How can you use dumbbells to build strength?

Dumbbells are designed to be held in one or both hands while you perform various resistance training exercises.4

For instance, you can hold a set of dumbbells at your sides while performing walking lunges, or you can hold a single dumbbell overhead to perform overhead triceps dumbbell extensions.

Dumbbells can be used on their own for added resistance during workouts, or they can be used with other types of strength training equipment.

For lower body exercises, you’ll generally want to use a heavier dumbbell to help challenge the larger muscles in your legs like your quads and hamstrings.

For upper body exercises, you may find yourself using lighter dumbbells because most of those muscles are smaller. That said, the exact level of resistance depends on your personal strength and goals.

The set and rep scheme you might use when performing dumbbell exercises depends on the exercises you’re doing and your strength goals (1Trusted Source2Trusted Source3Trusted Source).

Muscle endurance

If you want to build muscular endurance, you’ll perform more reps and sets while using a lower level of resistance. For instance, you might do 2–3 sets of 12–20 reps per set.

Over time, your muscles will get used to working for longer periods and won’t tire as quickly.Round head dumbbell

Building muscle mass

To focus on gaining muscle mass, otherwise known as hypertrophy training, you would perform a mid-range of sets and reps, likely 2–5 sets of 8–12 repetitions using a challenging but not overly taxing resistance level.

This type of training challenges your muscles enough to help them grow without wearing them out so much that you’re too sore or fatigued to train them for several days.

Building strength

For strength building, you would perform more sets of fewer reps at a very challenging resistance level. So, you’d probably do 3–5 sets of 3–8 reps per set.

This type of training can be pretty taxing, so you may find that your muscles need more time to recover even if you didn’t complete a high number of reps.


Post time: Oct-20-2022