Minimalist 3-Day Full-Body Workout Plan

The idea of a minimalist workout is exactly what it sounds like; you’re essentially doing the minimum it takes to still achieve a thorough, effective workout that will contribute toward the achievement of your goals. Also inherent in the definition is that you have access to a minimal amount of training equipment. 

In essence, if you happen to live in a tiny studio apartment with only a few training items available — like a set of dumbbells and a weight bench — and you’re also limited by time, these three quick workouts will be sufficient to thoroughly tax your entire body and sustain muscle growth.

Day One: Push Day

An ideal minimalist push day takes all of the upper-body muscles in your anterior chain — and all of the muscles you use to press with — and works them against resistance in all of the major directions they are designed to move in. In short, you’re going to be training your chest, shoulders, and triceps, and you’re ideally going to toss at least one bodyweight exercise into the mix to vary between open-chain and closed-chain movements.

Bench Press (2 x 8-12)

The classic dumbbell bench press is a favorite for challenging the primary movers of your pectoral muscles, with support from your anterior delts and triceps.

Incline Bench Press/Decline Push-Up (2 x 8-12)

Whether you choose to perform the incline bench press or decline push-up, the angle of the exercise places more emphasis on the upper pectoral region that is often neglected during ordinary bench press.

Standing Overhead Dumbbell Press (2 x 8-12)

By standing and pressing the dumbbells skyward, you’re preparing your body to stand and lift weights overhead in a natural fashion.

Close-grip Push-ups (2 x 10-20)

Executing pushups with your hands close together places a far greater emphasis on your triceps, while also shifting much of the resistance to your lower and inner pectoral muscles.

Hanging Leg Raises (1 x Failure)

While your back and legs aren’t fatigued, this is a good time to perform the most efficient (and most challenging) abdominal workout there is. That’s because hanging leg raises rely on the muscles of your back and legs to keep your body stabilized during the curling effort that raises your legs and brings your abs into a contracted state.

Day Two: Pull Day

The concept of a pull day really speaks for itself; if the muscle is included in pulling motions, we’re going to train it. This includes exercises that safely target the entirety of your back without neglecting your lower lumbar region, which is vital to protect. Because this is minimalist training, we can’t grant you the luxury of a cable, but if you happen to have a pull-up bar in the room, it would be to your advantage to throw a couple of pull-up or chin-up sets into the mix as well.

Pull-ups/Chin-ups (2 x 8-12)

Your decision to select either pull-ups or chin-ups will influence how much of the burden of performing the exercise shifts to your biceps. Either way, you’ll be completing an excellent closed-chain exercise that requires you to master your own bodyweight.

Standing Two-Arm Dumbbell Row (2 x 8-12)

By standing upright, bending over, and pulling the weight toward your chest, you’ll prepare your entire upper body to elevate objects even further after your legs have already done their part.

Single Arm Dumbbell Row x 2 (2 x 8-12 per arm)

Bracing your body in place on a weight bench with one arm enables you to maximize the lifting potential of each side of your back by hoisting a dumbbell with your opposite arm.

Stiff-Legged Deadlift (2 x 8-12)

While this is commonly performed as a hamstring exercise, by carefully bending over while your legs remain straight, you’ll place the emphasis on the muscles of your lower back that need reinforcing in order to prevent postural issues.

Crunches to Failure (1 x Failure)

Once you’ve wiped out your back, that’s a great time to train the muscles that help to stabilize your body from the other side. The classic crunch is a great way to do that from a ground-based position.

Day Three: Leg Day

Even if you don’t have a squat rack and you’re limited to the use of dumbbells, don’t fret. You can still put yourself through a thoroughly excruciating leg workout as long as you have just a few feet of open floor space to work with.

Dumbbell Deadlift (2 x 8-12)

This very natural movement prepares your entire body, but primarily your legs, to control heavy objects as you lift them off the ground.

Goblet Squat (2 x 8-12)

By grasping the largest portion of a dumbbell with both of your hands in front of you, you’ll be able to execute a movement that is actually a far more ergonomically favorable method than regular squats for controlling an object while you use your legs to raise and lower your body. It also places far more emphasis on your glutes than deadlifts.

Walking Lunges; Stepback Lunges (2 x 8-12)

If you’re truly limited with the amount of space you have, stepback lunges may be the way to go here. Regardless, you’ll be able to individually work all of the key muscles in your legs by alternating them.

Romanian Deadlift (2 x 8-12)

With a slightly deeper knee bend than the stiff-legged deadlift, you’ll be able to target your hamstrings with less emphasis on your lower back.

Remember the 80/20 Rule

If you don’t have access to all of the niceties of a commercial gym, try not to sweat it too much. Just remember that fitness is a clear case where 80 percent of the effects are induced by 20 percent of the causes. As long as you include the major multi-joint lifts in your fitness training routine, your physique is going to develop itself quite nicely even if the equipment at your disposal is far from fancy.

Summary

1. A thorough, full-body workout is attainable with minimal equipment, like a weight bench and dumbbells.

2. Your push-day workout should include compound exercises that require you to push against resistance in all common directions.

3. It is good to include a bodyweight exercise to prepare your body to control its own weight.

4. If you have access to a pull-up bar, that makes it far easier to train both your back and your biceps.

5. Remember to include an exercise like the stiff-legged deadlift to target the muscles of your lower back.

6. Your legs can be thoroughly trained even without a squat rack or extremely heavy weights. 

7. Compounds, multi-joint lifts are going to be responsible for the overwhelming majority of the movement that prompts major muscle growth.