Group: General Fitness & Exercise

General Fitness & Exercise
Created: 2011/12/31, Members: 382, Messages: 54581

Various general exercise related discussions. Find out what it takes to reach your fitness goals through daily effective exercise. With so many options we try to find out what works best.

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dumbells or barbells for squats?

michelle9510
michelle9510
Posts: 172
Joined: 2005/07/14
United States
2005/09/24, 06:54 PM
I like to use 25-40 lb dumbells for my squats but I was wondering if there is any benifit to using the barbell to do squats? I used to do the smith maching for squats but I switched gyms and their smith machine bar is way to heavy for me and it seems off balance too. I would have to do the barbell with no weight because it weighs about 80lbs I think. So what's better dumbells or barbells? I'm also having a hard time holding the heavier dumbells because I don't have the hand strength. Is that something I will develop over time?
bb1fit
bb1fit
Posts: 11,105
Joined: 2001/06/30
United States
2005/09/24, 08:48 PM
Well, a major one is that you can use more weight, thus more load transferred to the muscles.

Hand strength is an issue with dumbbells. You can either invest in some straps, or you can work on improving your grip strength. This can be done in one way by doing dumbbell holds...simply pick up a dumbbell in each hand you know is heavy for you and hold it for as long as you can. Then set down and repeat. As you do this more, your grip strength will increase.

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If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything....

bb1fit@freetrainers.com