Isometric exercises involve holding tension in a muscle group for a duration of time, rather than engaging a muscle across a joint’s movement pattern for reps. This makes them friendly for joints, great for injury rehabilitation and, due to the heavy focus on time under tension, great for packing on size, gaining strength, working your stabilisers, improving balance, testing grit and increasing muscular endurance. These exercises are especially great if you have a pair of Adjustable Dumbbells, as you can tailor the weight to each exercise!

1 - Bicep Curl Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Biceps, Brachialis, and Forearms.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Core, Deltoids and, Rhomboids and Traps (for stabilisation).

• Benefits - Increased bicep size, aids elbow joint stability, and increases control throughout the arm and shoulder muscles.

2 - Overhead Press Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Deltoids (anterior and medial mostly), triceps, traps and serratus anterior.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Rotator cuffs, forearms, core and glutes (for posture and torso alignment).

• Benefits - Increases upper limb endurance, promotes correct posture and practices a full range of motion for other overhead pressing exercises.

3 - Front Raise Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Front (anterior) deltoids, lateral deltoids, and chest (pectoralis major – assists in arm elevation).

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Traps, serratus anterior, biceps, forearms, core and hips.

• Benefits - Trains multiple upper body muscles and increases both mental and physical resilience.

4 - Bent Over Row Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Lats, rhomboids, traps, rear deltoids and biceps.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Forearms, erector spinae, core, glutes and hamstrings.

• Benefits - A joint-friendly option for building upper back strength and endurance while building your posterior chain and grip strength.

5 - Reverse Flye Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Rear deltoids, rhomboids, traps, infraspinatus and teres minor.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Lats, biceps, forearms, erector spinae, core, glutes and hamstrings.

• Benefits - Improves overhead stability by training your rotator cuff, aiding both overhead pressing and pulling exercises.

6 - Suitcase Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Forearm flexors and extensors, deltoids, obliques and erector spinae.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Core, glutes, quads, traps, rhomboids and lats (for torso stability).

• Benefits - A functional whole-body exercise that can reduce side-to-side muscle imbalances.

7 - Dead Bug Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Core, obliques and hip flexors.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Front delts, triceps, forearms, erector spinae, glutes and hamstrings.

• Benefits - Builds whole body strength and enhances your core stability and control.

8 - Plank Dumbbell Row Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Core, obliques, lats. Rhomboids, traps, delts and biceps.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Forearms, erector spinae, glutes, quads, serratus anterior.

• Benefits - An anti-rotation exercise that lets you hone your mind-body connection while building strength and size.

9 - Dumbbell Sumo Squat Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Quads, glutes, adductors and erector spinae.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Hamstrings, core, traps, shoulders and calves.

• Benefits - Great for building strength in your lower body and core muscles while improving hip mobility.

10 - Glute Bridge Dumbbell Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Glutes, hamstrings and erector spinae.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Core, quads, adductors, shoulders and traps.

• Benefits - Improves knee and lower back health and increases hip mobility (with a static contraction at full ROM).

11 - Deadlift Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Glutes, erector spinae, hamstrings, quads and forearms.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Traps, rhomboids, core, adductors and shoulders.

• Benefits - Increases strength along the posterior chain and improves your hip hinge form for barbell deadlifts.

12 - Incline Chest Press Holds (Mid-Press)

• Primary Muscles Worked - Chest (pec major), front delts, and triceps.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Serratus anterior, traps, forearms, and core.

• Benefits - Increases chest strength and size while improving your elbow and shoulder stability.

13 - Overhead Dumbbell Squat Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Quads, glutes, delts, triceps and traps.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Erector spinae, core, hamstrings, adductors, serratus anterior, forearms and calves.

• Benefits - A full body exercise that builds core and postural strength and improves your balance and co-ordination.

14 - Farmers Carry Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Forearms, traps, delts, erector spinae, and obliques.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Core, glutes, quads, calves, and rhomboids.

• Benefits - Develops your grip and posture while working multiple anterior and posterior muscles.

15 - Single Arm Overhead Lunge Holds

• Primary Muscles Worked - Quads, glutes, traps, triceps, and delts.

• Secondary Muscles Worked - Obliques, core, adductors, calves, and forearms.

• Benefits - Builds unilateral strength and stability, and trains anti-rotation in your core.

Isometric dumbbell exercises provide a simple, quick, and effective way to test your resilience, build your strength, improve mind-muscle connection and train with resistance whilst minimising potential pain and discomfort on your joints. They are great for training time under tension, rehabilitating injuries or just seeing what you’re made of. If you haven’t tried them yet, why not grab a pair of 5kg Dumbbells or 14kg Dumbbells some of the options above a try?

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Tags: Equipment > Dumbbells ; Exercise Type > Strength