Dumbbell Leg Workout – A New Way to Build Your Wheels

If I asked you to name leg exercises, I’d bet a sizable chunk you’d go straight to barbell exercises such as squats. Nothing wrong with that – they’re incredible exercises. You probably wouldn’t be thinking about a dumbbell leg workout though.

Dumbbells however, are one of the best ways we have to train our legs. They offer a unique versatility and a different challenge to a barbell.

There’s an element of dogma when it comes to exercise. With this workout, I’m giving you an alternative to barbell leg training. I’m not saying a dumbbell leg workout is better or worse… they’re just different.

And there’s a place for difference, especially when we know that research shows a change in the stimulus is good for muscles. 

In this article, I’m going to share a dumbbell leg workout you can use to give leg day a shake up!

SMRFT Nüobell 80LB Adjustable Dumbbells

These are the dumbbells we recommend for ‘most people’.

We have spent over 50 hours of research and compared over 100 dumbbells. Adjustable dumbbells make sense for most home gyms as they save space.

The Nüobell dumbbells go all the way to 80lbs per hand. This means they are much more versatile than most 50lbs adjustable dumbbells. You can use these for heavy shrugs, squats and bench press etc.

The main reason they are the top pick is because of their shape. They actually feel like real dumbbells and are not awkward to lift like some others.

Check the price here

Dumbbell Leg Workout: Benefits of hitting legs with dumbbell training

Mixing up your training has a nasty habit of improving your results and providing you with new challenges. Here are just three of the many benefits you’ll experience by switching up your leg training…

Benefit 1: New exercises

You can do most of the exercises with dumbbells that you could with a barbell, but there are some times when a dumbbell gives you variety. I’m thinking of exercises such as a Goblet squat. It’s much easier to do that with a dumbbell.  

You also provide a different challenge to the muscles. A dumbbell squat will need a different kind of balance and core activation. It’ll require more engagement of the forearms and upper back.

The overall weight lifted will be lighter, but that won’t mean the exercise is less effective, it’s just different.

Benefit 2: Reduced workout times

When you’re training with barbells, a significant amount of your training time is spent changing weights. By the time you’ve unclipped, taken plates off, put them back, picked up new plates, put them on and re-clipped in, it’s taken a decent amount of time. 

Multiply this by the dozens of times you’ll do it in a workout and it’ll add up to a good few minutes.

Contrast that with dumbbells… put one pair down, pick the next one up! If you’re pressed for time, there’s a lot to be said for a faster turnaround. It could easily cut your workout time down by 25% in some cases.

Benefit 3: Move focus from weight to other advantages

Here’s the deal… You can’t lift as much with dumbbells as you can with a barbell, but you can still get the same training outcomes with a little creativity.

Dumbbells lend themselves better to leg exercises where ranges of movement come into play. Think pistol squats, step ups, deficit squats, spilt squats etc.

They’re easier to perform with dumbbells than a barbell, plus they help to ensure you maintain joint health and athleticism for longer.

A greater range of movement ensures that you maintain time under tension for longer. This increases muscle growth and strength, as proven by scientific analysis. 

In their 2012 research into muscle time under tension, Burd et al concluded that…

‘…data shows that greater muscle time under tension increased the acute amplitude of mitochondrial and sarcoplasmic protein synthesis.’

In English, this means that the longer time the muscle was under tension, the greater the amount of protein synthesis. This is the mechanism that leads to muscle growth and strength improvements.

5 Steps to Use the Dumbbell Leg Workout to Grow More Leg Muscle and Improve Athleticism

If you’re going to be hitting a dumbbell workout effectively, you’ve got to get smart about it. As I said earlier, you’re not lifting as much with dumbbells… partly because huge dumbbells simply aren’t that common.

This means you don’t go up against the standard barbell leg exercises. Get creative and use the inherent advantages of the dumbbells. Here’s 5 steps to use the dumbbell leg workout to grow more muscle…

Step 1: Focus on range and quality of movement

The dumbbell leg workout will be entirely different from leg work you’ve done in the past. Our aim isn’t to replicate what you’d do with a barbell, it’s to challenge your legs in a way they’re not used to, which will benefit us enormously afterwards.

The effectiveness of this workout comes from three places…

1. The range of movement we’re using with exercises
2. The volume we’re hitting the exercises with
3. Intensity of training

You’re going to be challenging yourself from a weight point of view, but the time under tension and the range of movement you’ll lift through are the bigger deal. These exercises will push you much harder than you’re used to.

With each and every rep I want you to maximize this asset. Push your lifting to end-range. Feel the muscles stretch, feel them squeeze and eek every last drop of effort out of them. 

Step 2: Give yourself enough time

This isn’t any old leg workout. It’s a tough, high volume, hard work training session. You’re going to hit your legs harder in this workout than you have for a long time.

This means in order to do this workout properly, you’ll need to give yourself time to rest.

You’ll be performing 10 different exercises (not including the warm up). The exercises will be a mixture of strength and power movements, and the volume will be high.

Allow a good 90 minutes to do this workout properly. If that sounds excessive, just wait until you get started, then you’ll understand why I’ve told you to allow the time. It’s not a workout for the faint hearted!

Step 3: Stick to the order of exercises

This might seem a tad pedantic, but the exercises are ordered in a particular way. The program is designed to put the strength movements straight in after the warm up.

This is because you need to be fresh for them. There’s also the greatest risk of injury with these exercises.

The exercises after that are the volume exercises. These require a lot of reps, but the risk is low. All that would happen here is you’d get tired. Form wouldn’t break down to a dangerous level.

The final exercises are the power exercises. These are the ones that are done with lighter weights and explosive movements. Think of these as the finisher moves. The light weights means there’s little risk of injury, so these are kept at the end for safety reasons.

Work by Sarabi et al in 2017 investigated the use of individualized loads for power development. They noted in the study that use of weight in the 30-50% 1RM (1 repetition maximum) range was sufficient to significantly increase strength and power.

Although the weights are light, the reps are high enough to elicit serious fatigue.

Step 4: Be humble – this is a tough workout

Let me say this loud and clear… THIS WORKOUT WILL SURPRISE YOU!

If you get this workout right, you’ll be amazed at how tough a dumbbell leg workout can be. You’ll think about the numbers you can squat, you’ll overestimate the weights you can lift and part way through you’ll regret being too confident.

My advice is for you to dial your weights back 20% (or even more). This is a new challenge, you’ll lack the movement efficiency that you get with movements you’ve practiced and the volume is high. Those three add up to make a workout super challenging.

There won’t be many leg workouts you do that will ask this much from you. Don’t say you weren’t warned!

Step 5: Keep the warm up light

This is a volume workout. We’re not shooting for big weights here, the value comes from the volume. That means your warm up should be very gentle.

We’re not aiming to fatigue you here, we’re just looking to improve blood flow to the legs and get the movement patterns firing.

The aim is for 5 minutes of gentle lower body cardio. Any of the following are fine…

• Rowing
• Bike (any sort)
• VERY gentle running – even walking
• Cross training

Once you’ve done 5 minutes of that, it’s into the following…

• 3 x 10 Air Squats
• 3 x 10 Alternating Lunges
• 3 x 10 Bodyweight Hip Thrusts

That’s all you need for the warm up. We’re trying to keep things as light and gentle as possible. The aim is to keep it simple, keep it easy and don’t tire yourself out. There’s plenty of time for that.

Dumbbell Leg Workout – The Exercises

You’ll notice this is very much a workout, not a program. I see this as a one-off, magic-bullet workout you’ll throw into your regime every now and then. Probably a couple of times per month maximum.

Unless you’ve got a lot of time on your hands, a sadistic streak and a burning desire to grow your legs quickly, I wouldn’t put this into a weekly program.

It just takes too long and if you do it right, it needs a few days of recovery afterwards.

As always, work hard and enjoy the process…

1. Dumbbell Step Ups

We’re opening up hard, here. As a single leg exercise, dumbbell step ups offer no hiding place for a weaker side, forcing it to strengthen. Secondly, there’s a stability element to them which activates the glutes and quads, improving injury resistance.

Finally, they make your legs and glutes work really hard!

Equipment needed for step ups:

• Box or weight bench to step on
• Dumbbells

SMRFT Nüobell 80LB Adjustable Dumbbells

These are the dumbbells we recommend for ‘most people’.

We have spent over 50 hours of research and compared over 100 dumbbells. Adjustable dumbbells make sense for most home gyms as they save space.

The Nüobell dumbbells go all the way to 80lbs per hand. This means they are much more versatile than most 50lbs adjustable dumbbells. You can use these for heavy shrugs, squats and bench press etc.

The main reason they are the top pick is because of their shape. They actually feel like real dumbbells and are not awkward to lift like some others.

Check the price here

How to do dumbbell step ups:

• Place the front foot on the step 
• Hold the dumbbells at your sides and engage the core
• Step up onto the box by pushing up through the front foot – don’t cheat by springing off the floor using your bottom foot!
• When both feet are on the box, lower the back leg down slowly and under the control of the front leg
• Repeat as many times as required per leg

2. Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squats

The rear foot elevated split squats allow for great squat depth, and it stretches the hip flexor as you go. This has large injury-prevention payoff later. The unilateral nature of the exercise reduces strength imbalances between limbs. 

It’s a great way to focus a lot of work on the legs, and the back foot resting on the bench takes weight off the lower back. This is a dumbbell leg exercise that will really challenge you, so start lighter than you think you’ll need to and build up from there.

This is our ‘heavy’ weight exercise.

Equipment needed dumbbell Bulgarian split squats:

• Weight bench
• Heavy dumbbells

REP AB-3000 Bench

This is the weight bench we recommend for ‘most people’.

We compared over 70 benches against 12 criteria. This is our highest-ranked flat, incline & decline (FID) bench.

Some adjustable benches can be a bit wobbly when on the incline. But the AB-3000 is very sturdy.

With a height 18mm it’s comparable to benches that cost twice as much.

Check the price here

How to do dumbbell Bulgarian split squats:

• Place the back foot on the bench behind you and hop your front foot ahead
• Hold the dumbbells at your sides and engage the core
• Keeping the chest up throughout, bend your back knee towards the floor and lower the front thigh until it reaches parallel to the floor
• Drive front foot into the floor and stand back to the start position
• Repeat as many times as required.

3. Single Leg Deadlift

This is a very challenging exercise, so give it some respect! But it’s another great hamstring and glute exercise performed with dumbbells. It’s much trickier than you’d imagine – concentrate on keeping your back straight and not allowing your torso to rotate through the movement. 

They can be performed using either a kettlebell or dumbbells. If it’s your first time on these, go light and make sure you maintain great form throughout the movement. Emphasize the knee stability element of it throughout by controlling the speed of the movement.

Keep going until you almost hit the floor with the dumbbells. 

Equipment needed for single leg deadlifts:

• Dumbbells

How to do single leg deadlifts:

• Hold the weights in both hands, keeping your back straight and both feet on the floor
• Keeping your back straight, tilt forward at the torso, taking the one leg straight back as you do
• You will now be standing on one leg, so move slowly and keep your balance and the weight moves towards the floor
• When the weight touches the floor and your torso is parallel to it, return to start position with a straight back and controlled movement
• Repeat as many times as required for the set, then switch sides

4. Dumbbell Walking Lunges

Walking lunges in this context can be done with any type of load – kettlebells, barbells or my favorite, dumbbells. I prefer dumbbells because they’re easy to hold and you can keep them closer to your sides than most kettlebells, which can be bulky as they get heavier.

The dumbbell design has the thinner handle section which helps. This quad exercise is designed to load up each leg for large rep numbers, so pick a challenging weight. Again, a volume play here.

Equipment needed for dumbbell walking lunges:

• Dumbbells

How to do dumbbell walking lunges:

• Take the weights and hold them in position
• Keep your chest up and your core tight
• Lunge forward, so you have one foot in front of your body and one behind
• Keeping your chest upright, bend the front and back leg at the same time
• When the back knee almost touches the floor, switch sides by stepping forward with the opposite leg
• Repeat as many times as necessary

5. Dumbbell Goblet Squats

The Dumbbell Goblet squat is an under-utlizied squat pattern in my opinion. Holding the weight in front of the body engages the core, and the shoulders are utilized to keep the dumbbell in place. The quads are activated and used through a full range of movement.

Like many of the exercises here, we’re all about the volume.

Equipment needed for goblet squats:

• Heavy dumbbell

How to do goblet squats:

• Hold the heavy dumbbell directly in front of your chest
• Keep your torso bolt upright as best as you can throughout the movement – this maximizes your range
• Slowly lower down into the squat, going as deep as you can
• Pause at the bottom, then stand back up
• Repeat as many times as necessary

6. Dumbbell Stiff Legged Deadlifts

The dumbbell stiff legged deadlift is one of my favorite hamstring exercises because it combines the eccentric contraction of the hamstrings with a decent amount of weight. It means you can load the muscles well, whilst benefiting a lot of the other muscles around it.

It’s also a simple and safe way to lift if you have a decent deadlift technique.

You won’t be able to hit the super heavy weights with a dumbbell lift that you could with a barbell, so we’re going as heavy as you can in the circumstances, but hit high volume. Plenty of reps to enjoy!

Equipment needed for dumbbell stiff legged deadlifts:

• Dumbbells

How to do dumbbell stiff legged deadlifts:

• Hold the dumbbells in each hand
• Deadlift the bar into your starting position, which is where you’re holding the dumbbell with straight arms, just in front of you
• Keeping your back and legs straight, tilt your hips back as your torso starts to point towards the floor
• Keep pushing your hips back, with your legs straight as you lower the bells towards the floor
• As you feel your hamstrings stretch fully, pause for a second and push the hips forward and lift the bar back to the starting position
• At the top of the movement squeeze the glutes together
• Repeat as many times as required

7. Dumbbell Deficit Squats

This is an exercise where simplicity and effort combine to produce a great outcome. You can make the exercise more difficult in a couple of ways – up the weight (obvious), or increase the size of the deficit you use. Either one is effective.

Not only does this exercise really help you build a lot of lower body muscle and function, it can also help you with flexibility.

The range of movement here is massive, so work through the full movement and enjoy the muscle and mobility benefits.

Equipment needed for dumbbell deficit squats:

• Dumbbells
• Plates to create deficit – bumpers are best

How to do dumbbell deficit squats:

• Stand with a foot on either plate, with the plates about 12 inches apart (enough space for a dumbbell to fit in)
• Put the dumbbell on its end, so it’s standing upright
• Squat down with your chest up and arms straight. Pick up the dumbbell, then stand upright
• Once you reach the top of the squat, pause, then slowly return the dumbbell back down towards the floor
• Keep your back and arms straight throughout the movement
• Repeat as many times as required

8. Dumbbell Spanish Squats 

Although mostly used as a rehab exercise, Spanish squats are an amazing way of isolating the quads during a squatting pattern. By taking out most of the rest of the muscles it forces all of the effort onto the quads, which results in a lot of fatigue from a simple exercise. 

Spanish squats need a band and an anchor point. Weights here will be light to medium, because we’re going very high rep! These add up, so don’t get too ahead of yourself!

Equipment needed for Spanish squats:

• Strong resistance band
• Anchor point (rack)
• Dumbbell

How to do Spanish squats:

• Secure the resistance band around an anchor point
• Hold on the barbell like you would for the goblet squat – chest up, dumbbell gripped tightly
• Stand in the band, then move backwards to create a lot of tension in the band
• Keep your chest up, your core tight and slowly lower yourself until your thighs are parallel with the floor (or lower)
• Ensure the knees don’t cross over the toes
• Pause and drive back up under control
• Repeat as many times as necessary

9. Dumbbell Standing Calf Raises

The dumbbell standing calf raise is almost like a rest stop in this workout! It’s a way to give your quads, hamstrings and glutes a rest by focussing efforts elsewhere. The standing calf raise is simple to set up, but the results are certainly worth the effort.

It’s an isolation exercise, but the intensity is high because it is focussed all on one spot. Don’t be surprised if (as when fatigue kicks in), you feel this in the hamstrings as well. 

Equipment needed for dumbbell standing calf raises:

• Dumbbell
• Plate or bench to elevate the feet from the floor

How to do dumbbell standing calf raises:

• Place a thick plate (a heavy bumper is ideal), or couple of thinner plates on the floor – this is to elevate the heels and improve the range of movement and contractile range of the muscles
• Place the balls of your feet on the plates, allowing you to move your heels up and down to train your calves
• Whilst holding a dumbbell in one hand, get your balance and lift your heels off the floor by standing in a tiptoe position
• At the peak of the contraction, slowly lower it down
• Switch the dumbbell from one side to the other at the halfway point (for balance purposes)
• Repeat as many times as necessary

10. Dumbbell Pistol Squats

Let’s start with a warning here… Pistols aren’t an easy exercise. In fact, they’re really quite advanced. Add a dumbbell into this equation and they’re even tougher! This is an exercise that IF you can do with dumbbells, you should.

If not though, I’ve got no issue with you regressing them – either with just bodyweight or with the support of a TRX.

This is your measure of difference – if you get to the point where you’re able to hit several good quality reps of these dumbbell pistols, you’re making great progress!

Equipment needed for dumbbell pistol squats:

• Dumbbell

How to do dumbbell pistol squats:

• Hold on to a dumbbell in front of your chest
• Keep your chest up, back straight, one leg out in front. 
• If you’re not using a dumbbell, you can keep your arms spread for balance if you need to
• Lower yourself down, putting your non-working leg directly in front of you
• Reach full squat depth, then press back up through your foot until you reach a standing position
• Repeat

11. Dumbbell Jump Squats

The dumbbell jump squat is a safe and effective way to build explosive power in the lower body. It’s also excellent for building knee stability, because the knees have to work hard to control the descent of the body’s mass (and that of the dumbbells) on the way down.

Make sure you keep the weight in a low-medium range so you don’t fatigue yourself too quickly, or increase risk unnecessarily.

Equipment needed for dumbbell jump squats:

• Light/medium dumbbells

How to do dumbbell jump squats:

• Hold a dumbbell in each hand
• Stand bolt upright, initiating the movement by driving the hips back
• Lower yourself into a deep squat, until your thighs break parallel with the floor
• Keeping your chest up, drive your feet into the floor powerfully, forcing the jump
• When you land, absorb the impact with your knees bent, lower back down
• Repeat as many times as necessary

This is the dumbbell leg workout. There are 11 exercises and 45 sets. The exercises are designed to challenge you in ways you might not be used to. These exercises may be new to you, and they’re certainly a step away from what most leg workouts you’ll find look like. 

Use weights that will push you hard. I want you to know that you’ve been in a battle by the end of this workout!

Dumbbell leg workout – the training notes

This is the learning section, where I explain my thinking regarding the workout and the program design. It’ll help you understand why certain exercises are there and how they should be performed.

By following this section you’ll get a greater understanding of exercise programming and what the aims are here…

High Volume For the Win!

When we’re training with dumbbells we can’t hit the same weight numbers as we can with a barbell, so we have to box clever. In this case it means shooting for high volume. This is why so much of the workout is high rep sets.

We’re trying to create a muscle building environment in a different way.

Although the weights won’t be spine-crushing, the rep ranges will make sure the workload and intensity is plenty high enough to force muscular adaptation.

New exercises, new stimulus

We know that frequent, haphazard changes of exercise programmes and approaches can actually hinder muscle growth, especially if they lack the desired intensity. 

However, as long as you hit a high enough volume and intensity, there’s evidence from a 2019 study by Schoenfeld et al that concludes…

‘…Varying exercise selection had a positive effect on enhancing motivation to train in resistance-trained men, while eliciting similar improvements in muscular adaptations.‘

I also like it from a psychological point of view. A change is as good as a rest, so it’s a way of introducing new exercises, forcing your legs to do things they’re not used to, and enjoying the results on the back of the effort.

Allow for regression

There are exercises in the list that are very challenging to say the least (Spanish squats, pistols and jump squats, I’m looking at you). Whilst I want you to be using dumbbells in these exercises, you can regress to bodyweight in them if you need to.

Stick to the rule ‘as heavy as you can, for as long as you can’ and you won’t go far wrong. 

Finish on the explosive ones…

I mentioned earlier that the order isn’t an accident. Take a look at the first and last exercises – step ups and jump squats. The step ups are heavy and there’s a box involved. There’s a risk there. The split squats are next – you’re still fresh at this point. 

The volume runs through the middle. You’re getting progressively more fatigued here. 

At the end of the workout, we’re looking for you to hit the bigger numbers. The power exercise, with a light weight, high explosive movement acts as a finisher. If you’d done the dumbbell jump squats earlier in the session, you’d have compromised your ability to do the rest. 

That’s why they’re last on the list.

Note: check out our best leg extension machine in-depth buying guide – the leg extension machine is also a great addition to your gym if you’re serious about developing your leg muscles.

Dumbbell leg workout – FAQs

A little extra guidance on getting this workout right…

Dumbbell leg workout: The bottom line

In this article, my aim was to show you a way to mix up your leg training. I wanted you to open your mind and see what dumbbells can do for you. 

If you take this workout on and do it properly, you’ll never overlook dumbbells again. I’m not even joking – this will shake up your leg training game more than anything. These tools have built their reputation over decades, with good reason.

Dumbbells are simple, effective, and will challenge you in fantastic new ways.

Print the workout out and pin it up on your wall. Find time in your training schedule and give it a go. Let us know how you get on! I’m sure you’ll enjoy a great workout and fantastic results from it.

It’ll also serve as inspiration to look at our other workouts on the site. Maybe you could pair it with our ‘Mass in Minutes Upper Body Dumbbell Workout’.