Weight training at home...with dumbbells?

Hi all,
I'd like to start doing some strength training and was thinking about buying some weights and training at home - reason: the gyms are quite expensive where I am now and I'd rather spend that money on martial arts classes.

Dumbbells would be a much better choice for me than a barbell, because I have to move house often (and unlike dumbbells you can't just throw a barbell in a suitcase and carry it around) and I have to fit everything in a (usually small) student's room.

I can get a 40kg set with good reviews very cheap.
I know I'll eventually have to get something heavier, but I have never lifted seriously and I weigh around 55kg so these should keep me busy for a while.

Any comments/criticism/advice? Is this a good idea or just a waste of time?

 

it's not optimal (which would be barbells and associated equipment), but it can definitely be very effective. rows and presses of all kinds, farmer's walks, lunges and split squats and their variants should be a staple.
for heavier overhead pressing i suggest using a single DB at a time in case you need to bail (other hand available + ability to turn = making accidents extremely unlikely if you fail a heavy rep). rows with one or two hands are essentially a different lift because the one-arm ones have a heavy rotation/anti-rotation element, so treat them as such. i like super heavy one-arm rows and lighter but super strict (preferably chest or head supported) two-arm rows, personally, but both the reverse and a midpoint for either are also valid options. floor pressing can substitute for bench pressing if you don't have a bench, but you can probably use a chair against a wall (to prevent the chair from tipping) to jury-rig an incline bench-like movement. split squats, lunges and all their associated variants will differ in effect depending on the angle of your hips and torso, so be sure to mind that if you do them (i like trying to keep upright, myself, but i almost never do these lifts anyway ). farmer's walks are made of win but ideally need some space in which to do them because of the wole walking thing .

other stuff you can do includes one-leg deadlifts (stupid hard to do but pretty nice), pistol squats (blargh unless you have ungodly ankle dorsiflexion), windmills or turkish get-ups (very nice for shoulder health but tricky to get right), other sorts of weighted walking such as suitcase walks (one arm farmer's) and waiter walks (overhead one-arm farmer's, push presses and jerks (good for getting extra reps after strict pressing, or for super high-volume overhead workouts all by themselves), and a myriad of bodybuilding type lifts that tend towards isolation (do if you like, ignore if you don't; if you had a barbell i'd suggest strict standing curls, but with DBS... meh).

do you need any help with programming or do you wanna handle that by yourself?

 

also, exrx.net is a damn good resource, particularly for exercise descriptions (also has animated gifs for most)

 

Thanks man, that was terrific advice!
Also, if you were to help me out a bit with the programming, who am I to refuse?

 

anytime

how do programmed workout for dummies (warning: huge infodump):

-first of all, start small. doing things your body is unaccustomed to, even if perfectly within your physical capabilities = massive soreness later on. gradual progression allows you to avoid this.

-second, the variables:

intensity:

Spoiler

how much weight you're lifting. usually measured in percentage of your 1-rep max (the max weight that you can lift once and then no more). generally progress in both strength and size is made by using between 70 and 90-ish percent intensity, but there occasionally is a place for numbers above and below that (albeit a limited one). since you're starting out, you don't need to worry about this yet because you'll work your way up to it over time.

volume:

Spoiler

how much you do within a given time frame. basically sets + reps (also sometimes called a protocol) across all exercises. some refer to (sets + reps) x weight as 'tonnage', which is a handy way of eyeballing how much work you're doing or planning how much you're going to do once you get the hang of things.

frequency:

Spoiler

individual workouts, or amount of times you perform a given exercise/work a given body part, per time unit (usually per day or week). depending on what you do and how you do it, you may benefit from more or less frequency for any given lift (example: bodybuilders work individual muscles to an absurd degree, so they benefit from giving them time to rest, hence bodypart split workouts that avoid repeating things daily, whereas someone with a more conservative protocol on a compound lift, such as back squats or presses, can easily do them multiple days in a row).

density:

Spoiler

rest between reps and between sets. the less you rest, the less energy you replenish, while resting too long may yield no direct physiological benefit (but does wonders for the psych aspect of heavy weights and/or high-rep sets). increasing density (more work with less rest) is an excellent gauge of progress as it indicates that a given weight is becoming easier, so it's something to take into account.

performance of the lifts:

Spoiler

technique can vary depending on proportions, relative strength of different muscle groups, goals, etc. the speed at which you move the weights can vary on purpose, or can be slowed down by fatigue and heavy weight. you might do a rep really smoothly, or it could be a 5-second grind where you shake like someone's tasering you and you don't know if you'll finish the lift, and either of those examples could be for reps that are exactly as difficult, yet they might look totally different for two different people (or for the same people on different days). this is not so much a basic programming concern, but is something to take into account when actually lifting, after the program's taken care of.

-third: putting it all together:

time:

Spoiler

first, see how often you can work out. the more available days you have, the more freedom you have to program. then, decide what sorts of things you want to focus on (ex: strength, size or endurance; specific lifts or things with carryover to something else; aesthetics or function) as that'll inform your exercise and programming choices. finally, choose exercises and define the variables.

choosing a protocol:

Spoiler

this directly correlates to what your goals are. technically, the exact sets and reps are less important than the tonnage within the intensity parameters that are useful, but they're still useful to have (most people will use strict-ish programs, some others will like more freeform training, but that way it's more difficult to actually do what you're trying to do, because humans gonna human and you risk doing what you like but not what you need). one of the more popular resources for deciding on a protocol is a chart devised by a russian called prilepin via soviet weightlifting research. hordes of internet lifters worship at the altar of prilepin's chart, because it's actually pretty accurate, but they will usually assign set-in-stone characteristics to each row (high reps for hypertrophy, low for strength etc); while generally true, there are exceptions, as again it's the general tonnage that's the deciding factor. heavier weights have different physiological effects (and slightly different adaptation) than moderate weights, and more so compared to lighter weights. size can be built with heavy weights, and higher-rep training can help with strength development, so a mix tending towards one or the other will generally be the most versatile, although not necessarily optimized. also, as a general rule, the more joints are involved in a lift (ie the more "compound" a lift is), the easier and more productive it is to use heavier weights for low-rep sets, and conversely, for small "isolation" lifts that's usually a waste of time, and high-rep light sets are king.

arbitrary example:

Spoiler

i love shoulder exercises and pressing weights overhead, so if i could work out every day, i would dedicate between 3 and 6 days a week to overhead lifts. on most of these i'd put some pulling for general back and shoulder work (alternating two-arm and one-arm rows on different days would probably be my choice), and since legs are important, i'd finish with a leg lift, probably using lunges and farmer's walks. for dumbbell pressing i'd alternate days between working up to heavy singles (sets of 1 rep) on the one-arm press, and then continue with push presses for extra volume, and working two-arm presses (or arnold presses, which are a variant with less loading potential but a greater range of motion) at a moderate weight but greater volume. then i'd throw in some lunges or some farmer's walks depending on my mood, and if i'm up for it maybe finish with some lateral raises or planks, respectively, as accessory work (heavy farmer's walks kill the deltoids really hard, so it'd be suicide to do raises after them).

so one workout may look like this:

press: 3x5 warm-up (under 70%), 4/3/2/3x1 upping the weight each set, to the heaviest i can press without much effort.
push press: 5x1 at the same weight.
one-arm row: warm-up, then as many reps as possible (maybe within a time-limit, say 5 minutes), heavy (~85%).
lunge: 3x5 warm-up, 3x10 at moderate weight (~60-70%)
(optional) light lateral raises for a ton of reps.

and another like this:

arnold press: 3x5 warm-up, 10/8/6 at a moderate weight.
chest-supported row: as many as possible at moderate weight until i can't row strict anymore.
farmer's walk: as heavy as possible, two or three walks until grip failure.
(optional) plank: until failure or boredom, whichever comes first.

weight would be increased every week or two after making sure that i've actually progressed on things like density and rep speed, and every so often i'd test a proper one-rep max on the one-arm press just to tighten the bolts on the numbers i program.

extra stuff to take into account:

first, always make sure you can safely bail from a lift if you're not sure you're gonna get all the reps. this is both a satefy issue, and a "not breaking the floor with a dropped weight" issue. this is part of why i only do heavy presses with one arm at a time, but it can be gotten around by having someone spot you and help you not kill yourself of destroy your residence if you fail a rep.

second, as a woman, you'll have to plan around your hormonal cycle. frodocious can give you more information on this . also keep in mind you'll also progress somewhat more slowly than a man would training the same way, and have a relatively harder time developing the upper body than the lower body, which may prove annoying. push pressing will probably be your friend

 

now if i remember how to spoiler things it might even be readable... to the edit-mobile!

 

Only thing missing is 42

 

Well, this thread has been truly Fish'd.

Not sure what else needs to be added to all that.

Maybe get some resistance bands for a bit of supplementary work and the odd stretch (like shoulder dislocations)?

 

The issue with limited variety (and load) of weights is that there's difficuty in achieving progressive overload. You certainly alter the mechanics to a degree to increase the difficulty but it's not ideal.

Mitch started a thread earlier discussing sandbag training. They're relatively inexpensive to make (canvas bag, duct tape, plastic bags, play sand) and you can vary the load. They're good for major compound lifts which is good for general strength training.

You could also purchase heavier weights with larger jumps in weight. You'd work on compounds and increasing range of motion until you can do full ROM and then move up to the next weight. This is a little more complicated but certainly doable if you're careful.

I'd also suggest looking into some good bodyweight training routines and yoga. While I would contend that they're not the best way to build mass and strength they do certainly lead to strength gains and the balance, coordination, explosiveness, muscular endurance, and stabilized strength you can build from these will definitely derve you well in martial arts training and will be a good foundation for future strength training.

 

Thanks Fish. I've been thinking of adding some sort of systematic weight training to my routine and you've provided a good starting point to that end.

Wildlings: If you're able to handle two 40kg dumbells, you are ungodly strong (relative to myself ) I'd struggle dearly trying to get a curl on those. Outside of (supported) rows and a couple of standing shoulder presses...:thinking:

I think SouthWestCanada is saying (correct me) that starting out with that weight in dumbells limits what movements one can (safely) do and you'd be better of buying a smaller set that progressively increases in weight. It would allow you to do more movements and routines and progress to higher weights when ready.

As far as space goes, I've seen a few that look like the weights can be "dialed in" in some manner. Regardless, the extra volume required is probably negligible.

 

re: weight progression: tru dat. forgot to mention, since weight increases will be a pain in the butte, i would recommend trying to make some heavy duty progress in all other variables before increasing intensity. also, buy small plates ASAP. 1.25kg plates will save your bacon on a LOT of lifts.

 

@belltoller: i don't think there are a whole lot of people who can curl 40kg dumbbells . also, i'm pretty sure she's talking about adjustable dumbbells and 40kg in weights.

 

Painfully obvious, is it?

 

Actually what I was saying was that to save getting to the last weight on something like squats and not having the heavier weight you could get heavier dumbells and do compounds with increasing range of motion.

Ex.
Situation 1
Dumbells are 2kg, 5kg, 10kg, 15kg, 20kg
You are having trouble progressing at isolated lifts due to big jump in weights but have maxed out your squats with the dumbells.

Situation 2
Dumbells are 10kg, 20kg, 30kg, 40kg
You do partial reps on compound exercises going a little farther each week until you can handle full ROM with the weight and then move up to the next dumbell.


I'd rather have one or two really heavy dumbells and work that way than have light dumbells and top out a lift so fast. You can always up the intensity between weights with addition of bodyweight work. There's also a study I read (I'll try to find it) which showed that heavier partial reps can increase squat strength faster than full ROM squats with lighter weight. Not a big fan if I can do full ROM but if you can only have a few weights...

 

Actually that would be two (adjustable) 20kg dumbbells, so 40kg in total... :cry:

Fish, I cannot thank you enough for all the info you posted! :love:
And thanks to everyone else of course!

 

I'm on a nice roll today, I am. Thanks for clearing that up.