Dumbbell workouts

T

Thrice

0
I would like to know if doing dumbbell exercises at home would be a good alternative to joining a gym. I am not looking to build much muscle mass, I just want to be very tone, and have high endurance.

I am looking at buying a set of those "Powerblocks" dumbbells as a cheap alternative to a whole rack of bells. I could also afford a bench that does incline/flat/decline.

Is this a good place to start my training?

Thank you for any helpful replies, I appreciate it.
 
First off, Toning = low body fat showing muscle mass.

You do not "tone" your muscles by doing anything. You lower your body fat to an extent where your muscles are highly visible. For that to work you must have a noticeable degree of muscle mass in the first place.

Now, High endurance doing what and for what exactly?


Dumbbells, So long as there is enough weight for proper resistance, are more then suitable for a solid workout. The only real problem with them is the lack of horizontal push. Because for that require one to basically lay on a bench (or something equivalent). For that one needs to enlist push ups then weighted push ups in the future. And the cycling of a Dumbbell vertical push with dips is important.

See weight lifting sticky.
 
I think that is a good place to start your training. You should definitely talk to someone who has some experience with "minimal-equipment training". This person should be able to develop a workout that is well rounded, but will put a creative spin on it to assure balance.

As for power-blocks, I have a set myself. A number of my clients are in-home, and I take the equipment to them. Power blocks are one of the best, most versatile training tools I have ever used.
 
you can get fairly cheap benches at walmart that are good enouhg for standard dumbbell incline decline use. For muscular endurance, you should do a high number of reps (30 or so) for about 3-6 sets with about 30-45 seconds break inbetween. That's what I would do anyway. Make sure you use a light enough weight as to be able to handle the full workout.

There are numerous excersizes you can do to achieve tone that you want. You may want to do 3 full body workouts a week with different excersizes and do cardio inbetween to lose fat and look "tone". For instance you would do lunges, for legs, one of the many types of curls (standard, hammer, incline hammer, etc.) for biceps and perhaps brachialis and brachiordialis, upright rows for trapezius and bicep, shrugs for trapezius, chest press or shouldpress for triceps and chest and triceps and deltoids (respectively), and lean over rows (not sure what they're called) to work your back.

I don't do full body workouts, I do certain muscle groups a day and repeat my cycle. Some of these other guys can help you out on a routine I'm sure they know more than me.
 
I went out and got a flat/incline bench and a nice set of the powerblocks. I'll start training and see how it goes, if I have any other questions I'll be sure to ask. Thanks for the help.
 
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