what dumbbells do I use to begin?
 

Hi--

I'm debating on buying some dumbbells for my arms in a week or 2 when I go to the mall. **I have limited space at my place, so I plan to do pilates for the lower body & abs for the time being.**

I have yet to find a good resistance band workout that really goes after the arms (and dreaded flabby triceps), so I'm deciding on buying some dumbbells instead.

I know to do one set of reps is about 12-15 times per arm. Do I start out with 5 lb dumbbells or 8 lbs?

**If anyone could also suggest a good resistance band dvd for the arms, that'd be great as well! :)

thanks!

~ tea

Have you looked in the sticky section of this forum for the resistance band workout? It's quite challenging. I use bands (get 3 different strengths) when I travel with no gym access and it's quite a good workout.

I haven't done them, but I know a lot of people like "The Firm" dvd series.

Mel

If you plan to just do arms, then I guess you could buy maybe 2 sizes of DBs at a time. There are also DB bars that are cheap, that you can add weight plates to, to make just about any size DB you want. Otherwise I'd buy the set I could do for, say, 8 reps per set, and the next size up. You can work your way up to doing 12, then switch to the next size. I'd personally go with an adjustable set if you can, or the bars and weight plates, because you'd probably outgrow the others too quickly if you're doing straight lifting. If you just want them for swinging around during a workout video, they'd probably last longer.