Dumbbells only, 3 days

What you need

A pair of dumbbells, ideally adjustable or a few different pairs, and ideally a bench or a sturdy chair. The bench is for the dumbbell bench press, the Bulgarian split squat and the hip thrust. Without a bench, do the dumbbell floor press on the floor instead and rest your hand on a chair for the rows. The programme works just as well in a gym that only has dumbbells.

Train three days a week with a rest day between sessions. The workouts alternate: A, B, A one week and B, A, B the next. The dumbbell row is in both workouts, because without a bar or a cable machine your back would otherwise get too little work.

How to progress with dumbbells

The jump between two pairs of dumbbells is often bigger than on a bar, so the exercises have wide ranges, for example 8 to 12 reps. Stay at the same weight and add reps until you hit the top number in every set. Then move up to the next pair and start again at the bottom of the range. It is normal for your reps to drop when the weight goes up.

If you have no heavier dumbbells, make the exercise harder in other ways:

• Slow the tempo. Three seconds on the way down makes the same weight heavier.
• Go single-leg. Swap the goblet squat for the Bulgarian split squat and the Romanian deadlift for the single-leg Romanian deadlift, and your legs get more work from the same dumbbells.
• Add reps, up to 15 or 20, as long as each set ends close to your limit. Read more about reps in reserve.

Swap an exercise if you need to

If you have a doorway bar, you can swap the row in workout B for pull-ups or chin-ups. With a bench, the shoulder press can be done seated, as the seated shoulder press. If an exercise hurts, rather than just feeling heavy, stop doing it and have a doctor or physiotherapist take a look. If you have no dumbbells at all, home training without equipment uses only your bodyweight.