You don’t need a sprawling exercise menu or the most well-stocked gym in the world to build muscle, test your conditioning and expose your weak links.

Sometimes four well-chosen movements, a pair of dumbbells and a rapidly closing 60-second window are more than enough.

This full-body ladder combines a push-up, renegade row, clean and thruster into one increasingly brutal sequence. These escalating protocols are commonly known as ‘Death By…’ workouts – and once the reps begin stacking up, you’ll understand why.

The Death by Dumbbells Workout

Start a running clock. In the first minute, complete one dumbbell push-up, one renegade row on each side, stand up, clean the bells on to your shoulders and knock out one thruster. Rest for whatever remains of the minute.

When minute two begins, perform two reps of every movement (using hang cleans after completing the renegade rows). In minute three, complete three of each. Continue adding one rep per round until you can no longer finish the prescribed work inside 60 seconds – or voluntarily pull the plug.

The final workout will look something like...

What to read next

Minute 1

A. Push-Up on Dumbbells x 1 rep

B. Renegade Row x 1 rep on each side

C. Hang Clean x 1 rep

D. Thruster x 1 rep

Minute 2

A. Push-Up on Dumbbells x 2 reps

B. Renegade Row x 2 reps on each side

C. Hang Clean x 2 reps

D. Thruster x 2 reps

And so on...

Taken together, the four movements leave very little untouched. Push-ups hammer your chest, shoulders and triceps, while renegade rows target your upper back, biceps and core. Cleans recruit your glutes, hamstrings and traps, before the thrusters challenge your quads, shoulders and cardiovascular fitness.

Complex-style training allows you to accumulate plenty of productive, full-body volume without putting the dumbbells down. That makes it an efficient muscle-building tool, while the shrinking rest periods deliver a sizeable conditioning hit.

Choose weights that keep your early rounds crisp. Beginners should start with 10-15kg dumbbells, intermediates with 15kg-17.5kg, and advanced athletes with 17.5–22.5kg. Don’t let your ego kill the workout before the ladder has had a chance to kick in properly – the weights will feel heavy soon enough.

How to Do the Moves

step by step guide to a dumbbell workout routine.

Push-Up on Dumbbells

  • Start in a high plank position, with your hands holding onto the middle part of your dumbbells. Make sure your hands are stacked directly below your shoulders.
  • Squeeze your shoulders, glutes, and core to create full-body tension. Your spine should form a straight line.
  • Bend your elbows to descend to the floor, stopping with your chest just above the ground. Your elbows should be at a 45-degree angle relative to the torso.
  • Press back up off the floor, raising up to the top position with your elbows fully extended.

Renegade Row

  • Get into a push-up position with your hands on the handles of two dumbbells. The wider your feet are, the easier the exercise will be to complete.
  • Keeping your core engaged and hips even, row the right dumbbell up to your waist, then return to the start position.
  • Repeat with the left dumbbell.

Hang Clean

  • Stand tall, holding your dumbbells at your side.
  • Hinge at the hips to lower them to your knees.
  • Stand back up explosively with a slight jump, coming right up onto your toes and using the momentum to pull the dumbbells on to your shoulders.
  • Stand up straight, then lower under control to your sides.

Thruster

  • Secure two dumbbells on top of your shoulders.
  • Squat down, keeping your back straight and chest up, until the crease of your hips drops below your knees.
  • Stand back up explosively and, in one motion, press the dumbbells overhead to full lockout.
  • Reverse the movement and repeat.

If there’s one thing Kori Sampson knows, it’s how to optimise your body composition for performance. To tap into his knowledge as an elite athlete and coach, we asked him to create a 4-week plan to help you move faster, recover quicker and keep pushing when the fatigue sets in – all while improving your muscle-to-fat ratio.

Ready to build muscle, burn fat and come out the other side looking, feeling and performing better? CLICK HERE to get 14 days of free access to the plan via the Men’s Health app.

kori training plan

Headshot of Andrew Tracey
Andrew Tracey

With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.    


As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.   


Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.   


 You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.