The dumbbell is the classic piece of fitness kit usually associated with gyms, health clubs and studios, yet despite its weight, it’s also an excellent tool for personal trainers use with their clients. I certainly used Dumbbells extensively as a mobile personal trainer. Even if you need to carry your equipment a light pair can be used for a wide variety of training purposes.
Dumbbells are great for free weight training as they allow an independent range of motion with many exercises, this helps correct muscle imbalances and work stabiliser muscles.
Although not the obvious choice due to not being particularly portable, personal trainers, their versatility make them are irresistible for personal trainers, in most case clients and will already have or be willing to purchase their own dumbbells. This is because the number of exercises that can be performed is vast and varied, excellent investment once you have the expert guidance of a personal trainer at your fingertips.
Why do we call them dumbbells?
Types of Dumbbells
There are essentially three types of dumbbells, which are those that are ‘fixed’ the weight on the bar cannot be changed. Adjustable Dumbbells are likely the most popular within the home market due to their ease of use and relatively cheap price and comprise of a bar with a screw thread at each end so once the weight has been added to the bar it can be secured by screwing on a large nut. There is one more type which is known as ‘selectorized’ that enables quick changing of the dumbbell weight by using a clever mechanism, normally a dial to select the weight.
Why Dumbells for Personal Trainers
I’ve certainly carried out alot of personal training sessions and many would use the dumbell. You might think you would need a whole rack of dumbbells but thats not the case.. You would easily get away with 2 or 3 pairs of fixed weight dumbells.
It’s the design of the training sessions that makes the workout effective, not the weight of the dumbbell.
Daniel jEAL
Maybe a a pair of 2kg, 4kg, 6kg and a 10kg if you have the luxuary of a van to carry your equipment aorund, offcourse there is no issue for gym based trainers and on foot trainers could easily get away with a pair of 1 or 2 kg dumbbels.
I’ve listed some variety of dumbells below and Secetorized is a common choice if you want access to a wide variety of weighted dumbells however they are not very portable. In all honestly for the on foot or mobile trainer, just a couple pairs of neoprene covered dumbbells will serve you fine.
Fixed Weight Dumbbells
The most common example of a fixed weight Dummbell would be found in a gym environment where a selection of weights are available on racks, sometimes the bar will have a cross hatch Patten for additional grip or a rubber coating to bar between the two weights. As the name suggests, these are not adjustable and therefore generally unsuitable for the home user. Other types of fixed weight Dumbbells include neoprene or plastic moulded hand weights that resemble a dumbbell shape. These are popular for use in exercise classes and generally only used in weight under 10kg.
Adjustable Dumbbells
Adjustable dumbbells are a great way for personal trainers, especially mobile personal trainers to get the full benefits of dumbbells with only one pair of dumbbells.
The classic home dumbbell that offers the ability to easily select and change the weight as and when needed, again this bars normally have either a cross hatch Patten or a rubber coating for additional grip. The weight plates range from cheaper plastic weight filled with concrete or similar to more expensive cast iron plates. These plates will either be secured by use of a large nut if the Dumbbell has a screw thread at either end of the bar which is tightened to safely secure the weight or the bar will be smooth at the ends and secured using a sprung collar. There is also an Olympic style Dumbbell, this will take the standard Olympic weight plates and therefore can be loaded with much more weight than conventional Dumbbells. An Olympic Dumbbell has a thick outer sleeve which rotates around the bar, this is to eliminate the inertia effect that can be felt during powerful lifts.
Selectorized Dumbbells
Some high profile brands for this type of dumbbell includes Bowflex and Powerblock. And there are many others offering decent kit at an unbranded price.
Technically these dumbbells are a type of adjustable dumbbells, great for home use as they take up very little space yet provide even greater ease of use than traditional adjustable Dumbbells by quickly selecting the weight using a mechanism such as turning a dial. If you are lucky enough to own a pair of these in your home, it’s likely to be the only dumbbell you will need.