Muscle & Strength: Three-Day Full-Body Dumbbell Workout

This article is verified by 2 studies/publications.

Plan overview

Muscle focus

See how the planned working sets are spread across muscle groups.

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Josh England’s three-day dumbbell plan is a full-body option for a small home setup. You use different exercise combinations across the week rather than repeat one workout three times. The published programme is organized as an eight-week introduction and includes pressing, pulling, leg and arm work.

Who this plan suits

It suits beginners or returning lifters who have dumbbells and a bench but no full barbell setup. Adjustable dumbbells make changes in resistance easier. The amount of weight available matters: a plan cannot keep progressing indefinitely if every exercise is already too easy with your heaviest pair.

Schedule and workout structure

All sessions of the publisher’s online routine are listed below. Follow them in order, with the rest days described in the article. The tables give working sets; add suitable warm-up sets. For one-sided exercises, complete the stated repetitions on each side.

Day 1

Exercise	Sets	Repetitions
Dumbbell Squats	3	10
Dumbbell stiff-legged deadlift	3	10
Bent-over dumbbell row	3	10
Dumbbell Bench Press	3	10
Lateral Raise	2	8
Biceps Curls	2	8
Dumbbell Skullcrusher	2	8

Day 2

Exercise	Sets	Repetitions
Dumbbell Lunges	3	10 per side
Lying leg curl holding a dumbbell between the feet	3	10
Dumbbell Deadlift	3	10
Dumbbell Shoulder Press	3	10
Flys	2	8
Hammer Curls	2	8
Dumbbell Seated Overhead Tricep Extension	2	8

Day 3

Exercise	Sets	Repetitions
Dumbbell step-up	3	10 per side
Dumbbell stiff-legged deadlift	3	10
Single Arm Dumbbell Row	3	10 per side
Reverse-grip dumbbell bench press	3	10
Reverse Flys	2	8
Zottman Curls	2	8
Close-grip dumbbell bench press	2	8

How progression works

Record your loads and complete the target repetitions with control before increasing the dumbbell weight. In the publisher’s discussion, the team suggests increasing resistance when you can exceed the target comfortably. After eight weeks, reassess your progress and equipment; the time block is not an expiry date for an otherwise useful routine.

Popularity and user feedback

The publisher displayed 10.8 million article reads on 1 October 2026. Readers described returning to training and using a home setup, while asking about progression and equipment. Reads measure traffic, not programme users or successful completions.

The source is the long-running Muscle & Strength article, with a downloadable workout and an active comment section.

What the science says

Full-body and split schedules produced similar outcomes in volume-equated comparisons. This makes three full-body days a practical scheduling choice, without proving it is always better than four. ^[1]

A review found equipment-specific strength gains and no clear overall hypertrophy difference between free weights and machines. A dumbbell setup is a valid equipment choice, while maximal barbell performance still requires relevant practice. ^[2]

These papers examine training principles and prescriptions. They do not establish that Muscle & Strength: Three-Day Full-Body Dumbbell Workout is superior to other well-designed programmes.

Programme source and version

This follows the online article by Josh England. The publisher’s comments identify the online version as authoritative where its older printable version differs. Josh England: programme source.