If you’re new to the website and are browsing our collection of dumbbell workouts, this is likely the easiest you’ll find and most suitable for a beginner.
The push, pull, legs split when done in a 3 day per week fashion allows you to target different muscle groups once per week. This allows you to train with higher volume but lower frequency. The higher volume stimulates the muscles in a way to signal muscle growth and the low frequency allows for your muscles to have a full week to recover from each workout.
There’s some camps that believe that if you are training just 3 days per week, you should focus on full body workouts or even a workout breakdown that allows you to target each muscle at least twice in a week.
I have a different philosophy. Do whatever will allow you to develop good weekly habits and mold your schedule in a way that will allow you to consistently workout week after week for most of your lifetime. This is what will promote longevity and overall healthiness.
Push/Pull/Legs splits divide your workouts exactly how it sounds. On one of your workout days, all of the exercises will utilize your pull muscles. Traditionally, this will be the pull muscles of the upper body such as your back, rear delts, and biceps.
Push days will focus on the push muscles of your upper body. These workouts will target your chest, triceps and shoulders.
Leg days are spent training your legs – quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and calves.
The following breakdown of the weekly routine will give you a template of what this would look like on a weekly basis and the workout run-down at the end of the article should tell you all you need to know about the workout.
If you have any additional questions after reading both, please leave a comment so that we can answer them and also potentially add it to the article for others who may read it in the future.
3 Day Push/Pull/Legs Dumbbell Workout Weekly Routine
- Monday: Dumbbell Push Workout
- Tuesday: Rest/cardio/mobility
- Wednesday: Dumbbell Pull Workout
- Thursday: Rest/cardio/mobility
- Friday: Dumbbell Leg Workout
- Weekends: Rest/cardio/mobility
Monday: Dumbbell Push Workout
| Exercises | Sets | Reps |
| Dumbbell Floor Press | 3 | 6 |
| Dumbbell Floor Fly | 3 | 12 |
| Dumbbell Shoulder Press | 3 | 6 |
| Dumbbell Arnold Press | 3 | 12 |
| Dumbbell Overhead Tricep Extension | 3 | 15 |
Wednesday: Dumbbell Pull Workout
| Exercises | Sets | Reps |
| Dumbbell Row | 3 | 6 |
| One Arm Dumbbell Row | 3 | 12 |
| Dumbbell High Row | 3 | 12 |
| Dumbbell Rear Delt Raise | 3 | 15 |
| Dumbbell Curl | 3 | 15 |
Friday: Dumbbell Leg Workout
| Exercises | Sets | Reps |
| Dumbbell Squat | 3 | 6 |
| Dumbbell Lunge | 3 | 12 Each |
| Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift | 3 | 6 |
| Single Leg Dumbbell Deadlift | 3 | 12 Each |
| Dumbbell Calf Raise | 3 | 25 |
Final Thoughts on 3 Day Dumbbell Push/Pull/Legs Workouts
The workout template above can be used for anywhere between 6 to 12 weeks. This allows your body enough time to adapt to the stimulus and grow. Throughout the duration of using the workouts, your goal should be to make the workouts more challenging by increasing the weight you use for each exercise.
If after the duration, you are still seeing progress or are enjoying the workout, by all means keep utilizing it.
Rest in between your sets should be between 1 and 2 minutes. For sets with lower rep counts, aim to rest closer to the full 2 minutes. For sets that have higher rep counts, keep rest shorter and closer to 1 minute.
The way the workout template is written, it is recommended that you perform all of the sets of an exercise prior to moving onto the next exercise. It is not written in a way that is conducive to circuit training.
This workout routine is simply a template. If there are bodyweight exercises you’d like to incorporate or some other equipment you have that you’d like to utilize you are more than welcome to do so. This can be accomplished by either adding the exercise into the appropriate workout day or substituting it with another workout already listed for that day.
If you have any additional questions about the 3 day push/pull/legs dumbbell workout plan, please leave them in the comments section below and we’ll be sure to answer it.