Workouts with Dumbbells

Workouts with dumbbells offer a great alternative to the fancy high-priced gyms and fad diets that seem to change from year to year. For hundreds of years, though, people have used dumbbell workouts to build not only arm and shoulder muscles but also their core strength, legs, and even cardio improvements.

The benefits to working out with dumbbells are many. Aside from the obvious benefits that come from any kind of regular exercise, some benefits are specific to workouts with dumbbells as opposed to workouts with other machines or weights.

• Individual Free Weights – while there are many kinds of free weight workouts, most involve barbells, which use two hands to lift. With dumbbells, each arm has to work independently, which means they will not be able to compensate for weaknesses in specific muscle groups. Put simply, if your left arm is weaker than your right, it will have to build itself up without any assistance from the other arm. This enables more focused and individualized muscle workouts.
• Portability – a set of dumbbells takes up very little room; even compared to a simple barbell, you can store dumbbells under the bed or on the bottom of a bookshelf so that they are both readily available and also out of the way. Of course, putting them in the way might help too; in a recent interview for Best Life magazine, actor Tom Wopat talked of his own strategy for remembering to workout with dumbbells: he puts them at the base of his bed so that when he gets up in the morning he will trip over them and remember to exercise!
• Proven Track Record – Unlike many new fads and exercise machines, dumbbells have a proven history of benefiting athletes with proven results. There are many, many different workouts that can be customized for use with barbells, and hundreds of years of research to help you pick out the right type of exercise for your health goals.
• Flexibility – Dumbbells are able to adapt to work a variety of muscles, and are available in many different weight increments making it possible to fine-tune muscle development. Adjustments (either up or down) in the intensity of the workout are easy to make, in fact, some new forms of dumbbells enable you to change the weight of the dumbbell with the twist of a dial.

As with any workout regimen, don't begin until you have consulted a physician and made sure that your body is in a state that will benefit from workouts with dumbbells. It is also a good idea to take your time to pick out weights designed to meet your goals – picking out dumbbells that are either too heavy or too light will sabotage your efforts. Often a weight bench is another good accessory, especially one that inclines. However, these additional items are not mandatory, because many exercises can be done on a regular chair or even with no furniture at all.

Consulting with a professional trainer to come up with a tailor-made workout is the best way to begin, but if that is unavailable to you, you can find a variety of workouts online, and in books and magazines. No matter which routine you follow, you'll find they have a few qualities in common:

• Drink lots of water. Aside from replacing the sweat produced during the workout, water is a necessary part of your body's recovery afterwards.
• Alternate the workout days. Workouts with dumbbells build muscles through breaking down the fibers of the muscles and then giving them time to heal by producing more muscle tissue. This process is repeated over and over (which is why weight is increased the more you do a workout). Having a day in between to let the muscles heal is key to building muscle, however, it's not necessary to do no exercise. Choose something more cardio-focused or stretching on our off days.
• Add protein-focus to your diet. Along with water, your body needs protein to rebuild muscle tissue, and adding a protein drink to your diet will help give your body the proper building blocks.

There is no need to stick with only one kind of workout when you use dumbbells. With the many options out there, investing in a set will add a wide variety of benefits to your workout.

• Pictures of People Exercising
• Women Fitness Models
• Male Fitness Model

• Breast Lifting Exercise
• Contour Abs
• Naked Exercise
• Naked Pilates
• Hula Hoop Exercises

• Butt Exercises
• Exercises for Physical Fitness Components
• How to Do Squats
• Bicep Workouts
• Adjustable Dumbbells