Dumbbell Exercises For the Biceps - Get Big Arms With 2 Simple Dumbbell Exercises

Dumbbell exercises are excellent for building big biceps. There are simple dumbbell exercises you can perform which will create bigger arms quickly. Out of all the different and complex gym equipment and contraptions available, dumbbells remain the best piece of equipment for gaining muscle.

Here are your 2 bicep building dumbbell exercises: 

1. Standing Dumbbell Curls. Standing with two dumbells at your side (or you can just use one and do one arm at a time if you only have one set of bells), curl upwards using the bicep to do the work. Lower slowly and repeat with the other arm (if you are only using one dumbell, then just do all the reps on one arm, rest, and then do the other arm, as opposed to switching hands after each rep). Perform 6-8 reps for each arm, for 2-3 sets.
2. Concentration Curls. You are seated with the dumbell on the ground. Do one arm at a time. Bent over, dig the elbow of the arm you are working into your inner thigh. This will isolate the bicep. Grab the dumbell and curl upwards, lower slowly and repeat for 8-10 repetitions. Then switch arms and do the same. Perform 2-3 sets.

While standing dumbell curls build mass, concentration curls focus more on definition. So you get the best of both worlds; you are building size, plus you are building ripped definition.

Different exercises, machines, and contraptions have all come and gone, but standing curls and concentrations have been around forever and continue to be a staple of most bodybuilders routines, simply for the fact that they do work.

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Dumbbell Pullover - 3 Reasons To Perform Pullovers

The dumbbell pullover is an old school lifting exercise that isn't performed as often as it should be. Here are 3 reasons the dumbbell pullover should be included in your training regimen.

1. RIBCAGE EXPANSION. This is the most popular reason trainees in the past would perform the dumbbell pullover. It can create a much more developed torso. When focusing on ribcage expansion you need to perform the pullover while focusing on your breathing. Bringing the dumbbell back past your head to the that ultimate stretching point, you want to breath in and fill your torso with air. Then slowly exhale as you bring the bell back to the starting point above your chest. Generally a lighter weight is used for torso development purposes, and sometimes pullovers are combined with breathing squats to enhance the exercise.

2. CHEST DEVELOPMENT. The pullover is an excellent finishing exercise when working your chest. Since it is unlike most other chest pushing exercises (bench press) or lateral pulling/squeezing exercises (dumbbell flys, machine flys), you approach it with a fresh perspective and eager anticipation to really push it to the max. Many trainees look forward to pullovers as a chest finisher and note that it gives chest development that significant final push that works like nothing else. When doing pullovers for chest development, place your mental focus on working the chest. This mental focus will minimize other muscles involvement and will stress the chest muscles as you will feel them squeeze together on the upward movement.

3. LATS. Pullovers also work the lats very well. The key once again is to mentally focus on lat work. Work the pulling motion so that your lats are doing the work. Yes, other muscles will assist and you will feel them working as well (shoulders, chest, tri's and even the biceps) but try to focus on working the lats primarily and you will feel the effect they have on back development. Pullovers can be a starter or finisher for lats. Some trainees will perform pullovers as their first lat exercise as they feel it does an excellent job of warming up the back and readying it for pulldowns or rows. Yet others treat is as a finisher, the same way it finishes off the chest. It's oftentimes effective to get a good stretch in at the end of working a particular muscle, and as a finisher pullovers can give you a good lat stretch.

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Top 4 Benefits of Dumbbell and Bodyweight Exercises For Women

There has been a revolutionary change in women in the past century. They have become very busy. They, on one hand have full time jobs and on the other hand raise a family. It is not at all mandatory to join some gym or perform long workouts for fitness. Despite the busy schedule you can build your body to a perfect shape. You can have your own workouts at home and you just need to have is a pair of dumbbell and your own body weight. A few important benefits of dumbbell and body weight work out routines for women are mentioned below:

Benefit 1: Get a Slimmer and Tighter Stomach

Dumbbell & body-weight exercises are usually found to be compound and multi-joint movements. These movements concentrate more on your abdomen than on endless crunches and sit-ups. Never rely exclusively on crunches and sit-ups for a slimmer and tighter belly.

Benefit 2: Save Lot of Money

You need not waste your time and money on a personal trainer, gym memberships, or on expensive equipment. All you need to do is to learn how to train with dumbbell and body weight exercises. Therefore, it is needless for you to spend as much as $50 per session on a good personal trainer and $400 per year on a gym membership.

Benefit 3: No More Excuses

With yourself well trained, imagine being able to work out wherever it is possible for you. If you find a recess in between the meetings in your office, you can have a quick body weight circuit. Even before your breakfast also, you can get a half an hour work out. It is very comfortable to have a body weight and dumbbell exercises literally anywhere and anytime depending on your choice.

Benefit 4: Get Better Results

You can force your body to work hard on learning how to do the super intense workouts. It is all about how hard your workout is and not how long you workout. An hour long, low intense workout yields poor results than a fifteen minute super high intense workout. So, train your body to have super intense workouts for good results.

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The Basics Of Dumbells And Dumbbell Workouts

Dumbbells are integral to a long term fitness and personal strengthening plan. Dumbbells are individual weights that
are best used as part of your overall fitness workout each day.

A standard but effective dumbbell exercise is generally conducted as follows. Place one dumbbell in each hand and
use you arms to lift the dumbbells up to shoulder height. Now, lower your arms down so you arms are by your side.
Repeat as many times as necessary.

You can also perform exercises for strengthening both arms, by working with one dumbbell and one arm at a time.

Dumbbells and dumbbell weights can be purchased as sets of  pairs or as a complete dumbbell set that offers many  different weight increments depending on your current fitness level and what you fitness goals are in the future.

Adjustable dumbbells can be purchased for use in the home - if you want to do some quick dumbell arm workouts each day - or borrowed at fitness clubs - if you are want to use the dumbbells as part of a great fitness program that involves
treadmills, bikes, bench presses and skipping ropes.

You can usually buy dumbbells weights in 5 pound increments. This is ideal for people on a long term
training program because it means that they can purchase weights that match their strength level as they improve
their fitness.

Dumbbells and dumbbell weights come in many different colors, designs, textures, and materials so you can
purchase dumbbells to suit your own personal style and to match the decor of your fitness area at home.

If you want to set up a home display then you should probably opt for chrome or cast iron dumbbells which are
simple, easy to use, and attractive. You can also choose rubber encasing because it will minimize noise and the
potential for floor damage if you accidentally drop a dumbbell during your dumbell workouts.

Chrome dumbbells are the most popular type of dumbbells for home use.

If you are serious about your ongoing fitness program then you can also purchase a dumbbell rack for storing your
dumbbell set.

Without a rack, your dumbbells will clutter up your fitness room by taking up unnecessary floor space because you can
store your dumbbells vertically or horizontally away from the walk through areas.

The type of rack you purchase ultimately depends on the type of dumbbell set you purchase. Similarly the type of
dumbbell set your purchase depends on your height, weight, body type, and fitness level and your level of strength.

                                                         Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/31111

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The Best Dumbbell Chest Exercises

Some of the most amazing exercises for developing muscle and increasing chest definition are done using one of the most available tools for bodybuilders: the dumbbell. Three of the best chest exercises using dumbbells that are proven to be the most effective to enhance the look of your chest are discussed below.

Decline  Chest Flys

This exercise is highly recommended if you want to develop your chest muscles but is definitely not easy to perform. Due to this difficulty, its essential that you perform the aforementioned exercises so that your upper chest is able to withstand the challenge. If you develop your upper chest first, you wont have that bottom-heavy look that happens because of developing your lower chest first.

Incline  Bench Press

Undoubtedly, this is the exercise that's most efficient to get the ideal chest. This exercise wont only give you a broader upper chest, but will make your frame become wider from the front side, causing your torso to narrow. Perform this demanding exercise with your bench set at 45-degrees. Another benefit of doing this exercise is that any sagging skin that you have on your chest will tighten.

Incline  Chest Flys

This exercise is ideal for developing stabilizing chest muscles. You shouldn't use too much weight to begin until you get used to the difficulty of maintaining the range of motion. Set the bench to an incline of 45 degrees and lift the weights up at a 90 degree angle all the way to the back of the bench. Don't bring the weights too far back as this can cause shoulder injuries. Doing this exercise is amazing for getting rid of those man boobs, as it works your inner and outer chest muscles, all while sculpting the shoulders. Keep in mind that you must use light weights and then slowly move to more difficult challenges.

This exercise is perfect for eliminating gynecomastia, which are typically known as man boobs. Inclined chest flies start by eliminating slowly your man boobs, while the declined chest flys completely rid your body of them.

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Best Upper Body Dumbbell Exercises

Dumbbells are the best training equipment you have at your disposal. They are relatively cheap, you do not need a gym membership, they do not take up huge amounts of space and you can train all of the major muscle groups with them.

In this article I am going to look at the 3 best dumbbell exercises for upper body workouts:

1) Dumbbell Chest Press

The dumbbell chest press is performed by lying back and holding the dumbbells straight out in front of you. You will then lower them and raise them for the required number of reps. This is a great exercise for building a huge chest and is favored by bodybuilders worldwide.

2) Dumbbell Curl

The dumbbell curl is the superior exercise for building your biceps, absolutely nothing surpasses it. The dumbbell curl is performed by bringing the dumbbell, in your hand, up towards your shoulder and then lowering it down again. At the start your hands should be facing towards your side and when you finish they should have curled to be acing your shoulder.

3) Dumbbell Shoulder Press

This exercise is great for building huge broad shoulders All you are doing here is extending your arms up over your head and back again. This will work out your shoulder muscles

If you are serious about piling on the muscle then you should use these and other exercises in a consistent training program that will target your whole body not just the upper body as these 3 exercises are for. When you put them in a workout plan you will see improvements quickly!

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The Benefits of Training with Dumbbells

In most strength and bodybuilding training program, the barbell is usually the standard of reference. After all, Olympic and powerlifting competitions only involve barbells. And when we talk about how you one can bench, squat or deadlift, we mean the exercises done using barbell. However, what many people do not know is that dumbbell exercises provide many advantages to athletes, bodybuilders and anybody that trains for general fitness. And in many cases, dumbbell exercises are actually much better than its barbell counterparts. This article will give you a list of the advantages of dumbbell exercises over barbell exercises.

More balance

Training with dumbbells requires more balance than with barbells or machines. Most of us are unsymmetrical in strength, one arm or one leg tend to be stronger than the one on the other side. And unlike with barbell, the stronger arm cannot assist the weaker arm when you train with dumbbells. So when training with dumbbells, you have to use the resistance that the weaker arm can handle. Training with dumbbells will prevent the imbalance of strength and muscle development and also enhance athletic performance, a significant consideration in fitness programs.

Unilateral training

One huge benefit of training with dumbbells is that you can train one limb at a time, which can emphasize greater movement specificity in the training programs of athletes and greater program variety for bodybuilders and those training for fitness. And by training for one limb, you can improve the strength and muscle mass of a limb without effecting the other, which definitely helps in case you have an imbalance of development.

More stability

Dumbbell training requires more muscular control than barbells. You can check it yourself when comparing dumbbell benchpress with barbell benchpress. So in order to train with dumbbells, you will need to recruit more stabilizing muscles thus enhancing joint stability and hypertrophy and kinesthetic awareness.

More safety

Some exercises can be done safer with a pair of dumbbells than a barbell. For example, when performing certain types of leg exercises like step-ups or lunge, it is usually much easier and safer to hold a paid of dumbbells in your hands rather than a barbell on your beck. If you lose your balance, you just need to drop the dumbbells from your hands instead of letting the barbell slide off your back.

And more than that, dumbbells are much safer when you work out alone without any spotter. It is very common in the gyms to see guys getting stuck under the barbell when doing benchpress if there is no spotter around. But with dumbbell benchrpess, you can just the dumbbells to your sides without any problem at all.

And another safety benefit of dumbbell training is that it can prevent potential injuries in shoulders, elbows and wrists. You can see the problem when comparing doing barbell curl or barbell benchpress with dumbbell curl or dumbbell benchpress. When you curl or bench press with a barbell, your hands are fixed with the barbell and this leads to unnatural positions for the joints. That is the reason why should injuries are common with barbell benchpress and wrist and elbow injuries are common with barbell curl. But if you curl or benchrpess with dumbells, your elbows, wrists and shoulders are allowed to rotated freely and naturally, thus protecting them from any potential injury.

Conclusion

Both dumbbells and barbells are equally effective in general for your training goal, but in some specific situations one type of exercise may be a little more beneficial for you than the other. So the best advice for you is to combine both dumbbell training and barbell training into your work out program and get the most out of both types of training.

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