Dumbbell exercises by muscle
By Ossian Hempel ·
These pages list 52 dumbbell exercises from the GainsLog library. Pick a muscle to see its exercises grouped by joint action and the weekly set range that GainsLog's program builder rates a program against.
| Muscle | Exercises | Joint actions | In GainsLog programs | Balanced weekly sets, default profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chest | 7 | shoulder flexion, horizontal shoulder adduction | 4 | 5 to 12 |
| Back | 5 | shoulder extension | 3 | 5 to 12 |
| Shoulders | 13 | shoulder abduction, horizontal shoulder abduction, shoulder flexion | 5 | 5 to 12 |
| Biceps | 17 | elbow flexion | 5 | 5 to 12 |
| Triceps | 5 | elbow extension | 2 | 5 to 12 |
| Traps | 5 | scapular elevation, scapular retraction | 3 | 0 to 8 |
How the lists are built
Every exercise in the GainsLog library has a target muscle, a primary joint action and a compound or isolation tag. It is the same catalog the app uses when it suggests swaps. The library doesn't record which free weight an exercise uses, so these pages read it from the exercise name.
The lists include the exercises whose English name says dumbbell or goblet or whose Swedish name says hantel. They also include the Zotman curls, the Arnold press and the hammer curls not done on a cable or a machine, because those are dumbbell lifts. Free-weight exercises whose name doesn't say what you hold, such as the step-up and the sumo squat, are left out.
A muscle gets a page when the library has at least five dumbbell exercises for it. Quads and glutes have four each, forearms two, hamstrings one, and calves and abs none, so they have no page yet. To replace a single exercise, use the exercise alternatives pages.