Dumbbells are one of the most overlooked and under appreciated items of kit in the gym. I’m not sure why - they’re one of the most effective training tools there is. Few items of kit offer anywhere near the same level of versatility in terms of movement and exercise selection. Also, because dumbbells are usually less popular than barbells, you’ve got much more freedom of choice when it comes to using them!
Here’s 5 reasons you should be training with dumbbells…
Better Muscle and Strength Balance
A big shift in strength training circles is towards ‘unilateral’ movements - these are movements that make a single limb work alone, so instead of squatting with a barbell, lots of coaches and personal trainers are instead favouring lunges and split squats. There’s a whole load of reasons for this, but one of the main ones is because it helps to reduce strength imbalances that occur naturally.
We all have a dominant arm and leg, so we bias that one when it comes to lifting, carrying, balancing etc. Over time the dominant side becomes significantly stronger, which can in some cases cause imbalances that affect performance and even increase the chances of injury. By training with dumbbells, research shows that these imbalances can be ironed out and this has a balancing effect on your physique and injury risk.
Training exclusively with barbells can help exaggerate those muscle imbalances because the stronger side naturally takes on the burden of the work. By using dumbbells instead, each side has to do it’s share of the work and therefore imbalances are reduced.
Dumbbells Allow More Natural Movement
Compared to machine weights and barbells, dumbbells offer the user a much more natural movement - whether that’s from the shoulder, elbow or wrist, a dumbbell is a much more manoeuvrable object than the others and allows your limbs to move much more as they please. With so much more control over the weight, dumbbells make for a much better option when it comes to rotational exercises as well - there’s far less inertia with a dumbbell, thus making the exercise safer. Good examples are Russian twists.
If you’ve suffered with injuries or are training following a procedure that limits movements of particular limbs or joints, training with dumbbells may allow you to achieve more natural movement. This movement could mean that you are able to cope with exercise in a pain free manner. If you were training with a barbell for example, this may not always be possible and could hinder progress when returning from injury.
There’s also an argument that by using dumbbells in your rehab, the unilateral exercise forces the injured side to build up strength and flexibility more quickly than it would if you used machines or bars, where the dominant side may be able to take over the majority of the load, reducing the pressure on the site that needs the rehab.
Dumbbells Allow You To Press Heavy When Alone
Most people (especially men) love good chest workout. Even though the bench press is actually a poor test of strength and a limited exercise when it comes to functionality, it’s still a yardstick by which many people measure themselves by. That being said, it’s hard to max out with a barbell if you’re lifting on your own, because you could do without being crushed under a heavy weight that you just couldn’t press for that final rep…
Bench Pressing with dumbbells is the perfect solution to this problem - if you reach muscular failure, you can control the drop down on either side, preventing an embarrassing incident under the bar. It’s also a way that you can truly train to failure without worrying about whether or not you’ll be able to complete the final rep.
Dumbbells Allow For An Enhanced Range of Movement
We know without doubt now that the longer the range of movement, the more effective the resistance training is. There is a lot of credible research that shows how enhancing the range of movement has a statistically significant impact on muscle size and strength, so if muscle building and strength improvements are your goal, you need to be increasing your range of movement during your exercises.
Dumbbells allow for a greater range of movement than barbells because you aren’t limited by the bar across your chest when you press for example, which allows a few degrees of extra movement at the shoulder, which has a knock-on effect on the muscle performing the exercise. This isn’t an opinion either - research analysing the range of motion of different variations of chest pressing exercises showed that dumbbell bench pressing variations has the biggest range of motion - in particular when using a unilateral movement (single arms at a time), which isn’t an option with a barbell or Smith Machine set up.
Dumbbells Make You Stronger!
This is actually a slightly misleading header, but the caveat didn’t look as good in the title!
It’s true though - research shows that when bench pressing, because of the additional stability requirements in the shoulder joint when using dumbbells, they actually enhance the muscle activation of the entire region, even though the relative loads when using the dumbbells are lighter (typically you can lift less weight with dumbbells than you can with a barbell). This has significant impacts on training decisions that you should be making as a coach or for your own training.
There’s more data that shows dumbbell activation of the target muscles in chest exercises is greater when using dumbbells. In this study, dumbbell bench pressing was shown to allow the trainee to perform more high quality reps (which we know improves muscle mass) and also stimulates more muscle tissue during the lifting. Where variety is important, it’s worth stressing that for strength and mass gains, dumbbells may be a better option for chest training than barbells.
Dumbbells - Don’t Overlook Them!
This article hasn’t been written to make you want to stop all other forms of lifting, but it has been written to draw your attention back to one of the most useful but overlooked tools in the gym. Dumbbells are practical, effective, safe and can enhance your workouts and progress more than you appreciate. The reasons listed here are just some of the many reasons why dumbbells should feature heavily in your workouts. Don’t overlook them!
At AdMac Fitness we’re not about fads, fashions and short term fixes. We want you to succeed properly over the long term, so with our help and advice you can get your fitness back on track! If you’d like us to help you, contact us on 07921465108 or email us at admacfitness@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
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