Copyright © 2010 Loose The Gut. All Rights Reserved. Snowblind by Themes by bavotasan.com. Powered by WordPress.
Dumbbells are all-around strength and weight training equipments which cover isolation, compound and alternating exercises. As you target each muscle group, consider doing 4 – 6 sets of 12 – 18 reps for each muscle group; this engages the
To lift dumbbells of equal weight, one would need higher amounts of control and power for both left and right side of the body. In other words it’s harder to cheat. It’s easier to lift more with barbells than dumbbells.
One of the keys to working out with dumbbells is your grip, the stronger your grip the more weight you can lift and control.
So where to begin… largest muscle groups first.
Legs: SQUATS, LUNGES and DEADLIFTS can be done with dumbbells. Dumbbell exercises require proper procedures for usage, amounting to slow and steady actions and a few seconds of pause when the muscle contracts. You want to do 8 – 12 reps and 2 to 3 sets before moving up in weight.
Chest: INCLINE & DECLINE BENCH PRESS, DUMBBELL FLIES and STANDARD BENCH PRESS, and PUSHUPS coupled with ROWING; you do this by holding dumbbells while doing PUSHUPS, lower down and then push back up, then lift the dumbbell as you would in bent-over rowing.
Shoulders: DUMBBELL MILITARY PRESS and DELTOID RAISES (front, side and back), SHRUGS and UPRIGHT ROWS.
Core exercises can also be performed while working the shoulders; this can help you develop a more stable body to enhance performance while exercising the shoulders.
One of these is the V-SIT DUMBBELL PRESS, where you sit on the floor with your legs spread in a V-shape.
Then press the dumbbells straight up, pause, then slowly lower your arms.
While you’re pressing your arms up, squeeze your glutes and press your hamstrings and calves to the floor.
The second is the SINGLE-LEG LATERAL RAISE; to do this, stand on one leg and hold light dumbbells, and with your arms straight raise the dumbbells out to your sides until your arms are parallel to the floor. Hold it for 3 seconds, and then slowly lower your arms.
Back: BENT OVER ROWS, STRAIGHT-LEGGED DEADLIFT and ONE ARM BENT OVER ROWS
Your Arms: you want to hit your biceps and triceps with continued stress throughout the routine. For your Biceps SEATED ALTERNATING DUMBBELL CURLS, DUMBBELL PREACHER CURLS and CONCENTRATION CURLS are ideal exercises to use with dumbbells. For your Triceps, the best dumbbell exercise is the TRICEP KICKBACK, LYING FRENCH PRESS and OVERHEAD TRICEP EXTENSIONS.
To view examples and get instructions on the above exercises, we recommend the No Nonsense Muscle Building system by Vince Delmonte.
As I stated earlier, it’s difficult to use a lot of weight with dumbbells if you don’t have a strong grip. So something that you should always do as part of your routine, is wrist curls with dumbbells… pronated and supinated grips to work your entire forearm.
Many people neglect these exercises, but they’re critical for achieving the most overall gains.
Consider this: tearing down more muscle fibers to develop more muscles requires substantial control to lift heavier weights, and lifting heavier weights can be best done through a firm and controlled grasp.
Even though dumbells are great pieces of training equipment, there are cheaper, more portable, less space consuming, more functional and less floor damaging epuipment to be had.