Build Muscle at Home Fast: 30 Exercises and Workouts

So, you want to build muscle at home, where your living room becomes your personal fitness center?

You’re in the right place! This article discusses the benefits and drawbacks of working out at home and the best home exercises to build muscle.

In addition, you’ll find many great workouts and training programs to help you achieve your fitness goals in the comfort of your home.

Can You Build Muscle at Home Effectively?

You sure can. You don’t need a fancy gym membership or an entire rack of weights to get strong and build the physique you’ve always wanted. Many great athletes and bodybuilders started in a garage gym and laid the foundation of their entire careers by training at home.

The only differences between building muscle at home and in a gym are the location and the equipment.

You can even build muscle entirely without weights. Bodyweight exercises like squats, push-ups, pull-ups, planks, and dips cover almost every major muscle group.

The same rules apply for at-home training as lifting in a gym. The most fundamental strength training principle is called progressive overload. It means increasing the difficulty over time and is essential to build muscle. You can increase the resistance with a backpack, resistance bands, or even different-sized water jugs as you get stronger.

That said, investing in a pair of adjustable dumbbells opens up a whole world of fantastic exercises and new ways to build muscle at home. The good news is that they are not overly expensive; once you have them, they will last you many years.

So, can you build muscle at home? Absolutely. Will it be easy? Nope. Will it be worth it? You bet.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Training at Home

Training at home has its own special set of perks. While gyms offer advantages like more equipment and potentially more social interaction, the convenience, privacy, and flexibility of working out at home are hard to beat.

Benfits of Training at Home

Once you’ve tried training at home, it can be hard to go back to a crowded gym, for many a good reason.

Convenience and Time Efficiency

Roll out of bed, and voila, you’re at the gym. No more waiting for the bench press to free up or commuting to the gym during rush hour. Your home is your fortress of fitness, open 24/7.

Cost-Saving in the Long Run

Training at home, you can wave goodbye to hefty gym membership fees.

You do need to invest in some initial equipment (unless you’re just using bodyweight exercises), but it pays off big time in the long run. Quality gym equipment lasts forever.

Focus and Motivation

With the gym just a room away, some people find it easier to stick to a routine.

Consistency is key for muscle building, and what’s more consistent than your own home?

Privacy

Working out at home offers privacy and comfort, especially if you feel self-conscious or intimidated in a traditional gym setting.

Even if you don’t, it’s your home and your rules. You can tailor your workout environment to what motivates you best.

Hygiene

No more mystery sweat on the equipment. A home gym is often cleaner and more hygienic than public gyms (as long as you are), where many people share the equipment.

No Waiting for Equipment

In a home gym, you never have to wait your turn to use the equipment. That makes at-home workouts more efficient and reduces the time you spend standing around waiting for the squat rack to free up.

Flexible Workout Times

Schedule chaos? No problem. Home workouts allow you to train whenever it fits into your day, whether that’s the crack of dawn or the witching hour.

Drawbacks of Training at Home

Working out at home isn’t all fun and games. While there are many benefits, you may or may not have to deal with these drawbacks.

Limited Equipment

Unless you’ve got a pile of gold stashed away, acquiring all the pieces of equipment you need can be costly. You can get far with a pair of dumbbells and some resistance bands, but more advanced resistance training programs often require more equipment.

Plus, you might not have enough space for that shiny new squat rack you’ve been eyeing.

Motivation and Environment

When you’re not surrounded by fellow lifters who also work out and spur you on, the battle for motivation becomes harder for many people.

At home, distractions can suck the soul out of your motivation and focus.

And it can be easy to fall prey to the siren call of the couch, especially when it’s just an arm’s reach away from your workout mat.

Progression Plateaus

If all you have is your body weight, a pair of adjustable dumbbells, and a resistance band, you might find it challenging to continually increase the intensity of your workouts as you get stronger.

Progressive overload is the key to building muscle and strength. While there are workarounds, you might find your progress stalling with bodyweight training.

Social Interactions

One underrated aspect of gym training is the social environment and community.

Working out at home might save you from awkward locker room encounters, but it can also rob you of the chance to meet fellow fitness enthusiasts, share tips, and soak up motivation from others.

Expert Guidance

If you train at home as a beginner, it’s not always easy to know if you’re doing your exercises correctly.

At home, the only feedback you might get is from your pet staring at you judgmentally as you struggle through another set. In a gym, om the other hand, you can often ask staff or a personal trainer for guidance.

The lack of professional eyes to correct your form or push you past your perceived limits can also be a drawback.

Remember that the best workout is the one you actually do, whether in the privacy of your home or at a gym filled with fellow fitness enthusiasts who may or may not share your vision of a productive training session.

You can have the workout of your life in both places; it’s more a matter of mindset, feeling comfortable, and getting the work done than location and equipment.

The 20 Best Exercises to Build Muscle at Home

If you have a full home gym set-up with a barbell, weight plates, squat rack, and maybe even a pulley system, the following exercises are still excellent. However, with that kind of equipment, you’re not limited in your exercise choices. You can do almost everything you can do in a commercial gym.

Every exercise in this list can be done without needing a dedicated weight room and requires only the following things:

Resistance Bands

These stretchy saviors are not just for warm-ups. They can seriously level up your strength training and are suitable for everything from bicep curls to a full body workout. Plus, they practically take up no space.

Dumbbells

Go for adjustable ones if you can. They are compact, versatile, and just as effective in building strength and muscle mass in your entire body as a room full of equipment.

Pull-Up Bar

Find one that you can hook onto a doorframe. It’s not just for pull-ups; you can use it for many bodyweight exercises like leg raises and even as an anchor for your resistance bands.

Yoga Mat

Not necessarily for yoga but for comfort when doing exercises lying down. Plus, it protects your floor, rolls up nicely, and can be stored away easily.

Optional

Kettlebells: These cannonballs with handles are fantastic for dynamic, high-intensity workouts. They’re great for building strength, flexibility, and endurance, all while taking up less floor space than a yoga mat.

Ab Wheel: This small but mighty piece of exercise equipment consists of a wheel with handles on either side. It allows you to roll it forward and back while on your knees or feet. Its simplicity and effectiveness make it a powerful ally in sculpting a strong, stable core.

The following list is based on compound exercises, with some isolation movements.

Compound movements are exercises that engage multiple muscle groups and joints, packing a whole lot of fitness punch in each rep.
Isolation exercises, on the other hand, zero in on one specific muscle group at a time with minimal involvement from other muscles.

Without further ado, let’s get into the 20 best exercise to build muscle at home, starting with your lower body.

The Best Exercises to Build Muscle at Home: Quads & Glutes

Bodyweight Squats

The humble bodyweight squat, also called air squat, is a classic that targets your quadriceps (the muscles at the front of your thighs), glutes (that’s your butt), and adductors (the muscles at the inside of your legs that bring your thighs together). They also work your core, including your abdominals and lower back muscles, for stabilization.

Regularly doing air squats can lead to significant muscle growth and strength in your legs, at least if you’re a beginner to weight training.

You can spice things up with these variations once you’ve mastered the regular bodyweight squat.

Jump Squats: Add a leap to your squat for explosive gains in power.
Sumo Squats: Widen your stance, embrace your inner sumo, and emphasize your inner thighs.
Pistol Squats are the one-legged variety. They are really tough, even for many advanced athletes, and require plenty of balance.

For muscle building, the key is to challenge your muscles. Increase the number of reps, add more sets, or reduce rest time between sets once straight sets of bodyweight squats start to feel easy.

However, you’ll probably need to add weight to your squats sooner or later for greater strength and muscle size. Simply doing more and more reps will eventually turn them into an endurance test rather than a great way to muscle gains.

How to Perform Bodyweight Squats

Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart.
Squat as deep as possible.
Reverse the movement, and return to a standing position.
Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

Goblet Squat

The goblet squat is an excellent variation of the standard squat.

With both hands, you hold a weight (dumbbell, kettlebell, or even a large water jug if you’re in a pinch) in front of your chest. As you squat down, the weight stays hugged close, forcing you to keep your chest up and back straight in a position that naturally encourages a good squat posture.

Like regular squats, goblet squats target your quads, glutes, and adductors, but also your arms and grip from holding the weight. It’s like a mini full-body workout with a focus on your lower body, with several benefits.

Goblet squats are super beginner-friendly. You don’t need a squat rack or a spotter, just your trusty goblet. It also offers safety benefits, as you can’t get stuck under a heavy weight. Just drop the weight when you can’t do more reps.
It’s excellent for teaching and maintaining proper squat form. Because the weight is in front of you, it acts as a counterbalance, helping you squat deeper with a straighter back.
Perfect for home environments where space is precious. There is no need for a barbell setup or a lot of equipment.

While the barbell back squat is undeniably fantastic for building strength and muscle mass due to the heavier loads you can handle, the goblet squat holds its ground by offering accessibility and a focus on form and depth. It’s an excellent option to build muscle at home, as you only need a dumbbell or kettlebell.

How to Perform Goblet Squats

Stand with your feet hip-width, holding a single dumbbell or kettlebell with both hands at chest level, close to your body, and with your toes pointing slightly outward.
Inhale, brace your core muscles and keep your chest up with your shoulders back and down.
From the starting position, squat down as deep as you can comfortably go. At the bottom of the squat position, your elbows should be inside your knees.
Straighten your legs and return to the standing position, exhaling and pushing your hips forward as you rise.
Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

Dumbbell Squat

The dumbbell squat is a variation perfectly suited for a home workout plan. Instead of having a barbell on your back, you only need a set of dumbbells, which is great for lower-body workouts in the comfort of your home.

Dumbbell squats work the same muscles as regular squats: quads, glutes, and adductors, with a pinch of core activation. Also, because you have to hold a pair of dumbbells in your hands, your arm and grip muscles get a serious workout.

According to a recent study, dumbbell squats are just as effective as barbell squats for activating the quad muscles. They only have a couple of downsides:

As you progress and need heavier dumbbells, you might find that the ones you have don’t provide the heavy load you need to challenge your muscles.
Your grip strength might give out before your legs do. However, you can mitigate this issue with lifting straps.

Besides those issues, the dumbbell squat is a phenomenal exercise for any home workout routine.

How to Perform Dumbbell Squats

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand with your arms extended down by your sides, palms facing inwards.
Inhale and brace your core muscles to stabilize your spine and pelvis during the movement.
Squat down as deep as you comfortably can. Keep your knees tracking over your toes and maintain a straight back throughout the movement.
When your thighs are parallel to the ground or slightly lower, reverse the movement and return to a standing position, exhaling on the way up.
Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

Lunges

Lunges hit almost all muscle fibers in your lower body, from your glutes to your quads, hamstrings, and adductors.

You can start with bodyweight lunges without any equipment but your own body weight, then move to dumbbell lunges for added resistance and muscle hypertrophy potential.

One of the best things about the lunge is that it is a unilateral exercise, meaning you train one side at a time. It’s always a good idea to include at least some unilateral training in your workout plan, as it develops motor skills, improves balance and coordination, and can reveal any muscle imbalances.

How to Perform Lunges

Stand up straight with your feet hip-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells at your sides with your palms facing inwards if you’re doing dumbbell lunges.
Lower your body towards the ground by bending your front knee and lowering your back knee until it almost touches the floor.
Return to a standing position by pushing yourself up with your front leg.
Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions, switch legs, and perform the exercise on the other side.

Step-Up

A great exercise for your thighs and butt, step-ups activate your glutes more than exercises like squats and hip thrusts, according to research. They are ideal for training at home, as you can use any sturdy bench, chair, or step to get a good workout anywhere, anytime.

Body weight step-ups can be enough for the beginner, but you can hold a dumbbell in each hand for extra resistance once you’re strong enough.

How to Perform Step-Ups

Stand in front of a chair, bench or something else that you can step up on.
Place your foot on the chair.
Lightly brace your core, and step up until your leg is straight.
Lower yourself in a controlled motion.
You can keep your foot at the chair, and repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

The Best Exercises to Build Muscle at Home: Glutes, Hamstrings & Lower Back

Dumbbell Deadlift

Deadlifts are one of the best exercises for overall fitness and building muscle strength from top to toe. The dumbbell deadlift is the ideal alternative if you don’t have a barbell, like if you train at home with limited equipment.

It works all the muscle groups in your posterior chain, the fancy term for the backside of your body: your glutes, hamstrings, thighs, lower back, upper back, and traps. As a bonus, holding the dumbbells also works your forearms.

The main drawback is that unless you have access to really heavy dumbbells, you might find the weight range limiting compared to a barbell.

Other than that, dumbbell deadlifts are a great addition to your home workout repertoire.

How to Perform Dumbbell Deadlifts

Hold a dumbbell in each hand, and stand with your feet about hip-width apart.

Inhale and lightly brace your core.
Lower the dumbbells close to the floor, by leaning forward and bending your knees.
Reverse the movement, and return to a standing position. Exhale on the way up.

Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts

Compared to the regular deadlift, the dumbbell Romanian deadlift shifts the work away from your quads almost entirely to your posterior chain, particularly the hamstrings and glutes.

Both exercises are fantastic but shine in different scenarios. Choosing between them depends on your training goals, whether you’re looking to improve strength and power (regular deadlifts) or focus on building your hamstrings and glutes (Romanian).

Romanian deadlifts are also great for improving mobility and flexibility, practically eliminating the need for hamstring stretches.

How to Perform the Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

Stand with your feet hip-width apart and hold a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing your body.
Hinge at the hips by pushing your buttocks back and bending slightly at the knees. Keep your back straight, your shoulders pulled back and down, and your core engaged.
Maintain a neutral spine as you lower the dumbbells. The dumbbells should travel along the front of your thighs.
Lower the dumbbells until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, but do not allow your back to round. Make sure to maintain a slight bend in your knees to reduce stress on your lower back.
Pause for a moment at the bottom of the movement, then exhale as you slowly lift the dumbbells back up by contracting your hamstrings and glutes. Keep your arms straight throughout the exercise.
Return to the starting position by standing upright, with your hips fully extended, squeezing your glutes at the top of the movement.
Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

Kettlebell Swing

If you have a kettlebell, the kettlebell swing is a fantastic home training exercise, ideal for everyone from beginners to advanced athletes.

Research shows that kettlebell swings are almost a full-body session, emphasizing your glutes, lower back, and hamstrings.

And if you shorten your rest periods and do higher reps, they increase your heart rate and provide a “vigorous cardiovascular response,” meaning they are great for cardio, too.

They can even help with fat loss and weight loss—not by themselves, but when combined with a proper diet, they significantly increase the number of calories you burn. They even boost your testosterone and growth hormone levels.

All in all, few exercises equal the kettlebell swing for overall conditioning and best of all, it’s perfectly suited for at-home workouts.

How to Perform Kettlebell Swings

Place a kettlebell on the ground, about one or two feet in front of you.
Take a wide stance, lean forward and grip the kettlebell.
Brace your core slightly, and swing the kettlebell back between your legs, while inhaling.
Swing the kettlebell forward by extending your hip, while exhaling.
Try to swing the kettlebell to about chest height.
Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions and put the kettlebell back on the ground when you’re finished.

The Best Exercises to Build Muscle at Home: Lats & Upper Back

Pull-Up

Perhaps the best exercise for building a broader back, the pull-up works your lats (the broad, flat muscles on your back that make you look like you have wings when they’re well-developed), biceps, and rear deltoids.

Pull-ups at home require a pull-up bar, and it is a challenging exercise. If you find yourself struggling, try looping a resistance band around the bar and sticking your foot or knee into the lower loop for assistance. Think of it as your pull-up training wheels; before you know it, you’ll be riding solo and showing those pull-ups who’s boss.

How to Perform Pull-Ups

Stand beneath a pull-up bar and reach up to grasp it with an overhand grip (palms facing away from you), slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Ensure your grip is secure and comfortable.
Hang freely from the bar, fully extending your arms. Your feet should be off the ground.
Engage your core muscles by squeezing your abs and glutes.
Inhale and initiate the movement by pulling yourself up towards the bar by bending your elbows and squeezing your shoulder blades together. Focus on using your back muscles rather than relying on your upper arms.
Continue pulling yourself up until your chin reaches or clears the bar. Keep your torso upright and avoid excessive swinging or kicking with your legs.
Slowly lower yourself back down to the starting position while maintaining control and stability, fully extending your arms.
Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

Dumbbell Row

The dumbbell row is one of the best back and dumbbell exercises, regardless of whether you train in a gym or at home. It’s extra swell for at-home workouts because it requires no equipment except a single dumbbell.

Dumbbell rows recruit your lats, rhomboids, traps, rear deltoids, and even your biceps. Rowing exercises are generally some of the best for building overall upper body mass, and few top the dumbbell row.

You can perform dumbbell rows in several ways.

Support your body with a hand and a knee on a training bench, like in the video above.
Stand with both feet shoulder-width on the floor, your upper body hinged forward at the hip while supporting your free hand on something sturdy.

How to Perform Dumbbell Rows

Place a dumbbell on the floor beside a bench or some other sturdy object. Stand facing the bench and place your left hand and left knee on top of it.
Grip the dumbbell with your right hand. Bend your knees slightly and hinge forward at the hips, keeping your back flat and your torso roughly parallel to the floor.
Engage your core muscles to stabilize your torso throughout the movement.
While maintaining the position of your upper body and keeping your elbow close to your side, inhale and pull the dumbbell up towards your torso by retracting your shoulder blade. Focus on squeezing your back muscles as you lift.
Continue pulling the dumbbell until it reaches the side of your torso. Row it closer to your hips to target your lower lats. Squeeze your lats at the top of the movement, ensuring a strong contraction in your back muscles.
Lower the dumbbell back to the starting position while exhaling, maintaining control and good form throughout the descent.
Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions, switch sides, and perform the above steps rowing with your left arm.

The Best Exercises to Build Muscle at Home: Chest

Push-Ups

Arguably one of the top three best bodyweight exercises, the push-up is a classic for training the chest, shoulders, and triceps.

Research shows push-ups are equally effective as the barbell bench press for strength and muscle mass gains, particularly in inexperienced lifters.

Regular push-ups are fantastic for building muscle and are easily scalable to increase the difficulty as you get stronger (e.g., by adding a backpack or using a resistance band for extra weight or switching to incline push-ups).
Kneeling push-ups work the same muscles, but you reduce the amount of body weight you’re pushing, making it a great starting point for beginners or when you’re building up your upper body strength.

Both variants are champs in the bodyweight exercise stable because they’re incredibly effective for building strength and muscle without any fancy equipment or space requirements—perfect when you’re looking to build muscle at home.

Also, to shift more of the work to your triceps, you can’t go wrong with close-grip push-ups.

How to Perform Push-Ups

Begin by lying face down on the floor. Place your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, with fingers pointing forward. For regular push-ups, extend your legs back, balancing on the balls of your feet. Keep your knees on the ground for kneeling push-ups instead of extending your legs.
Ensure your body forms a straight line from your head to your heels (regular) or knees (kneeling). Engage your core muscles to prevent your hips from sagging or sticking up in the air.
Inhale as you slowly bend your elbows to lower your body towards the floor. Aim to lower until your chest or chin nearly touches the floor. Your body should remain straight throughout the movement, with your lower back in a natural curve. Avoid any sagging or arching.
Exhale as you push through your hands to straighten your elbows, lifting your body back to the starting position. Maintain that straight body line as you push up.
Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

Dumbbell Floor Press

The regular dumbbell chest press on a bench is a top exercise for your pecs. But if you don’t have a weight bench but still want the benefits of the dumbbell press, the floor press comes to the rescue.

You can do floor presses with either dumbbells or kettlebells. Both work the same muscle as regular dumbbell chest presses but with a reduced range.

Are floor presses as effective as regular dumbbell presses with a full range of motion for building muscle? The answer is probably not. However, they are a great alternative in any home workout program without a bench, especially when combined with other chest exercises like push-ups for best results.

How to Dumbbell Floor Press

Sit on the floor with your legs straight and a pair of dumbbells or kettlebells beside you.
Pick the weights up and place them in your hip creak.
Lay down while you bring the weights up to your chest.
Press the weights to straight arms , bend your knees, and place your feet flat on the floor.
Lower the weights slowly until your upper arms hit the floor.
Reverse the motion and push the weights up in a straight line again. Keep your lower back to the floor during the entire movement.
Gently drop the weights to the floor to finish the set.
Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

The Best Exercises to Build Muscle at Home: Shoulders

Dumbbell Shoulder Press

The dumbbell shoulder press is a compound exercise for multiple major muscle groups, primarily in your upper body. It’s builds strength and lean mass in your pushing muscles and is awesome for improving upper body aesthetics.

Overhead presses are your go-to moves for building boulder shoulders, and the dumbbell shoulder press is no exception. In fact, research suggests that it might be the best of them all for muscular development of the shoulders.

It’s primary target is your front and side delts, but your upper chest and triceps join in to lift and lower the weights. In addition, when you perform it standing up, you get a decent core workout simultaneously, as your abdominals and lower back muscles work to maintain your balance and posture.

You want to use heavy weights to force your shoulders to respond, but not too heavy so you have to use leg drive to get the weight up.

How to Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Stand upright with your feet shoulder-width.
Grab a pair of dumbbells, and lift them up to the starting position at your shoulders.
Inhale and lightly brace your core.
Press the dumbbells up to straight arms, while exhaling.
Inhale at the top, or while lowering the dumbbells with control back to your shoulders.
Repeat for reps.

Dumbbell Lateral Raise

It’s time for the first isolation exercise in this list of the best exercises to build muscle at home: the dumbbell lateral raise.

Compound movements, exercises that work several muscles at the same time, are the best for gaining muscle. However, isolation exercises are the bee’s knees for sculpting a single muscle. In the case of the lateral raise, they are your top choice for building your side delts and your best bet for broader shoulders.

The most important thing to remember when doing lateral raises is to leave your ego outside your home gym. Use relatively light dumbbells that allow you to perform the movement with proper form and complete control—no swinging!

How to Perform Dumbbell Lateral Raises

Stand with your feet hip-width apart and hold the dumbbells in your hands with your palms facing your thighs.
Begin the movement by lifting both arms to the sides, keeping a slight bend in your elbows, and raising the dumbbells until they reach shoulder height.
Lower the dumbbells back down to the starting position while maintaining control.
Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

Reverse Dumbbell Flyes

The reverse dumbbell fly (also called rear lateral raise) is an essential exercise to target your rear deltoids. You engage them to some degree when you train your back, but working them properly with compound movements is challenging.

Many people, even advanced trainees, have front delts that overpower their rear delts, both in strength and aesthetics. Including the reverse fly in your next workout is a great way to ensure balanced shoulder development, protect against injuries, and improve posture.

While the reverse dumbell fly is an isolation exercise, you get more than rear delts into the bargain. It also engages the muscles around your upper back, including your rhomboids and trapezius.

Use light to moderately heavy dumbbells to maintain correct form and focus on the working muscle.

How to Perform Dumbbell Reverse Flyes

Grab a dumbbell in each hand and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, and your arms by your sides, palms facing each other.
Bend forward at the waist, keeping your back straight until your torso is nearly parallel to the floor. Let your arms hang down towards the ground.
Lift both arms out to the sides, with a slight bend in the elbows, until they reach shoulder level. Keep your shoulder blades retracted and focus on squeezing your rear deltoid at the top of the movement.
Reverse the movement and lower the dumbbells back towards the ground, maintaining control throughout.
Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

The Best Exercises to Build Muscle at Home: Arms

Dumbbell Curl

While your biceps get their fair share of work when you train your back, the best way to get bigger and stronger arms is to include some direct arm work in your training routine. The dumbbell curl is a top contender for the “best bicep exercise” award.

It’s a straightforward exercise, perfect for beginners and experienced lifters alike. The main thing to remember is to use a weight that allows you to maintain form and technique throughout the movement without having to resort to momentum to curl the dumbbells.

You can do dumbbell curls standing or seated, and you can curl both dumbbells at the same time or alternate between sides. All are excellent options, so pick a favorite or switch things up from one workout to the next.

Other types of dumbbell curls you can do at home include hammer curls and concentration curls.

How to Perform Dumbbell Curls

Hold a pair of dumbbells in an underhand grip (palms facing forward), arms hanging by your sides.
Curl the dumbbells up towards your shoulders by only moving your forearms.
Don’t let your upper arms travel back during the curl. Keep them at your sides or move them slightly forward.
Reverse the movement and lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.
Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.

Bench Dip

The bench dip is an easier variation of the traditional bar dip. It is more suitable for home workouts as it requires no equipment except a stable bench or chair.

Bench dips are a pressing exercise for your triceps, but your chest and shoulders also pitch in.

If you have limited shoulder mobility, be sure not to use an excessive range of motion, or you might feel discomfort. Descend to the point where your upper arms are parallel to the floor, and your elbow joint is at around a 90-degree angle.

How to Perform Triceps Dips

Turn your back towards a sturdy training bench, and put your hands on the pad about shoulder-width apart. Extend your legs in front of you.
Lower yourself with control for as far as comfortable by bending your arms.
Reverse the motion and return to the starting position.
Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.

Dumbbell Lying Triceps Extension

Exercises for your chest and shoulders, like push-ups and overhead presses, work your triceps, but they fail to engage the long head of the triceps fully. Because the long head contributes the most to your triceps mass, you also want to hit it directly with an exercise like dumbbell triceps extensions.

If you have a weight bench, use it to lower the dumbbells down below the level of your head. Otherwise, lie on an exercise or yoga mat and lower them to just before they hit the floor.

How to Perform the Dumbbell Lying Triceps Extension

Lie down on a flat bench with your feet on the floor and a dumbbell in each hand. If you don’t have a bench, lie on a carpet or an exercise mat instead.
Raise the dumbbells over your chest with your palms facing each other and your arms extended.
Keep your elbows pointing straight up and lower the dumbbells behind your head, bending your elbows.
Lower the dumbbells as far as comfortable while maintaining control and tension in your triceps muscles. If you’re performing the exercise without a bench, lower the dumbbells until they are about to touch the floor.
Reverse the motion and extend your arms back up to the starting position.
Repeat for the desired number of reps.

The Best Exercises to Build Muscle at Home: Core

Plank

The plank is a great bodyweight exercise for your core muscles, primarily your abdominals and obliques. A strong core helps you perform almost any physical task with greater ease and is essential for maintaining proper posture.

However, the benefits of the plank don’t end with your core.

They improve muscle strength and endurance, build muscle, and burn a significant number of calories, all in a relatively short time. In addition, they help reduce lower back pain and prevent falls in seniors.

Best of all, planks require no equipment, and you can do them anywhere, making them an accessible exercise wherever you are and regardless of fitness level.

How to Perform Planks

Stand on your elbows and feet.
Brace your abs and try to form and hold a straight line from your head to feet.
Hold the plank position as long as you can.

Ab Wheel Rollout

The ab wheel rollout is an excellent exercise for building strength and muscle in your core. Performing it with straight legs and standing on your toes is a feat for most of us, and the kneeling ab wheel rollout is plenty challenging (and effective!) enough.

Studies show that ab rollouts are one of the best core exercises you can do, particularly for the lower abs, which can be hard to target.

Ab wheel newbies should initially focus on a limited range of movement. Extend the roll as much as you can while maintaining proper technique. Over time, as your strength increases, roll out further and further until your body almost touches the floor.

Start with a few repetitions and gradually increase as your strength and stability improve.

How to Perform Ab Wheel Rollouts

Start by kneeling on the floor with your hands on the ab wheel, placed directly in front of your knees.
Engage your core and slowly roll the wheel forward until your body forms a straight line from your knees to your head.
Be sure to keep your back straight and your core engaged throughout the entire movement.
Reverse the movement, roll the ab wheel back towards your knees, and return to the starting position.
Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.

Training Programs and Workouts to Build Muscle at Home

With those 20 exercises at your fingertips, you can design any training program or workout for your entire body and build muscle at home effectively.

But what if you prefer a pre-made workout routine with a proven success rate?

Try one of ours! You’ll find many great programs and workouts in StrengthLog, our free workout tracker, which you can download using the button for your device:

Some programs require a premium subscription, but you can activate a free 14-day trial to unlock premium in the app. The app itself is 100% free (and ad-free!) to use and track your training forever.

Now, lets discuss workouts and training programs to help you build muscle at home!

At-Home Workouts

Here, you’ll find both full-body dumbbell workouts and highly effective home workouts for a specific muscle group.

Home Dumbbell Workout for Beginners

This program allows you to train all the major muscle groups of your body in the comfort of your living room using only dumbbells. Perfect for getting started with strength training without committing to buying expensive equipment – all you need is a set of dumbbells, nothing more.

Do it two or three times per week on days that fit your schedule. Rest at least one day between training days, and you’re good to go.

This workout is available as Home Dumbbell Workout for Beginners in the StrengthLog workout tracker, under the Workouts tab.

Click here to read more about it!

Home Dumbbell Workout for Intermediates

This is the next level up from the home dumbbell workout for beginners. More sets, an additional exercise, and a more comprehensive workout to account for your experience.

This workout is available as Home Dumbbell Workout for Intermediates in StrengthLog, under the workout tab.

Click here to read more about it!

Arm Workout With Dumbbells at Home

Arm Workout With Dumbbells at Home has everything you need to build bigger arms in the comfort of your home and without expensive gym equipment.

This workout is available as Arm Workout With Dumbbells at Home in StrengthLog, under the workout tab.

Click here to read more about it!

Leg Workout With Dumbbells at Home

Commercial gyms are filled with various training equipment for your lower body muscles, but you can build your quads, hamstrings, and glutes using only dumbbells.

Our Leg Workout With Dumbbells is everything you need: the best dumbbell leg exercises for the best possible results.

This workout is available as Home Leg Workout With Dumbbells in StrengthLog, under the workout tab.

Click here to read more about it!

Dumbbell Shoulder Workout at Home

This is a complete delt workout for the intermediate to advanced lifter.

This workout is available as Shoulder Workout With Dumbbells at Home in StrengthLog, under the workout tab.

Click here to read more about it!

Home Chest Workout for Strength and Muscle Mass

This is an effective workout for your chest muscles that you can do at home with minimal, low-cost equipment.

It is short and sweet with only three exercises, but those exercises are the best for an effective chest workout at home.

This workout is available as Home Chest Workout in StrengthLog, under the workout tab.

Click here to read more about it!

Home Back Workout for Muscle Mass and Strength

The Home Back Workout features the best back exercises, using only dumbbells and minimal additional and non-expensive equipment. It helps you add lean muscle mass and build a stronger back in the comfort of your home.

This workout is available as Home Back Workout in StrengthLog, under the workout tab.

Click here to read more about it!

At-Home Training Programs

These are complete training programs for the entire body to help you build muscle at home and achieve your fitness goals in no time.

They are available as stand-alone programs in our workout log app.

StrengthLog’s 4 Week Home Workout Plan

The 4 Week Home Workout Plan is a fitness plan for getting in shape in the comfort of your home without spending a fortune on training equipment.

The workouts start with compound exercises for your large muscle groups, followed by an isolation exercise for smaller muscles. You have maximum energy for the more challenging exercises early in the training session and don’t run out of steam towards the end for the less demanding movements.

You train three days per week, and you can pick your training days and rest days to fit your schedule.

This is what the first week of the program looks like (the training volume and intensity increases as your progress through it):

Workout 1

Workout 2

Workout 3

This training program is available as StrengthLog’s 4 Week Home Workout Plan in our workout tracker app.

Click here to read more about it!

StrengthLog’s Home Workout Split

This training program is for intermediate to advanced trainees looking to gain strength and build muscle at home.

With our Home Workout Split, you train your entire body, all the major muscle groups, using only three things: dumbbells, resistance bands, and your body weight. That’s it! Minimal equipment, minimal space, minimal cost, but maximum results.

You train five days per week and each body part once per week, with two rest days at your convenience.

The workouts themselves are the ones discussed in the Workouts section above, put together in a logical order and adapted into a full-on training program. For example, the intensity and the training volume increases as the weeks go on and you get used to the program.

This training program is available as StrengthLog’s Home Workout Split in our workout tracker app.

Click here to read more about it!

Final Words

You have reached the end of this guide to building muscle at home. Thank you so much for reading!

Remember that training isn’t everything; muscle growth doesn’t happen in the weight room but during the hours and days after your workout.

Take rest days to allow your muscle groups to recover and grow.
Eat a balanced diet with enough protein (1.2 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day (0.5–1 gram per pound) to support muscle repair and growth.
Ensure you’re getting enough quality sleep for recovery and muscle growth.
Stay consistent. Building muscle doesn’t happen overnight or by chance.

Now, let’s hit the weights for the best workouts of your life, all in the comfort of your own home!