As the last couple of years have taught us, life can be unpredictable. Sometimes you may not be able to go to the gym, or may only have very limited equipment available to you to work out with. Assuming that you are an adult male, what if all you have is a barbell with very little weight. Can you get a good workout with just a 40 or 50lb barbell?
Even if you are already in good shape, or even powerfully built, you can still get a great workout with just a light (40-50lb) barbell that can allow you to continue to build muscle. You’ll need to seriously increase the volume (number of sets and reps), focus on perfect form and a slow pace, and minimize your rest time to keep your workouts productive, but you can progress towards your fitness and physique goals using just this minimal equipment.
There are a number of approaches that you can take when it comes to training with just a light barbell. These can vary depending on the desired outcome, the amount of time you want to spend training, and other factors. Let’s continue.
What are the advantages of using light weights?
There are a number of benefits associated with training with relatively light weights. Instead of overloading the muscles with heavy weights, light weight training will work by generating a huge pump and allowing nutrients to flow into the muscle for a longer duration (due to more sets and time under tension).
Light weights can still build a ton of muscle. Some of the greatest names of the Golden Era of bodybuilding such as Serge Nubret and Frank Zane espoused light, high-volume training and saw incredible results from it.
Training with heavy weights can take a toll on your joints. Shoulders, knees, hips etc can all suffer from the pressure of pushing heavy poundage year after year. Using light weights will drastically reduce the strain on your joints and will allow your body time to start to repair itself after years of wear and tear.
Safety is another important benefit of training with light weights. Most men will not need a spotter when bench pressing 50lb. And if you are to drop a weight on yourself, it’s probably not going to maim you the way hundreds of pounds might. Provided you warm up properly and execute each exercise with excellent form, your risk of injury is extremely low when you train in this light weight range.
As always, be sure to get checked out by your doctor before starting any new exercise program to make sure you are healthy enough to workout. Even a very light workout routine will require the green light from your healthcare professional, especially if you have any injuries or haven’t worked out in a while.
What workout can I do with just a 40-50lb barbell?
Here’s an example of a traditional sets and reps workout routine for an adult male who is in decent-to-good shape. Since the weight will be so light, I have opted for a 2 day split routine, where you perform each workout 2-3 times per week, alternating between A and B.
Workout A
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Squats | 3 | To failure |
| Lunges | 3 | To failure |
| Calf Raises | 3 | To failure |
| Pull-ups | Few as possible | 30+ |
| Bent-over Rows | 3 | To failure |
| Abs | 2-3 | 20 |
Workout B
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Bench Press | 3 | To failure |
| Clean and Press | As few as possible | 50 |
| Shrugs | 3 | To failure |
| Curls | 3 | To failure |
| Abs | 2-3 | 20 |
Increase the number of sets as needed. You should be getting a great pump with these high rep ranges, but if you’re not feeling stimulated by this, go ahead and increase the number of sets and keep your rest time in between sets to a maximum of 1 minute.
Training for time with a light (40-50lb) barbell.
The beauty of training for time is that you will not make things any easier by racing through your reps. The clock counts down at the same rate no matter how fast you crank out each repetition, so you may as well perform slow reps and make the most out of each one.. This results in more time under tension in one minute than many trainees may get from a typical 3 sets of 10.
For more on training for time, check out this post.
Here is an example workout if you choose to train for time instead of sets and reps. This routine can be performed 3-5 times per week. Your recovery time between workouts will be short, since the resistance is so light, but give yourself another day of rest if you’re still sore.
| Exercise | Sets | Time |
| Squats | 2 | 1 minute |
| Calf raises | 2 | 1 minute |
| Clean and Press | 2 | 1 minute |
| Shrugs | 1-2 | 1 minute |
| Bent-Over Rows | 2 | 1 minute |
| Bench Press | 2 | 1 minute |
| Curls | 1-2 | 1 minute |
| Ab exercise of choice | 1-2 | 1 minute |
It is very important to warm up properly by doing some light cardio such as walking or cycling for 5-15 mins before working out, and also to be sure to stretch thoroughly during and after your workout.
If these rep ranges feel too easy and there is no way you can add weight, try adding additional time to the sets for the time-training method. For the conventional sets-and-reps workout, you will need to concentrate on maintaining a very slow cadence. I’m talking about a pace where you spend 1 second on the positive motion and 3 seconds on the negative.
For most men, a 40lb barbell or a 50lb barbell will provide enough resistance on most exercises to make for a good workout without having to do hundreds of reps and venture into endurance territory. If you happen to have a fixed weight barbell then you’ll have to stick with this weight, obviously. A basic, inexpensive barbell set will be likely what you have, so you could possibly go heavier, but it is convenient to stick with the same weight for all these exercises anyway because it cuts down on time between sets and allows for shorter, more intense, workouts.
What if I just have a barbell and I’m short on time?
If you’re really in a pinch for time and can only workout for 10-15 mins, you can still get a significantly effective workout in there with just this one barbell. For example:
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Squats | 3 | Failure |
| Bench Press | 3 | Failure |
| Bent-over Rows | 3 | Failure |
| Abs | 2-3 | Failure |
Or, if you want to take the training for time approach:
| Exercise | Sets | Time |
| Squats | 1 | 5 min |
| Bench Press | 2 | 1 min |
| Bent-over Rows | 2 | 1 min |
| Abs | 1-2 | 1 min |
If you only have time for one exercise, I’d recommend doing clean and presses. Aim for 100 total reps, or as many as you can get within your available time frame.
For more on a clean and press only workout, check this out.
Can I build a lot of muscle with just a light barbell?
You may not be able to reach your maximum genetic potential, but you can still add significant size even with this light amount of weight. With careful attention to a number of factors, you can still see gains from training with very light weights.
Ultimately, it has been shown that, light weight training can build as much size as heavy training, although your strength may not increase as much. What’s important is that you push yourself by going to failure.
The important things to focus on are:
- Perfect form. Absolutely no cheating of any kind. Every rep must be performed properly to make each one as effective as possible.
- Slow cadence. By slowing down the speed at which you do each repetition it will make each one maximally beneficial – and you won’t need to do as many.
- High volume (maximum time under tension). Using light weight for low reps is pretty pointless except as a warmup, so the volume (number of sets and reps) will need to be high to stimulate growth.
- Going to failure. If you are lifting light weight and not going to failure, you are working within your current capabilities. You need to push the boundaries of your muscles’ capabilities in order to progress. Since going heavy is not an option in this scenario, you will need to test the limits by doing as many good quality, slow reps as you can possibly do.
40-50lb is heavy for me, can I still use this weight?
If this is a heavy weight for you, go lighter. If you cannot get at least 10 reps in a given exercise, drop the weight by 10-20% in order to achieve this, and stick with the same number of sets.
If 40-50lbs is heavy for you, but you can do at least 10 reps per set of each exercise, this routine may be more beneficial for you, as the weight will lie in more of a muscle-building range for you. You will be stronger in some exercises than others, for example, you may be able to squat 50 lbs with ease, but can only curl 20 lbs. So if you are able to adjust the weights, do so. If you have a fixed-weight barbell and cannot adjust it, then do higher reps on the exercises in which you are stronger, i.e. bench press, squats, rows, but stick with lower reps when your abilities necessitate it. If you cannot properly perform any exercise with the weight you have, do not do it. Instead, search for an alternative until you can get some more weights.
Remember that in order to accurately track your results you will need to monitor your bodyfat percentage as well as weighing yourself and looking in the mirror. It’s a great idea to get a bodyfat reader so you can see how much muscle/fat you are gaining/losing. Using a retractable tape measure is also helpful for keeping track of incremental changes in your waist, arms, legs, shoulders etc.
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