Oh, I have no problem with adjusting the weights manually. I just liked the compactness of the expensive set. Wait, don’t I have to adjust all the weights manually? I’m not sure I follow what’s different between cheap ones and expensive ones. As long as they’re heavy, it’s a workout, right?
The cheap ones are a handle, some plates, and a cap to hold the plates on. You have to take the plates on and off manually.
Where does everybody get these cheap YMCA rates?
I looked into my local Y and found that they charge $72 per month for a single adult fitness club membership :eek:.
I pay $42/mo at my gym, and it seems that this is dirt cheap for central Jersey.
Oh, okay. That’s actually what I was planning on buying. Just the bar, the weights, and the clips. Is it as beneficial to do bench presses, um… other exercises that I can’t think of the name right now… with dumbbells as it is with a full bar? It seems like by doing the weights in each hand, I’ll be more likely to exercise both arms equally since one can’t really compensate for the other.
You live in an expensive area! My gym is $72 - of course it’s more specialized than the Y, and it includes classes (going on all day, every day, you just have to show up), towel service, hot tub, steam room, and sauna, so I’m not too traumatized. Also, I live in Boston - we’re expensive.
I was shocked when I went to visit my fiance in St. Loius to find that when I move, I can get a gym membership to a nice gym for about $30/month!
Not exactly the same, but close enough. If you buy one of those big fitness balls that are all the rage right now (which I think usually go for around $30), you could do everything from bench presses to squats to dumbell rows. Bottom line is you would be able to do all the things you need to do to stay in shape, but a gym will have a lot of options that you just won’t be able to get at home.
What kind of things would I be able to do at a gym that I couldn’t do at home? I’m guessing that the gym, with its Nautilus stuff, would give me a more targeted muscle workout, but isn’t that not as good really?
You can’t check out the girls (or guys) in the mirrors as you pump iron :D.
Ahem. I believe you mean the girls can’t check out me.
Thinking of exercises on machines that I can’t replicate with free weights the only thing that comes to mind are ‘lat pulldowns’ for your mid back muscles.
You can do one armed rows for upper back muscles but I’m not sure what to do for lats. Anyone?
Chinups. Weighted chins when the bodyweight versions get too easy.
Heck, that’s what I do for them even with a gym membership–there really is no better exercise for your lats. Plus they feel macho as hell, which is always a plus.
At-home weight equipment can definitely bring good results – it kind of depends on whether you can motivate yourself to train alone. Not everybody can. Also, some free-weight movements like squats and bench presses (which are risky to ‘max-out’ alone) can bring better results than their machine counterparts, so you may get better results in a gym.
I belong to a gym, but also train at home occasionally – I have some free weights and small benches for movements that my gym doesn’t have. I also like running on the gym’s treadmills – I’m 46, and I’m not sure how long my knees are going to hold up, so I’m cautious about buying one for home.
If you decide you want a gym membership, the cheapest route (if available) may be to buy a used membership. A club of course makes money selling you a new membership, but some clubs offer (or used to offer) memberships with a one-time transfer option. I placed an ad on the eboard at work: “Want to buy used health club membership” and got lots of replies. I paid $500 plus a $50 transfer fee for a lifetime Bally’s membership. The dues were basically nothing ($5/year, paid through 2008). This was eight years ago, so I’ve really gotten my money’s worth.
I can only think of three exercises off the top of my head which you can’t (easily) duplicate at home with dumbells:
[ol]
[li]Lat Pulldowns[/li][li]Leg Extensions[/li][li]Leg Curls[/li][/ol]
You can probably find a thick tree branch to do chinups on, which is better for you than lat pulldowns anyway. Leg Extensions and Leg Curls can’t be done at home, but you can still do Squats and Lunges with dumbells which should more than suffice.
I suppose I could add exercises like Power Cleans and Push Presses, but I get the impression you’re not training for power anyway, so never mind that.
There are a couple of arcane, bodybuilding-oriented exercises that I can’t let go of, which are only doable with machines.
One is a triceps movement that I learned from Vince Gironda’s books: you stand with your back to a pushdown pulley, reach behind to grab the handle, kneel down, and push the bar down and outward, keeping the hands close and the elbows wide. IMO, nothing hits the outer triceps like this movement.
Also, leg curls for the hamstrings are pretty hard to duplicate with free weights – you can do stiff-legged deadlifts, but they’re not quite the same.
I agree that chins are better than lat machine pulldowns – you work muscles in a chin that the straight track of the machine doesn’t work. Depending on your weight and strength, you may have to do some work on a lat machine before you can handle chins.
Another rowing variant is to lie face-down on a bench, and row with two dumbbells. This is also from Gironda, and it’s easier on the back than barbell rowing.
As ultrafilter and others said, free weights are supposed to give your whole body a workout, as opposed to machines that target specific muscles. But, some muscle build-up is better than none.
OTOH, maybe you are maintaining (in your words) a scrawny body because you run too much. Well, too much for how much protein you are taking in. Try finding ways to increase your protein intake. Lots o those body-builder types use whey protein. Seems natural enough. Or just drink lots of skim milk. Because of how much you run, you could be burning protein (muscle) as fuel. It is a rare marathoner that is “muscular”. Fit, yes, beefy – rarely.
When I actually do what I know I should be doing ( I backslide and take multitudes of days off ) a cheap barbell set from Target or w-mart works just fine. I think it’s about $25 for a 110 lb barbell set. They’ll last forever.
This is what I ripped off from a “Gold’s Gym” book.
With aforementioned cheap barbell set.
- 15 reps overhead press
- 15 reps upright rows
- 15 reps bicep curls
- 15 reps bent-over rows
- 15 reps knee-bends
- 15 reps dead-lifts.
- 25 reps leg lifts.
Do the above 4 times, in 30 minutes. With the same weight on each exercise. [Except the leg lifts, for which no weight other than your own legs are needed]
As soon as you can comfortably complete this with a particular weight within the 20 minutes, increase the weight. Some exercises at a particular weight will be easier than others. But don’t waste time changing the weights. Works most major muscles and does cardio too.
Yep. Just keep in mind that an all bench press routine is a great way to fuck up your shoulders.
Any given free weight exercise targets specific muscles. I’m not really sure what you’re getting at here, but that’s definitely not what I said.
I’m not following. What do you need to do these lifts besides a barbell and some weight plates?
I was under the impression that the OP was looking for exercises with dumbells.
This is what I want, in a nutshell. I used to play tennis, soccer, and was into wall climbing before I went off to college. In college I only played the sports infrequently through IM and pick-up games with friends. After college, I moved to a new area, so I’ve taken up running and just some regular push-ups and arm exercises with the 20 lb dumbell I have. I actually have a chin-up bar from school, but I haven’t put it up in my new place yet. I used to do about 12 or so in a row, but that would make me too tired to repeat any time soon, so I’m guessing I can still get a lot of benefit from that.
I’m not doing this so I get huge; I want to do this because I like to maintain an active lifestyle and I find that I have much more energy when I keep some sort of exercise routine. Of course, I wouldn’t mind having some definition, but I’m pretty skinny and I actually like it that way.
Regarding the training ball, would I use that instead of a bench? It seems like I could hurt myself with something like that instead of having a firm support.
There are balls out there that’ll support a lot of weight, but you’d definitely want to be sure before you buy one. Personally, I think Swiss ball training is incredibly overrated and would strongly recommend you buy a bench instead.