The barbell bar is undoubtedly the most popular piece of training equipment, both in gyms and at home. But dumbbells offer unique advantages over a barbell. So don’t ignore the old dumbbell!
1. GREATER FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
Firstly, dumbbells offer you more freedom of movement. For example, when you bench press, you can move them not only up and down, but also from the outside in, for a much more natural movement. You can also rotate your forearm and change your hand position during an exercise, while with a barbell your grip is static.
2. GREATER RANGE OF MOTION (ROM)
Dumbbells allow a greater range of motion, not to be confused with freedom of movement above. By range of motion (ROM), we mean the start and end position of an exercise. A barbell limits your ROM for exercises like the bench press and bent-over rows, while you can simply move dumbbells past your torso for a greater ROM.
3. SAFER
With dumbbells you can perform certain exercises on your own more safely than with a barbell. For example, with the dumbbell bench press, if you can no longer complete a repetition, you can safely throw off the dumbbells. With dumbbells you can train to failure more safely than with a barbell, which can pinch you with the bench press. The downside is that with an exercise like the bench or shoulder press it is more difficult to get the dumbbells into the starting position, where you can easily lift a barbell from the supports.
4. INTENSITY TECHNIQUES
Dumbbells make it easier to apply intensity techniques, such as dropsets. Where you have to change the weight plates with a barbell, with dumbbells you can simply grab a lighter set and continue your set. Also supersets – such as the dumbbell bench press and dumbbell row – are easily performed with dumbbells.
5. UNILATERAL TRAINING
Dumbbell exercises can be performed with one or two arms as desired. One side of the body cannot compensate for a relative weakness of the other, thereby preventing or correcting an imbalance in strength or muscle symmetry. Because both body halves cannot work together, no synergy is possible and you have to use lighter weights.
6. STABILIZATION
Finally, dumbbells are more difficult to stabilize than a barbell, which means that even though you can use less weight, your muscles have to work harder. Several EMG studies show this.