Mid Life Fitness

Those who know me, know that I am a proponent of using free weights, that is weights which are not attached to a machine which has a fixed plane of movement. It should come as no surprise then to learn that I like dumbbells.

The question was raised though as to what dumbbells are best. The answer of course,  is that it depends.

• No compensation.  If you lift one thing with both hands, the stronger arm will do more work.  This means that it can grow more than the weaker arm, making the imbalance between arms even worse.
• Safer without a spotter.  If you are lifting heavy without someone to help you out if things go wrong, it’s a lot easier to dump dumbbells than if you are lifting a bar.
• Weight limit.  There is only so much space on each bar to place weight.  While you can certainly max out on your arm workouts, trying to hit your maximum weights for the major muscle groups such as the legs is going to be difficult if not impossible.

If you have plenty of space then having a set of made up dumbbells in a range of weights is ideal.  Placed in a rack, ready to be used so that you can switch from one to another during the workout is the best way.  But if like me you don’t have the space for a rack or don’t want to splash that much cash on it then adjustables are the way to go.  My recommendation if you don’t have a rack is to get a couple of sets of bars and weights which are compatible with your barbell weights.  This way you can use them on both and you can load up a couple of sets of dumbbells at the start of your session so they are ready to be used.

Like most free weights, if you buy the cast iron type then you can pick them up second hand for a very good price.  They don’t wear out and there are always dumbbells for sale at garage sales, ebay or craigslist to name a few sources.

If you are starting out, then dumbbells are a good starter choice, you can add a bar and more weight as you go along.  But if you do start out this way and you are a hardgainer then I’d recommend www.HardgainerProjectXSystem.com because its a higher volume system which means you can get away with lighter weights at the start.

So this week I switched to the Hardgainer Project X. It’s time to put it through its paces and see what it’s really made of.

Now, normally you should never stop a program half way through – you’ll never make progress unless you stick with what you are doing. Flipping programs is one of the biggest reasons people don’t see gains. But as it happened, my previous program was an extension of an older one and the trap tear injury meant that I’d had two weeks out so it was perfect timing to try something new.

On that note, here is a training tip I picked up from a friend of mine who you may have heard of – Vince Delmonte (you can read more about Vince here). If you’ve been doing a workout for a while then your gains are going to start slowing down. One reason for this is that while you’ve grown the muscles you are targeting, the other muscles which you use have not grown as much. Take as an example shrugs which target the traps. It’s not unusual to reach a point where your grip strength isn’t up to the loads that you need to keep improving on the traps. So, take a break in your program, target the forearms for a month, then go back. This time you’ll be able to hold onto the bar or dumbbells long enough to start working those traps. You can do this with almost any exercise.

Back to the Hardgainer program. When you start a new program always drop back on the weight. The first time through is always a case of feeling your way to find the right balances. It might take two or three weeks to work up to the right weight, but that’s OK. Now for me, this program has a lot more volume than I’ve been working with, and it’s very intense. So I’ve dropped back on the weight and not really pushed myself.

I started out with too much weight on the squat, I’ve trimmed it back now and today was much better. Other exercises such as the shrug I was too light, but as a result I know a better weight for next time.

The first day is a long workout, and it took me more than an hour. The others I completed in comfortably less than that. Now I know what I’m doing, I can shave time off and certainly I expect to bring the others down to about forty minutes. That first one I’ll get under the hour, beyond that I’ll have to see.

Got any training tips you’d like to share? Add a comment below, I’d appreciate your thoughts.