4 Day Dumbbell Workout – Push/Pull Routine

In this post, I’m going to show you a 4-day dumbbell workout routine you can use to build muscle..

It’s a push/pull routine comprising four different workouts – two push workouts, and two pull workouts. Each muscle group is trained twice a week.

The push workout is focused on the pushing movements for the upper body, which involve the chest, shoulders and triceps, along with the quads.

The pull workout is based around pulling movements for the upper body, which involve the back and biceps, as well as the hamstrings.

4 Day Dumbbell Workout Routine

• Monday: Push Day A
• Tuesday: Pull Day A
• Wednesday: Off
• Thursday: Push Day B
• Friday: Pull Day B
• Saturday: Off
• Sunday: Off

Push Day Dumbbell Workout A

• Low Incline Dumbbell Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Bulgarian Split Squat or Dumbbell Hack Squat 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Flat Dumbbell Bench Press 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Dumbbell Leg Extension 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Lateral Raise 4 sets x 15-20 reps
• Overhead Triceps Extension 3 sets x 10-15 reps

Pull Day Dumbbell Workout A

• Incline High Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Dumbbell Pullover 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Sliding Leg Curl 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Dumbbell Preacher Curl 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Weighted Crunch 3 sets x 20-25 reps

Push Day Dumbbell Workout B

• Push Ups 3 sets x As Many Good Reps As Possible
• Goblet Squat 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Dumbbell Flyes 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Deficit Reverse Lunge 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Lateral Raise 4 sets x 15-20 reps
• Overhead Triceps Extension 3 sets x 10-15 reps

Pull Day Dumbbell Workout B

• Single-Arm Dumbbell Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Rear Delt Row 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Dumbbell Leg Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Reverse Crunch 3 sets x 15-20 reps

4-Day Dumbbell Workout Split: Notes

1. In an ideal world, a back workout would include a vertical pulling exercise like the pull-up, chin-up or lat pulldown, rather than just rows.

For complete development of all the muscles in your back, you want to include both vertical and horizontal pulling exercises in your training program.

Problem is, vertical pulling exercises require either a cable machine or pull-up bar. You can’t do them using dumbbells. A dumbbell-only back workout essentially limits you to rowing movements and pullovers.

If you’ve got a home gym with a pull-up bar or cable machine, the pullovers can be replaced with pull-ups, chin-ups or pulldowns.

2. Give yourself at least a couple of minutes rest between each set. Without enough rest between sets, fatigue from the previous set reduces the number of reps you’re able to do in the next one. This in turn means a smaller muscle-building stimulus.

4. There are no direct exercises for the front delts, such as front raises, mainly because they’re worked heavily during both horizontal and overhead pressing movements.

5. The rep ranges for each exercise aren’t set in stone, and can be adjusted based on the weight of the dumbbells you have available. 

Heavy weights and low reps tend to cause greater gains in strength. But most research shows similar levels of hypertrophy whether you’re training with heavy weights and lower reps, or lighter weights and higher reps.

The only caveat is that you have to push yourself hard in each set. 

And by pushing yourself hard, I mean terminating each set within a rep or two of muscular failure, or the point where you’re not able to complete another rep using good technique.

Gaining muscle doesn’t require reaching the point where you’re physically incapable of doing another repetition, but you do need to get within sniffing distance.

SEE ALSO: Upper/Lower Split: Dumbbell Workout Routine

How to Warm Up

The number of sets listed are the actual work sets only, and don’t include warm-up sets.

It’s always a good idea, especially if you’re using heavy weights, to do several progressively heavier warm-up sets. This will prepare the joints, the muscles and the nervous system that controls those muscles for the heavy work to come.

In most cases, somewhere between 1-3 warm-up sets will do the job. However, the exact number of warm-up sets you do will vary depending on a number of factors, including the temperature of the gym you’re training in, how your joints feel, the amount of weight you’re lifting, and where that exercise is placed in the workout.

There have been times when I’ve been training in a cold gym, it’s early in the morning and my joints are feeling a bit stiff, where I’ve ended up doing 7-8 warm-up sets before getting into the heavy stuff.

On the flip side, with some of the exercises that come later in the workout, the muscles being worked are already warm, so you won’t need many, if any, warm-up sets.

What about stretching?

In most cases, there’s very little benefit in stretching, be it dynamic or static, as part of a warm-up.

While the adverse effects of stretching on strength and power have been exaggerated, most studies show that pre-exercise stretching does little for injury prevention and has no beneficial effects on lifting performance.

Can you stretch as part of your warm up? Yes. Do you have to? No. It’s certainly not mandatory, and many people will do just as well without it.

You can read more about how to warm up for weight training here.

Nutrition for Muscle Growth

When it comes to building muscle and gaining weight, what you do in the gym is only part of the story. Without the right diet, much of your hard work will go to waste. 

What should your diet look like if you want to build muscle using a 4-day workout schedule?

Calories

First, make sure you’re getting enough food. Your daily calorie intake should provide somewhere between 250-500 calories over and above your maintenance calorie requirements.

That is, if you’re maintaining your weight on 2500 calories per day, you’d aim for somewhere between 2750 and 3000 calories per day.

It is possible to gain muscle while in a calorie deficit, but it tends to happen more slowly compared to being in a calorie surplus.

That’s because one of the things that slows muscle protein synthesis – the key driving force behind muscle growth – is a restriction in the availability of energy.

Once you’ve calculated what your daily calorie intake should be, the next step is to calculate your macros, the first and most important of which is protein.

Protein

Set your daily protein intake at roughly 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. That will do the job for most people.

Someone weighing 180 pounds, for instance, would aim for a daily protein intake of around 126 grams of protein per day (180 x 0.7 = 126). If you prefer metric, multiply your bodyweight in kilograms by 1.6.

Rather than getting all your protein in one or two large meals, it should be spread out throughout the day. Aim for a minimum of 3 protein-rich meals each day, with each meal containing somewhere between 20 and 40 grams of protein.

Ideally, you’ll get some protein within the first few hours after getting out of bed, before a workout, after a workout, and before going to bed.

Fat

Your fat intake can vary from 20 to 40 percent of total calories. Some days it might be a little higher, others a little lower. But on average, your fat intake should be set at around 30% of your total calorie intake.

Carbohydrate

Once protein and fat are taken care of, the rest of your calories will come from carbohydrate.

As fat intake goes up, carbohydrate intake will go down and vice versa. Some days you might eat a little more fat and less carbohydrate. Other days you might eat more carbohydrate and less fat.

As long as total calories and protein are set at the right level, it doesn’t matter too much.

Using these numbers, here’s an example of what a daily diet might look like for a guy weighing 175 pounds (79.5kg), with a maintenance calorie intake of 2500 calories per day.

• Calories: 2800 calories
• Protein: 123 grams
• Fat: 93 grams
• Carbohydrate: 368 grams

These numbers aren’t set in stone, but they do give you some ballpark numbers to aim for. The two most important numbers are calories and protein. As long as you’re hitting those targets, the carbs and fat can vary from day to day.

The Benefits of Dumbbells

Dumbbells have a lot of things going for them. They’re relatively cheap, don’t take up a lot of space, and can be used for dozens of different exercises that work your entire body.

All you need for a highly effective full-body workout is a couple of dumbbells and your own bodyweight.

The fact dumbbells don’t require a lot of space makes them ideal if there’s no room in your house for a lot of gym equipment. 

Not only does training at home save you money on gym fees, it’s also very convenient. 

You just pull the dumbbells out from under your bed, or wherever they’re stored, and start training.

Even if you only have 10 or 15 minutes to spare, you can do a few exercises for this or that muscle group.

Then, later in the day, when you get another 10 or 15 minutes to spare, you can focus on another muscle group. 

For some people, doing a bit of weight training here and there is a more practical way to fit weight training into their day, which means the workouts are far more likely to get done.

Dumbbells can also be an effective way to work around injuries.

If you find that certain free weight exercises cause your joints to flare up, doing the same exercise with a dumbbell may actually feel better, allowing you to work around any dings or dents that have built up over the years.

Pressing exercises performed with a barbell, for example, can often lead to pain in your shoulders, elbows or wrists. 

But doing the same exercise with dumbbells gives you a lot more flexibility about how the exercise is done. By that, I mean you’re able to adjust the position of your arms in such a way that any joint pain is significantly reduced, or even eliminated completely. 

You’re still working the same muscles, but you’re doing so in a way that’s a lot easier on your joints.

Let’s take the overhead press as an example.

When you press a barbell over your head, your palms will naturally face forward, known as a pronated grip.

But with dumbbells, you have the option of using a neutral grip, where your palms face each other.

For many people, switching to a neutral grip, and bringing your elbows in (rather than flared out to the side) will often make the overhead press feel easier on your joints.

With a dumbbell, you can also perform the exercise one arm at a time. Doing so makes it easier to adjust the path of the dumbbell, the position of your elbows and range of motion in such a way that it doesn’t cause you any pain or discomfort.

It’s also easier on your back as well. Pressing a 40-pound dumbbell over your head will impose less compressive load on your spine than an 80-pound barbell.