Dumbbell Workout Basics

November 3, 2009 Filed Under: Dumbbells

Using dumbbells is crucial to a long term fitness and personal body strengthening plan. As individual weights dumbbells are best used combined with a complete fitness workout on a daily basis.

A standard yet effective dumbbell workout is by and large conducted in the following way:

With a dumbbell of equal weight in each hand, raise each arm to shoulder level from the side of your body. Once done, slowly lower your arms so they are hanging at your sides again. Repeat this exercise as many times as you feel necessary. To focus on strengthening both arms, just use one dumbbell and one arm at one time, incorporating it into this short but effective dumbbell exercise.

Purchasing dumbbell weights is easy as most fitness shops have them. They can be purchased in pairs or as a complete dumbbell set that provides a lot of different weight increments, which will depend on current fitness levels as well as future fitness ambition.

Adjustable dumbbells can be bought too, these are particularly convenient in the home-gym for a quick dumbell arm exercising session each day. If your fitness regime includes the use of treadmills, spinning, bench presses and skipping ropes, then your best bet is to use the gym clubs facilities.

Generally dumbbells weights of 5 pound increments can be purchased off the shelf, which is fairly perfect for those working on a long-term fitness training program and gives the added advantage of being able to match their strength levels as they progress and improve.

If you’re a fanatic about colour combinations in your home-gym, all is not lost as dumbbells come in a variety of colours, designs and textures as well as being manufactured in several materials so you can buy dumbbells to suit your own private style and match the decor of your home-gym. Choose chrome or cast iron dumbbells that are both simple and easy to use without losing the trendy look. Rubber encasing dumbbells are also available if you want to minimize noise or the occasional floor damage from an unintentional drop on the floor during a dumbell workout – it happens.

Without doubt the chrome dumbbells have been the most popular type for home use through the years, but as said there is a huge variety on the market today to choose from in all price ranges.

Dumbbell racks are also available for storing your dumbbell set, keeping your home-gym space nice and tidy. Without a rack, dumbbells do tend to clutter the room and taking up excess floor space. Dumbbell racks help you out with this as they can organise the dumbbells vertically or horizontally and out of the way of walk through areas, which also helps avoid accidents where people (yourself included) could trip over them.

Naturally, the dumbbell rack and dumbbells should fit together, so the type of rack you select, will ultimately depend on the type of dumbbell set you purchase. Similarly the type of dumbbell set your purchase depends on your height, weight, body type, and fitness level and your level of strength.