What sizes of home dumbells do you have? I have 8, 12 and 15 lb Reebox dumbells but I'm wanting more. I can't seem to find more of the Reebox ones in higher weights so what kind would be best. I have a dumbell stand in the back of my living room in an area that was intended for an office. I don't have a lot of space but this seems to be working for me with my exercise bike on one side - and maybe I'll get a bench for the other.

Next? 20 & 25 lb? I know I need larger for my legs, they aren't really working that hard with squats with 15 lbs. But I'm fine on the arms for now doing 12 and sometimes 15. I'm a bit cheap so where do you buy them, I see even Walmart carries the 20 lbs.

I wonder if I can continue further into intermediate exercises just using dumbells without a gym too as I moved too far from the Y and I'm intimidated by the local gym with the big buff dudes coming out - that's all I've seen driving by at various hours. For now I'm fine with what I'm doing just a few more sizes though...

And a barbell, don't I need one of those at this point? I've been buying more weight training books and some have exercises with barbells. I believe I'm going to "go for it" and lift heavier and heavier. What's a good barbell and weights?

Hi horsey,

Did you look at krista's site yet ? It is called www.stumptuous.com I believe. She has a description of here home stuff and it sounded good to me. I have dumbelss with the plates that you can put on to make the weight you want, and i have a "standard " straight barbell. The dumbells alone (wo plates) are 2 kgs, and the barbell alone is 10 kgs, and I have several plates of 1 kg and 2 kg and 1 5 kg plate that I found at a recycling shop.

Good luck,
Rabbit

Hi Horsey! Great job with the continued success in acquiring strength! I've been lifting just a little under two years. Using my own experience as a guide which isn't always credible.... I gained strength quickly and kept going heavier and heavier within the first six to ten months. By the end of the first year I found that in order to further increase my strength and go to the next level in dumbells I had to begin to use other exercises such as body weight exercises or change the number of reps within my sets. Using some of the machines and cable equipment has also helped but I think the key is to change things enough to make the muscles work in a new way.

Since you asked, I use adjustable dumbells. They are okay for traveling because all the plates fit onto the dumbells. The total weight is 35 pounds. I prefer standard dumbells. The adjustables that I own feel a little heavier and are a little longer in size than standard dumbells. It just feels a little clumsy to me when I working with them.

When I am working with dumbells at the gym the heaviest one I use is 30 lbs and that is for one arm lat rows and just one dumbell for sumo squats.

Anyway, it sounds like you are doing great. I better quit. I'm feeling incoherent at this point. Not much sleep last night. Too much coffee in the late afternoon.

I've seen the adjustable dumbells, wish I'd known more before but I already bought three sets of regular dumbells - 8, 12 and 15. Since I lack patience this might be right for me, so now I'll buy 20 and 25 lb dumbells - or I'll research the dumbells with plates, plus a barbell with weights (I saw one on amazon dot com quite cheap. I'm going to keep watching our local craigslist since it's not urgent - I'm not "there" yet as I've seen some benches and weights for sale 1/2 off or more. As for traveling - I am out of town 1 to 1-1/2 weeks at a time every other month. I bought some bands for traveling, will those things work, they look strange to me. If it's good to mix it up then that will be mixing... I'll have to watch a dvd or somehow find a book on bands so I can continue to workout while traveling. I dont' have much room for dumbells although I do drive. I'm just being obessive, that's what I do - got another book from the library on weights and I'll go to the stumptous site. thanks

I have home dumbells up to 50s. I also have some platemates, which are magnetized weights in 1.25 and 2.5 pound increments that you can stick onto the end of a regular dumbell in order to get a "between" weight.

I don't want to discourage you from buying a barbell, by any means, but if you're strapped for cash or space, it's not really necessary yet. Every exercise that you can do with barbells, you can do with dumbells as well (or at least something similar). At some point it will be too hard on your grip to do squats with a dumbell, but it doesn't sound like you're quite there ... yet!

Hi horsey,

About the bands...there is a thread with a bands workput for travel as the 3rd sticky from the top in this forum. Check it out!

Rabbit

I just bought a standard 160# weight set last week and am loving it. It came with both a barbell and two dumbbells that I can, of course, load with whatever weights I wish. I was originally going to get just a few dumbbells but, when I saw the prices, I decided I'd be better off just getting the weight set since I'd get more for my money. Of course, it's takes a few seconds to change the dumbbells' weights when I'm switching exercises but that doesn't bother me a bit.

hi there!

I have 20's right now. I have had my eye on the adjustable ones, though, for home use.

Get into that weight room! The men respect strong women!! Seriously!! I just go in, pick up the weights, do my thing, and leave. No one has ever bothered me, but maybe cuz I'm tall, that has something to do with it. Regardless, I see a lot of women in the weight room now and esp. those of all fitness levels. If you go in with confidence, you'll feel stronger going out!! Good luck!!

I am short- and strong. No one has every bothered me and I've often spotted "the big guys". If you prefer to workout at home, bands and dumbbells and a ball can give you a great workout. The only thing I find hard to do at home are good lat exercises, but hickerchick has solved that problem for herself by installing a pullup bar in a doorway. Heavy squats I wouldn't try- but there are plenty of alternatives. You can also make your dumbbell work more difficult by using a band and holding dumbbells.

Mel

I started with the vinyl coated dumbbells, but as you know, they only go up to like 10 and then you have to get the iron/metal ones. I had 15s and 20s in those until I noticed they were leaving rust stains on my carpet. I have them in my basement, where it can be fairly humid, so I guess where they chipped and lost their outer coating, they began to rust just a bit. I never liked them much, so before going higher in metal, I decided to go to the adjustables. Yes, it is a little bit of a drag adjusting them, esp. if you are doing a BFL type workout of increasing weights on each part of your set, but you eventually get faster at it and it's not so bad. Certainly not as bad as hitting your toes on dumbbells you've left on the floor under your bench! LOL

You can search my previous posts to find my fiasco with barbells. I got a rack, a barbell (which turned out to be a super curl bar!) that hurt my neck, and then tried a straight bar and didn't like the way that felt either. So I'm sticking to the dumbbells for now and staying out of the stores!

I did buy a barbell set but I haven't opened it. I know I'm not THERE yet so I might just take it back. It was a 100 lb set and now I'm thinking I should have bought a set where you can actually hold the plates - I saw that on a Jari Love exercise dvd - and thought it was cool. Then I see Sears has some that aren't too expensive where you can do that. I have dumbells up to 15 lb and it's the squats that I don't have enough weight for, I"m find with arms, shoulders etc at 12 or 15. But I'd like to really build my legs up - this figure of mine, skinny lets and heavier on top drives me crazy. Strong legs would help. That stumptous site or whatever someone gave me has good ideas - if I had to do it over I might have done it that way, just bought the bars for dumbells and a barbell - then plates. She keeps them in a tin box in her living room, the larger plates in the closet. Then when she needs more weight quick she slips on those 1-2 lb wrist weights. So I was even thinking about the 5 lb wrist weights on each arm - that would increase my 15 lb dumbells to 20 on each side with the wrists. However since I've started with a dumbell collection - and it's easy, and I have no patience I might "cheat" with wrist weights - or those magnetic deals - but I'll keep buying dumbells. I need a 20 lb pair, and then 25. There's a book I saw at Barnes and Noble Dumbell something - and all exercises were for dumbells only. Really I'm not going to be the next olympic weight lifter or anything, it's just that I'm stronger then I look and I'm enjoying this lifting heavy thing as I'm seeing results and muscle. Those 20 and 25 lb hex dumbells are ugly aren't they? I found some on amazon that have rubber at the ends so they'd be easier on carpet and at home too. Although I like that stumptous lady's idea, just having an extra carpet where you lift weights - I have a cool spot in the back of my living room that was intended for an office. I might even buy that plastic stuff you can piece together for my little weight training area. Hrbabe, I will go read your posts, but I think I might be with you on sticking with dumbells- I'm not unpacking my box of them, they look like they'd be awkward to use and would take up space, plus at home, injuries? I'd be worried about that too. However I think I'll trade it in for an adjustable weight bench to do with dumbells. And later on maybe I'll think about a barbell again.

Yep. Another thing I learned with the barbell set I took back (a 100 lb set too) was that it makes a dif as to what the weights are made from. The cheap set I bought were plastic covered concrete (seriously!) so they were quite large and wide to get the weight. DH then told me had I spent more and gotten steel or metal-like, they would be thinner and not look quite so clunky. So basically my set was plastic covered cinder-blocks! lol I did not like it bc if the plastic cracked, they would start letting out dust from the concrete, and you do have to be careful not to drop and crack them. Ah well, live n learn.

I think I bought the same set, they are quite large and I've been online researching a bit more. It seems as though it might even make sense to just get a weighted bar to begin with - lets face it we aren't going to bench 100 lbs anyways are we? Then add a few plates here and there with time. As they say you get what you pay for in life right? I love my Reebox dumbells, I found a crome pair at Target that are 15 lbs and the picture on the dumbell stand I bought, also Reebox shows 20 and 25 lb crome ones as well, I just can't find them online anywhere. Would be nice to have a pretty matching set in the back of my living room - and not big black huge barbell sets aren't pretty living room fixtures. At least I didn't even take them out of my car, they will go back to the store. I think there's a zillion exercises to do with dumbells long before needing a barbell don't you? I do want a bench though - and I'm thinking after learning this "lesson" on cheap barbells and sets I might splurge and find a really cush one.

Yeah, I agree. Trade the weights in on a nice bench. That is one thing I can't live without for my chest presses, flies, and triceps overhead curls. Try to get one that's the widest you can find - they can be on the narrow side which makes balancing on one tricky.