Gotta Love Dumbbells

Dumbbells are versatile, inexpensive pieces of fitness equipment that can be used to work any muscle group. You can perform hundreds of dumbbell exercises targeting any part of the body. Whether you are a weight lifting novice or an experienced fitness buff, dumbbells can offer a great workout.

Who should use dumbbells? It may seem like they are the obvious choice for novice weight trainers, however, without proper technique dumbbells can cause injury. Many of the injuries incurred while using dumbbells happen when a user picks up or sets down the dumbbell. If you are not familiar with proper lifting techniques, use caution when training with any type of free weights.

Be sure to handle the weights with care. If you are lifting dumbbells (or anything else for that matter) from the floor be sure to bend your knees. Be a knee bender not a waist bender and save your back. If you are lifting dumbbells form a rack make sure you keep your body close to the rack. The farther away you are the more pressure you put on your back and shoulders. Also, be careful when putting the dumbbells back on the rack. I've seen more than one person who has smashed or broken a finger returning dumbbells to a rack. Talk about bad way to end a workout.

Let's look at the advantages to using dumbbells. One big advantage to dumbbell use is affordability. You can find dumbbells for about $1.00 to $1.50 per pound. Even cheaper if you check Craigslist or E-bay. You don't need an entire rack of dumbbells ranging up to 100lbs in order to get a good workout. In general women can get by with a 5lb set and 10lb set. For men, a 10lb set and a 20lb set should be sufficient. If you use these weights and find that the workouts are just too easy then upgrade to a heavier set.

Another advantage that goes along with affordability is that dumbbells are great for home use. With the ever shaky economy, gym memberships are falling down the priority list in people's budgets. The answer is to bring the gym to your home. You can save time and money with home workouts and dumbbells are an essential tool in the home workout regimen.

Probably the biggest advantage to dumbbell training is versatility. There are literally hundreds of exercises that you can perform with dumbbells. You can target individual muscle groups or multiple muscle groups at the same time. They are great for circuit training or traditional resistance training programs. Dumbbells are easy to travel with and take up very little space in your home. Also, whether you use them in your living room or outside on the lawn, you don't need a lot space to use dumbbells.

The popularity of resistance training has grown by leaps and bounds in the last 10 years. Aerobic training is still a necessity for any good fitness plan but resistance training is a must as well if you want to reach your fitness goals. Dumbbells are great fitness tools to add to your home gym so get started with some dumbbells workouts and find that better body.

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