Importance of Dumbbells

It might be time to think about letting go of the barbell and start picking up the dumbbells more. I have always been a barbell type of person since I started lifting weights back in high school, but recently I have started working out with dumbbells and I have been challenged more and pushed more. I was so surprised from the change in difficulty, I actually felt a little embarrassed because I could not lift as much with the dumbbells than I could with the barbell, and I felt weak. But that experience helped me to rethink the way I was working out. Was it more important to me to do exercises I was familiar and comfortable with, or was it more important to me to actually challenge myself more, even if it does mean to step out of my comfort zone? But here are five different reasons why we should all decide to give dumbbells a fighting chance.

1. You can do full body workouts - That is right, dumbbells are not just for the arms, you can focus on your core, and they are great for abdominal routines. You can perform lunges, leg workouts, and even target your back.

2. Greater range of motion - Greater range means you can build more strength. With a barbell, especially with chest workouts, the bar limits you when you hit your chest. Dumbbells allow you to go lower than your chest. Why is that important? You will use more muscle fiber, resulting in stronger muscles.

3. You can beat the workout plateau - A workout plateau happens when your muscles have adapted to your workout plan, and you no longer see results, or achieve little results. This plateau time can be very frustrating and many people actually give up on their workouts because of it. But dumbbells can help you blast through that plateau; because there are so many different ways you can use them for just one area of the body. If you are able to mix it up the more successful you will be.

4. Help you stabilize - When you use dumbbells you have to fight to stabilize them, you will become more balanced, and because you are fighting to stabilize you workout all those little muscles that do not normally get worked out from a barbell routine.

5. They are practical - If you have a great set of dumbbells at home, you can use them whenever you have the chance, and since they can give you a full body workout, you do not need a huge piece of equipment in your house that takes up a whole room. You might have to pay some money at first for a nice set, but there are no expiration dates on these, and they are easy to store away.

There are many other reasons to go for the dumbbells, because of the wide variety of dumbbell workouts on the Internet and there have been some in home workout DVD's like P90x and Chalean Extreme that have been released that specialize in dumbbell exercises. There are some wonderful dumbbell exercises that will strengthen and tone your body to look great.