the whole process 3 times.

Dumbbell Squats: Leg Muscles

Now that the upper body is done, it’s time to go down south and hit the legs and rear lower body muscles.  Doing squats at home with a dumbbell is a great way to get your legs in great shape and tighten things up down there.

1. Stand up, with your feet shoulder width apart and your toes pointing forwards.
2. Hold the weight in both hands, close to your chest, in front of you.
3. Bend at the knees, keeping your back straight, lowering your body into a squatting position. Avoid leaning too far forward over your toes. Think of the movement as sitting down on a seat or squatting down on the floor.
4. Go down slowly, as low as you can and then push up quickly through your feet and hips, back to the starting position.

Aim for 3 sets of 8 reps and increase up to a maximum of 4 sets of 12 reps. If you have two dumbbells, hold one in each hand by your side, instead of holding them in front of you as you would if you had just one weight.

Squats are a great exercise that can help combat skinny fatness and many other problems that people have with their body shape. Even if you do a lot of running or cycling you will benefit greatly from performing this home squatting exercise or any other variation thereof.

Dumbbell Lunges: Leg Muscles

As the lower body and leg muscles are so important, let’s hit them again!

1. Get in the now familiar starting position of standing with legs shoulder width apart.
2. Hold the weight in front of you with both hands, close to your chest. Alternatively, if you have two dumbbells, hold one in each hand by your side.
3. Take a big step or stride forward with one leg, keeping the other foot in place. Ensure your front knee does not extend beyond the toe of the front foot.
4. Push off with your front leg to return to the starting position to complete the exercise.

You can either do 8 reps with the same leg going forward or alternate them for a total of 16 reps.

Once you have done the 16 reps, take a breather then do 2 more sets.

Weight Ab Crunches: Abdominal Muscles

You most likely won’t be in a position to see your abdominal muscles for a while but that doesn’t mean they should be neglected. Like all muscles, the abs need to be exercised with a weight. You wouldn’t do bicep curls without holding a weight or something heavy, so why do it for your abs?  Weighted ab crunches are a great way to perform a skinny fat ab workout that should pay off sometime in the near future.

1. Lie on your back on the floor.
2. Plant the soles of your feet flat on the floor and bend your legs at the knee.
3. Hold the dumbbell in both hands a few inches above your chest.
4. Sit up, bending at the waist, keeping your chin off your chest, and keeping the weight a few inches above your chest.
5. Keep your back straight as you sit up until you are up as far as you can.
6. Lower your upper body slowly until your back is flat on the floor again to finish the rep.

You can perform up to 15 reps of this exercise for a maximum of 4 reps.  To introduce some variation, try twisting at the hips as you sit up to target the different abdominal muscles.

And We’re Done!

Those eight exercises should take you about 30 minutes to perform. Once you’ve gone through it once, take two days off, to allow your body to recover and your muscles to repair and grow. Like I said earlier, if you want to exercise again in the two days after this workout, try something different like a cardio session of running, swimming or walking.

When to Upgrade your Weights

If you are starting out, you should be able to do all of the above with one weight. Once the exercises become easy to complete try the following:

• Increase the reps from 8 to 12
• Increase the sets from 3 to 4
• Change the order you do the exercises in.

Don’t go above 12 reps and 4 sets. This will take you outside the range for developing muscle and will just waste your time. At this point you will have to upgrade your weights and invest in some new dumbbells. Changing the exercises that make up your home dumbbell workout, and the order you do them in can have a good effect as it keeps your muscles unsure of what is coming next, forcing them to adapt and grow on a regular basis. A change can be as good as a rest when it comes to working out.