Dumbbell Guide

Think of a ‘dumbbell’. Well most of you probably thought of a weighty piece of metal used to bloat and harden your body muscles. We associate dumbbell with the art of body building and so think it should be the toys for only the weight lifters and body builders. It’s time that we break this myth and stereotype image of a dumbbell and get to know the facts. The truth is that dumbbells are important ingredients to your fitness mantra! They are the most simple and easily available exercise equipments that you can get to keep you fit.

Fitness remains as an important concern in our minds today. It is more than mere walking, stretching out or playing games. To stay fit you need to do the correct exercises that the body particularly needs supplemented by the right nutrition. Not to forget the essential mind factor – motivation and determination which keeps us going through the enduring stages and helps us maintain an exercise routine. Even the thought of possessing a well-shaped body makes us feel positive and confident. The fitness training or program would depend on to what level of fitness you desire. Fitness is linked to losing weight or maintaining the appropriate weight levels. If you want to believe the experts, they suggest you can get a complete resistance training workout with the help of dumbbells alone!

Dumbbells have emerged as an inexpensive alternate to gym. You need not have the bulky and costly equipments at home when you can flexibly workout under proper guidance only with a pair of dumbbells. The additional advantage is that it’s easily available, storable and you can carry them easily. It is very important that you make and stick to a routine for dumbbell exercises to be more effective. Dumbbell exercises do not take much time and can be adjusted to one’s personal comfort level.

Dumbbells help us to get back in shape, stabilize joints and increase stamina. Dumbbells can bring about weight reduction, weight control, muscle toning and definition or can be a part of advanced workout fitness routine. The two essential parts of a weight loss program are strength training and cardio exercise. The stored fat in the adiposities of our body are released with the help of cardio exercises. This fat is not allowed to return to the storage cells and burnt by lightweight exercises with dumbbells. Regular exercising increases the Basic Metabolic Rate which keeps on burning the fat even when our body is in a position of rest.

Before starting the dumbbell exercise as part of a weight loss program beginners should understand that there has to be a clear defined aim of exercise because there are specific exercises for different target areas. It is important to know one’s own capacity and then chose the weight accordingly. Remember heavy weights do not mean faster results, but more number of repetitions with less weight gives best results. A percentage of the maximum amount of weight that can be lifted one time is the amount of weight to be used for each exercise known as one max repetition. This varies from person to person.

It is advisable to seek proper advice from a physician and a fitness trainer before starting any exercise routine so to avoid any serious health hazards. Weight exercises should always begin with a proper warm up. Take into consideration the manner of breathing which should be as per the movements and proper rest after each cycle of exercises. One should discontinue the exercises if accompanied by persistent pain though beginners should note that like any other routine exercise an initial soreness of the limbs is expected and is normal. The right way to end the dumbbell exercise is with a stretching and cooling down session which help the muscles return to a normal state.

The basic exercises have to be supplemented with effective dumbbell exercises to have a complete weight loss and toning up of your body. Basic exercises for weight loss may include crunches, squats, leg raises and push-ups and some fundamental weight training exercises with dumbbells are standing side laterals, standing bent laterals, front dumbbell raises, dumbbell curls, squats and lunges with dumbbells, dumbbell rows, wrist extensions and curls and many more.

For any kind of exercise and especially for dumbbell exercises you should try to complete two sets of 10 to 12 repetitions initially. These repetitions should increase in coming weeks depending on the amount of strength and resistency developed. And once sufficient strength is developed you can carry one set of 6 to 8 repetitions until your body can’t resist anymore. Here setting a target to achieve helps one to motivate and encourage oneself to cross into the next level of difficulty.

Dumbbell exercises strengthen the parts of body that are being worked on whether it be the arms, legs, shoulders, buttocks or hamstrings by burning the excess fat thus toning the muscles and giving the body a leaner look. Best option is that you do exercises for a particular group of muscles on a single day and alternate for other body parts on other days. And all you need for this is just 10 to 15 minutes per day which would result in all around body development and fitness. Now that you know that there are several benefits of weight training through dumbbells and it isn’t only meant to develop bulk muscle and increase mass, when are you getting your pair of dumbbells?