I love dumbbells, and you'll be picking them up frequently as you work your way through my program. What's great about them is that they require even more helper muscles than barbells. I also think that over time they produce slightly fuller and more complete development than barbells, especially around your all-important joints. You can't necessarily train as heavy with dumbbells as you can with barbells, but for women, especially, I don't believe that super-heavy weights are more beneficial than moderate weights. The important thing is to concentrate on controlling the movement. Leave the gorilla stuff for offensive lineman and moving-and-storage guys.
Also, the pathway of movement is even more natural, and the range of motion greater, with dumbbells than it is with barbells. At the top of either a bench press or a military press, for example, you can bring your arms toward each other, something you can't do with a barbell. Suddenly, you're telling the weights where to go, controlling the actions of each wrist, coordinating how and when to squeeze each chest muscle—all the while making sure to move the weights up and down at the same speed. You basically develop your own style of training with dumbbells. Another advantage: It makes it easier to do the workouts at home if you're so inclined. (By the way, if you find that you have a strong preference for either dumbbells or barbells, trust your instincts. Where you see, say, a "dumbbell squat" listed in the workout program, feel free to perform a barbell squat instead. I won't hold it against you.)
But the attitude that free weights are for serious training, while machines are for sissies, doesn't hold any water with me. Stimulating a muscle means performing the right move with correct form, whether it's with dumbbells, a barbell, machines, cables, or a can of tomato soup, for that matter. There are exceptions, like the aforementioned bench press, but used correctly, some machines do work just as well as free weights. In certain cases, they actually represent the preferred option. If the resistance is sufficient to stimulate growth, and you're taking the load through a full range of motion, it doesn't much matter if you're pushing a free-floating hunk of iron or the mechanical arms of a machine. It's all good.
The bottom line: Mix it up! Depending on what gym I'm training at, I like to use a variety of exercises. Within the same workout, I combine dumbbells, barbells, machines, and cable moves, and that's just for starters. If I'm training chest, I might bounce back and forth between the cable stacks, for crossovers; the pec deck, for machine flyes; and dumbbells, for flyes. It all depends on how I'm feeling that day.
So while I disagree with certain aspects of functional training and believe its advocates dismiss bodybuilding-style training too quickly and casually, the integrationists do champion some training strategies that I like a lot.
Do you have more information about this topic? If so, please click here to contact the editors of ABC News.
