Proper Way to Lift Dumbbells
There are many different exercises you can do with dumbbells. There are exercises for your arms, chest, back, abs and legs. Many exercisers use poor technique when lifting dumbbells because they use too much weight or were never taught proper technique. To properly lift dumbbells, lift them slowly while maintaining good posture and balance. Lifting the weight slowly minimizes momentum and maximizes the work your muscles do. Minimizing momentum also protects your joints, ligaments and tendons. This proper technique prevents injury while maximizing results and is the most important aspect of weight training with dumbbells.
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Instructions
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Grip a set of dumbbells. Before lifting the weights, you need to decide which muscles you want to train and what exercise you want to perform. For example, if you want to train your biceps, do biceps curls and hammer curls. If you want to train your shoulders, do shoulder presses or side raises.
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Pick up the dumbbells, and choose a weight you can lift 10 to 12 times. If you can lift the dumbbells more than 15 times, they are too light. If you can't reach at least eight repetitions, they are too heavy.
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Stand with good posture as you let the dumbbells hang by your sides. Keep your back straight, your shoulders back, your feet shoulder width apart and look straight ahead. If you are doing a sitting or lying exercise, comfortably balance your body on the seat or bench.
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Begin the exercise by lifting the weight slowly. Take three seconds to lift the weight and five seconds to lower it. This will minimize momentum and force your muscles to work harder.
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Focus on lifting the dumbbells using only the target muscles during the last few repetitions of the exercise. Fatigue sets in during the last few repetitions, and you will naturally want to use other muscles, such as your back, to help you complete the exercise. This will diminish your results and could lead to injury.
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Tips & Warnings
Dumbbells are valuable because they are versatile pieces of equipment. There are a large number of exercises you can do with dumbells that you can't do with barbells or machines.
You should use these techniques with most weight-training exercises. Olympic lifts are the only ones that should be done quickly because these exercises are specific for increasing your explosive power.
Warm up before beginning any weight training. Take 10 minutes to lightly jog, jump rope or do jumping jacks. Without a proper warm-up, you are at greater risk of injury
After weight training, stretch for at least 10 minutes. Stretching will minimize soreness and promote healing and growth.
References
Resources
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