The hotel gym may not be great but it’s enough for a good workout.

When you picture a hotel gym, you’re probably not envisioning a weightlifter’s paradise. In fact, you’re probably picturing the total opposite.

While you might still find the gym lacking, hotel gyms have improved dramatically over the last decade.

At the very least, you can count on there being dumbbells. They’re just not always going to be heavy ones. But that’s not a problem.

There’s a hotel gym workout for everyone on this list:

Bodybuilding
Strength
Cardio
CrossFit
HIIT
Bodyweight
Full-body

Find your workout, take a walk down to the hotel gym, and get to work.

Hotel Gym Workout #1 (Upper Body)

Bench-Supported High Elbow Dumbbell Rows (Back)

Lay face down on a bench set at a slight incline.
Keep your elbows high to focus on the upper back.
Do 4 sets of 15 to 20 reps or until failure.

Standing Dumbbell Curls (Biceps)

Keep your hands supinated (palms facing up) and your elbows tucked into your stomach.
Lean back as you lower the dumbbells and lean forward as you curl them up.
Do 4 sets of 15 to 20 reps or until failure.

Dumbbell Skullcrushers (Triceps)

Lay on a bench and stretch the dumbbells as far back as you comfortably can.
Extend the dumbbells up from your shoulders but don’t fully lock out (this keeps tension on the triceps).
Do 4 sets of 15 to 20 reps or until failure.

Wide-Grip Push-Ups on Dumbbells/Wide-Grip Push-Ups/Push-Ups (Chest)

Start by doing wide push-ups with your hands on the dumbbells.
Next, push the dumbbells out of the way and do wide push-ups with your hands on the floor.
Then, do regular push-ups.
Focus on driving your body up with your chest.
Do 3 sets of each type of push-up 20 times or until failure.

Arnold Press (Shoulders)

Sit on a bench and start with the dumbbells at your shoulders.
Rotate the dumbbells forward until they touch and rotate them back out.
Press overhead and repeat.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

Hotel Gym Workout #2 (Lower Body)

For lower-body dumbbell workouts, we need to add volume to place sufficient stress on our leg muscles. This workout has a lot of reps.

Dumbbell Reverse Lunges

Hold the dumbbells at your side.
Slide your rear foot’s toes back and drag them forward.
Do 4 sets of 15 to 20 reps.

Dumbbell Walking Lunges

Bring the dumbbells to your shoulders and take SHORT steps back and forth.
DO NOT COME ALL THE WAY UP.
Do 4 sets until failure with the dumbbells. Do 2 more sets without the dumbbells.

Dumbbell Sumo Squat

Hold a single dumbbell at your chest and take a sumo stance.
Squat down and lean forward at the hips.
Push yourself up but do not come all the way up. Squeeze your glutes.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

Hotel Gym Workout #3 (Chest)

Seated Low Dumbbell Flyes

Sit on a bench and start with the dumbbells out at your side. Pull them in front of you until they touch, using your chest to drive the movement.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

Single-Arm Side Dumbbell Press

Lay on your side on a bench with a slight incline and your body facing the working side. Press the dumbbell up and across your body.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

Dumbbell Barrel Press

This is a hybrid between a fly and press so you need less weight than a normal press. Use a neutral grip and go wide with the dumbbells.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

Wide-Grip Push-Ups

Do 4 sets until failure.

Hotel Gym Workout #4 (Back)

Wide-Grip Pull-Ups

Do 4 sets until failure.

Close Neutral-Grip Chin-Ups

Maintain a bend in your elbows to force your lats to do the work.
Do 4 sets until failure.

Bench-Supported High Elbow and Low Dumbbell Rows

Do 4 sets of high elbow rows to target your upper back.
Then, do 4 sets with the dumbbells close to your body and use your lats to row them up in a J-shape motion. Maintain a bend in your elbows.

Dumbbell Shrugs with Hold

Hold the dumbbells at your sides and shrug them up with your traps. Hold for 3-5 seconds at the top.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

More back workouts with dumbbells.

Hotel Gym Workout #5 (Shoulders)

Handstand Push-Ups or Pike Push-Ups

Get into a handstand with your feet against a wall. If can’t do this, get into a push-up position with your feet on a bench and a bend at the hips.
Do 4 sets of as many reps as possible.

Dumbbell Side Lateral Raises - Partial at the Bottom, Full Range of Motion, and Partial at the Top

Use the heaviest weight for the bottom partials, a lighter weight for the full range of motion, and the lightest weight for the partials at the top.
Do 3 sets of each, 15-20 reps.

Seated Dumbbell Front Raise

Sit on a bench and hold a single dumbbell in front of you with your palms facing up. Raise it up to eye level.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

Lying Rear Delt Flyes

Lay face down on a bench. Place the dumbbells on the floor and use your rear delts (the back of your shoulders) to pull them up and away.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

Hotel Gym Workout #6 (Biceps/Triceps)

Seated Incline Dumbbell Curls

Sit back on a bench with an incline. Keep your elbows back as you curl.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

Dumbbell Skullcrushers

Lay on a bench and stretch the dumbbells as far back as you comfortably can.
Extend the dumbbells up from your shoulders but don’t fully lock out (this keeps tension on the triceps).
Do 4 sets of 15 to 20 reps or until failure.

Seated Dumbbell Curls

Sit on a bench but keep your feet wide. Hold the dumbbells with a palms-up grip between your knees and rest your elbows on your inner thighs.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

Close-Grip Push-Ups

Focus the movement on your triceps.
Do 4 sets until failure.

Seated Dumbbell Drag Curls

Sit on a bench with your feet and knees together. With the dumbbells at your side and slightly in front of you, drag them up and back.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

Bench Dips

Lean back as you press up and forward as you come down.
Do 4 sets until failure.

Hotel Gym Workout #7 (Legs)

Dumbbell Front Squat

Hold two dumbbells at your shoulders with your feet slightly less than shoulder-width apart and squat all the way down (ass-to-grass).
Do not come all the way up.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

Dumbbell Stiff-Leg Deadlift

Let the dumbbells drift in front of you, putting more of a stretch on your hamstrings. Shift the weight into your toes.
Contract your hamstrings as you pull yourself up. Do not come all the way up.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps.

Reverse Lunge with Back Foot Off the Ground

Hang onto something and do a reverse lunge but do not let your back foot touch the ground. Hold a dumbbell on the working side (optional).
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps per side.

Dumbbell Calf Raises Hanging Off a Bench

Lay your back against a bench and let your butt hang off of it. Keep your non-working leg off the ground.
Place a dumbbell on your working leg and flex your calf up.
Do 4 sets of 20-20.

Hotel Gym Workout #8 (No-Equipment Bodyweight, Upper Body)

Do 4 sets of each until failure:

Wide-Grip Pull-Ups (Back)

Handstand Push-Ups or Pike Push-Ups (Shoulders)

Wide-Grip Push-Ups (Chest)

Close-Grip Push-Ups or Bench Dips (Triceps)

Chin-Ups (Biceps)

The average hotel gym has a dumbbell rack up to fifty pounds.

Hotel Gym Workout #9 (No-Equipment Bodyweight, Lower Body)

Rear-Foot Elevated Split Squats (Quads)

Do not come all the way up.
Take a short stance and drive your knee forward of your toes to keep the movement in your quads.
Do 4 sets until failure.

Walking Lunges (Hamstrings)

Take long steps and drag the toes of your rear foot when you come up. Pull with your hamstrings.
Do 4 sets until failure.

Sissy Squats (Quads)

Start by standing with your feet hip-width apart.
Bend your knees and let your upper body lean back slightly.
Lower your body until your upper leg and lower leg form a 90-degree angle.
Then extend your knees (flex your quads) to raise your body back to the starting point.
Do 4 sets until failure.

Reverse Lunge with Back Foot Off the Ground (Glutes)

Hang onto something and do a reverse lunge but do not let your back foot touch the ground.
Do 4 sets of 15-20 reps per side or until failure.

Hotel Gym Workout #10 (Abs)

Complete as many rounds as possible of the following circuit in 10 minutes:

10-20 V-Ups
10-20 Sit-Ups
10-20 Crunches

Limit rest as much as possible in the ten minutes - your goal here is to push your abs as hard as possible in a short amount of time.

Hold a dumbbell in your hands during all three exercises if you’re more experienced with abdominal resistance training.

Hotel Gym Workout #11 (Cardio)

This hotel gym treadmill sprint workout will burn a lot of calories - fast. Set conditions based on your fitness ability.

Warm up with a walk for 5-10 minutes. Speed 3.0 - 4.0, incline 1.0 - 3.0
Run sprints for 30 seconds - 1 minute and rest for 30 seconds - 1 minute.
Repeat this for 20 minutes.
Cool down with a walk for 5-10 minutes.

Hotel Gym Workout #12 (CrossFit)

This is a CrossFit WOD by Jason Khalipa and can be completed in only 15 minutes with only dumbbells and bodyweight.

Every minute on the minute (EMOM) for 15 minutes perform the below movements:

Single-Arm DB Snatches (5 Right/5 Left)
10 Air Squats
10 Push-Ups

Hotel Gym Workout #13 (HIIT)

Do as many rounds as possible of the following exercises in 12 minutes:

50 Jumping Jacks
30 Squats
10 Burpees
10 Diamond Push-ups
10 V-ups

Hotel Gym Workout #14 (Full Body)

This workout requires only a pair of dumbbells.

Do 2 sets of 10-20 reps of each exercise:

DB Push Press
DB Bent Over Row
DB Lunges (Walking or Reverse)
DB Floor Press
DB Curl
DB Skullcrusher
DB Calf Raise
DB Crunch

Hotel Gym Workout #15 (30-Minute)

Complete as many rounds as possible in 30 minutes. Rest 1 minute between rounds.

5 Pull-Ups (if no pull-up bar, skip this)
10 Hand-Release Push-Ups
15 Dumbbell Snatches or Swings (if no dumbbells, do burpees)
20 Air Squats

Beginners should scale the workout by doing only as many reps of each exercise as they can safely do.

The Hotel Gym Workout Plan

Doing random workouts is great but your training needs structure for you to make real progress.

Most hotel gyms have a dumbbell rack with dumbbells up to fifty pounds and our Dumbbell Monster training program has been designed with this in mind.

This program has been designed for you to build muscle while traveling. No heavyweight and no progressive overload. Just dumbbells and bodyweight exercises.

If you’re looking for a hotel gym workout plan, look no further.