Build Muscle with Dumbbells Using the Centurion Set Method

Welcome to the Men’s Health Dumbbell Club, your new weekly plan for a fitter, stronger body, using just two dumbbells.

Click here to head back and check out previous weeks or simply get stuck in to our latest offering— week 25 and follow the programme from here.

New This Week…

This week marks the beginning of a 4-week phase employing centurion sets. Using full body sessions, compound movements and limited rest, you’re going to push your muscles to the point of failure, chipping away at a 100 rep target on each movement.

The goal here is to tow the line between volume and intensity, breaking up each movement into as few sets as necessary to maintain good form and high quality movement. Your goal is to complete each 100-rep centurion set in as few individual bouts as possible, taking short micro-rests as you fatigue while pushing yourself hard to remain in the high intensity, research backed growth zone.

If you have access to multiple dumbbells, choose a pair for each movement that you could probably perform 15-20 good reps with, but no more.

Example Centurion Set: Push press x 100 reps Performed as: 20 reps, 18 reps, 18 reps, 14 reps, 13 reps, 8 reps, 9 reps

Make careful notes of the weights you use for each movement and the reps you achieve in each set. Keep your rest periods and focus on recovery by paying attention to your breath, staying present and counting 10-15 deep inhales between each effort before jumping back in to chip away at the 100 reps total.

Keep these notes safe as we’ll be referring back to them in later weeks, attempting to 'beat the notebook’ by completing each centurion set with fewer breaks — ensuring progressive overload and guaranteeing that visible improvements aren’t far behind.

After a thorough warm-up grab your bells and get to work. If you have a selection of weights, pick a pair that you could press overhead no more than 15-20 times. Push each set as close as you can to technical failure – the point at which your form or tempo begins to break down. Between each effort, tally your reps and focus on taking 10-15 deep belly breaths before jumping straight back in. Continue in this fashion until you achieve 100 reps, then move onto the next movement.

Lay flat on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the ground. Press the weights above you, locking out your elbows (A). Lower them slowly until your upper arms are resting on the floor (B), close to your body, pause here before explosively pressing back up. If you have a bench, use it.

After your final floor press, stand tall with your dumbbells at your sides, hinge forward until your torso is almost parallel to the ground and allow the dumbbells to hang just below your knees (A). Maintaining a flat back, row both dumbbells towards your hips (B), squeeze your shoulder blades together and lower under control to the start before repeating.

Clean your dumbbells onto the front of your shoulders (A). From here, drop into a front squat, by pushing your hips back and bending at the knees until your thighs pass parallel to the ground (B), before driving back up explosively. Keep those dumbbells secured high, with a strong, upright torso throughout.

Clean your dumbbells onto your shoulders, palms facing in. Take a breath and create tension in your core. (A) Dip at the knees and use your legs to help (B) press your dumbbells overhead. Lower with a controlled tempo to your shoulders and repeat. If your weights feel a little too light, don’t use any drive from the legs and focus on a strict press from the shoulders.

Stand tall with your dumbbells at your waist, in front of your body. (A) Keeping your core tight hinge forward slightly before explosively standing back upright and pulling the dumbbells up towards your chin, driving your elbows up and back (B). Slowly lower back down to your waist under complete control. Avoid simply dropping your dumbbells back to your waist to build more muscle and avoid injury. If your dumbbells feel light, avoid the help from your hips and simply stand tall and pull the weights up to your chin.

With your dumbbells on the floor just outside of your feet, hinge down and grip them with a flat back and neutral spine (A). Engage your lats and stand upright, ppushing the ground away with your feet, keeping your chest up and black flat throughout (B). Lower them back to the ground in a hinging motion and repeat. Avoid excessive rounding in your lower back, keeping your form tight throughout.

Drop into a press-up position with your hands on your bells and midline tight (A). Shifting your weight onto your left hand, row the right dumbbell towards your hip (B). Pause briefly, then lower the weight under control. Repeat on your left side (each row equals one rep)

Clean your dumbbells onto the front of shoulders and stand tall (A). Keeping your chest up at all times, take a step backward with one leg, bending your front knee until the back knee touches the ground (B). Stand up explosively, pause and repeat with the other leg. Alternate back and forth.

Lay flat on the floor, lift your feet six inches from the ground whilst pushing your lower back into the ground and lifting your head and shoulder blades off of the ground. (A) Hold one or both of your dumbbells behind your head, with straight arms pull the dumbbell over your head and above your chest, (B), pause, squeeze your chest hard and return to the floor under control.

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