dumbells

[G4Z]

So, last time I posted in here I was losing some weight by doing press ups and sit ups, that worked ok but I went away on holiday and never got back into it. That was well over a year ago and since then I had some events in my life that lead me to get it sorted and I went from 14and a half stone to 11st 3. Once I had done that I decided it might be a good idea to build some muscle mass to help me look a bit better. never really been happy with my arms and read I could do a lot with dumbells so thats what I went for. Mainly been doing bicep curls chest presses, latteral raises, started with quite high reps and low weight (5kg per arm). i have been adding weight every week or so for 6 weeks and now I am up to 9kg per arm which is the maximum I can do with this set. My question is really about if its worth buying another set of weights or if I should just move weight from one of the dumbells to the other and do my arms one at a time. Is there any advantage to doing both at the same time or does it not matter?

Anybody got any recommendation on stuff I can do with dumbbells? Been using this page for ideas http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com...exercises.html

[jordan427]

Do bent over dumbell rows. They're fantastic. They're called 'single arm rows' on that website.
You really need to do more than 9kg with rows. Ideally you want to be aiming for 5 reps of 30kg+. 9kg isnt going to put on much muscle im afraid!

[G4Z]

ok great, tried that tonight.

Bumped it to 16kg on one, and the rows were quite comfortable and felt good. Thing is, I tried a few curls with it and wow, it was a real struggle. Should I just leave the curls out and swap them for rows?

[0iD]

Curls imo are overrated. The bulk of your upper arm muscle is the tricep & not the bicep. Having big bulgy biceps often leads to unbalanced arms as blokes become obsessed with the look. Try getting a Powerbar or similar for chin-ups/pull-ups etc for strong lean arms.

Bent over rows will help strengthen your core, back, shoulders, chest & arms.

[SammEl]

Curls imo are overrated. The bulk of your upper arm muscle is the tricep & not the bicep. Having big bulgy biceps often leads to unbalanced arms as blokes become obsessed with the look. Try getting a Powerbar or similar for chin-ups/pull-ups etc for strong lean arms.

Bent over rows will help strengthen your core, back, shoulders, chest & arms.

I disagree.

Neglecting any muscle will make you look out of shape, I neglected one muscle, traps, and now have no neck muscle. The muscle that brings out your whole upper area, clever ffs.

Work your whole arm, biceps and triceps. The bicep is HARDER to build than the bicep, and I can get my triceps big in no time, but biceps take months.

Triceps = Tricep dips - Find a bench or high solid surface
Biceps = Many different techniques, see what ones you like best!

[jordan427]

0id is correct, triceps make up the bulk of your upper arm and should be exercised. Biceps will grow without isolated exercises!

good luck

[0iD]

I disagree.

Neglecting any muscle will make you look out of shape, I neglected one muscle, traps, and now have no neck muscle. The muscle that brings out your whole upper area, clever ffs.

Work your whole arm, biceps and triceps. The bicep is HARDER to build than the bicep, and I can get my triceps big in no time, but biceps take months.

Triceps = Tricep dips - Find a bench or high solid surface
Biceps = Many different techniques, see what ones you like best!

I never suggested neglecting them, merely going for balance.

[ABCx86]

The bicep is HARDER to build than the bicep

Typo?

[SammEl]

0id is correct, triceps make up the bulk of your upper arm and should be exercised. Biceps will grow without isolated exercises!

good luck

So you forgot that triceps also get worked heavily when working the chest muscles?

ABC Yeh my bad lol - Suppose to be tricep at the end

[circuitmonkey]

with dumbells and a fitness ball you can do many, many useful exercises.

[Yorkieshaman]

In my opinion: yes, it's worth getting a second set of weights if it means you can work both arms at once (as opposed to having to do arms individually). Dumbbells can be had dirt cheap if you shop around - even cheaper if you pick some up second hand (especially because they're fairly hard to damage).

I know you're focused on your arms, but don't neglect your lower body. Try doing dumbbell squats - they don't take long and they work plenty of muscles. Apart from balance, as other posters have said, your lower body also has some of the larger muscle groups in it. Build these and you have more muscle mass overall. Which means your body will tend to produce more testosterone. Which makes it easier to grow muscle everywhere else.

Getting a fitball is a very, very good suggestion, in my opinion. Even a cheap one means you can do dumbbell presses and curls on it, or tricep dips and press-ups on it (good for working stabilising muscles, or when you get bored of dumbbell exercises and want a break for a day). Make sure you get a pump with it - cheap ones tend to lose air quite quickly.

If you're going for size you may want to look at lower reps (like 8 rather than 20) and heavier weights, as opposed to high reps/low weights. Also you may want to try eccentric lifting (lift/exert on a one count, lower/relax on a three count).

Your mileage may vary, etc.

[Zak33]

not everything is about muscle build though.

I have two tiny dumbells, tucked down the side of the sofa. They get used regularly. I go for massive reps and not much weight.

Bicep curls with multi reps are good for me. I'm not heavy build, but it gets the heart beating properly, and then stood in the crucifix position and varying the moves, without ever stopping for rest is my method. Sair gets the hump while tryiung to watch TV with me swearing at the pain after 20 minutes but hey... it's good.

I don't think it would be possible for me to build forearms and upper arms like 0iD or SeriousSam, both of whom are considerably thicker-set than me, but the effect on fitness has helped me from using them.

I guess it depends if you wannt look like Terminator or Bruce Lee
I'm a Bruce Lee man everytime... and I like noodles

[cat123]

I bought a set of the adjustable dumbbells and they are fantastic, you can change the weight so quick therefore there is no time wasted between sets. I have read loads of different opinions on the subject of what exercises to do but the main objective should be IMO is to work every muscle if you can. Therefore I would concentrate on compound moves and you should see results.

[Evildeeva]

My question is really about if its worth buying another set of weights or if I should just move weight from one of the dumbells to the other and do my arms one at a time. Is there any advantage to doing both at the same time or does it not matter?

Don't forget as you progress your workout though its good to sometimes work each arm independantly; this means you will get to engage different muscles. To make sure you maintain correct posture as you do this, you will need to activate your core muscles giving them a good workout too.

[Nanek]

It would be much better if you got access to a decent set of barbells and went on a starting strength routine. Low weight high reps will not really do much good, infact heavy weight low reps is so much better in building strength, size and losing fat. With dumbells it all depends on how heavy they are, you could try some squats or overhead presses but honestly try and invest in a barbell set and/or gym if you can.

if you really wanted somewhere to begin, i would do the following with HEAVY barbells:

Workout 1:
5x5 squat
5x5 Bench
1x5 Deadlift

Workout 2:
3x5 Squat
3x5 Press
5x3 Power Clean (swap for rows if your form is terrible on these)

[Yorkieshaman]

Nanek's right, but dumbbells do have one advantage, which is that if you're exercising on your own and doing bench presses then dumbbells are a lot safer. I'd say ideally, barbell and a training partner or go to a gym and use the smith machine. If you're on your own and wanting to lift heavy weights I'd personally stick with dumbbells at least for bench presses.

If you're exercising on your own, personally I think a good upgrade path would be:
1. Spend £30 or something on some dumbbells (go second-hand: dumbbells are pretty hard to damage)
2. Buy a fitball (£4 for a cheap one, though you'll have to keep pumping it up). Then you can lie on it to do presses and flys (and reverse flys), which means you get a good core workout at the same time.
3. Buy a bench that inclines and declines to replace the fitball (fitball's still good for all sorts of abs exercises). Incline and decline means you can do incline and decline dumbbell/barbell presses to work your upper and lower chest.
4. Now add a barbell and some more weight plates for standing barbell exercises like the ones Nanek suggests.
5. Now add a rack of some kind so you can do barbell bench presses (also makes squats easier in my opinion since you can rack the bar when you finish). Just don't drop it on yourself, or get a partner

The nice thing about weights is that they're very cheap (compared to, say, most gym memberships) - especially if you buy second-hand or find some sports shop that's closing down (should be a few of those around at the moment).