Poll of the Day > If I wanted to start lifting dumbbells, what's a good weight to start at?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I must have these answers.
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10 pounds
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3 lbs
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Depends on what exercises you're doing, and how strong you are.

I was told it's better to pick a lighter weight you can do many lifts with than to pick the one weight you can barely finish your reps with.
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Whatever weight that lets you meet your rep range target while having good form.

All of it... Like all the weight...

But honestly:
green dragon posted...

Depends on what exercises you're doing, and how strong you are.

^This^

It depends on how strong you already are. If you have a who can barely hold a more than 20lbs of stuff versus a grown up who lefts heavy stuff of 40-50lbs for work all day, they probably wouldn't start with the same dumbbells...
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start with 12 reps
then 10 reps
then 8 reps with something heavier
keep doing it until you can barely do 6

good source material tho

green dragon posted...

Depends on what exercises you're doing, and how strong you are.

This. Try to figure out what weight you need to comfortably do 10 reps or so, but still feel at least some resistance. Too light won't help you, and too heavy might wind up hurting you. But the range you're looking for depends entirely on how strong you currently are, and that can be different for different people.

When I started lifting in middle school I started with 5lb weights, then moved up to 10lb, 15lb, 20lb, and mostly topped off at 25lbs for bicep curls, but I also tended to do slightly lighter for triceps, and slightly lighter than that for flys.

Now, in my older twilight years, I've mostly just sort of plateau'd with 20lbs for curls, 10 lbs for tris, and 5lbs for flys.



Yellow posted...

I was told it's better to pick a lighter weight you can do many lifts with than to pick the one weight you can barely finish your reps with.

Depends on if you're lifting for mass or lifting for muscle tone.

Less weight, more reps is good for denser muscle mass. More weight is better for trying to look like a fantasy barbarian or comic book character.


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green dragon posted...

what exercises you're doing

Mostly goblet squats and cross-body hammer curls. I am fully aware that not counting my reps is efficient; I just do X exercise for this many minutes and Y exercise for that many more minutes.

green dragon posted...

how strong you are

I'm strong enough to carry a twenty-four-bottle box of water, but not strong enough to lift a jug of water onto my workplace's water dispenser.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

if you're lifting for mass or lifting for muscle tone

I want to be strong enough to lift a jug of water onto my workplace's water dispenser.
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What, one of those five-gallon jugs? No offense but that's only like 45 pounds, you can't lift that? I grew up as a really skinny guy but I'm pretty sure even I was able to lift that much before doing any kind of strength training >_>

there isn't a one size fits all answer
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Whatever weight you can get 8-12 reps with. The weight won't be the same for every exercise.
When in doubt between two weights of dumbbells and what you can do 8-12 reps with, start w/ the lighter one.
Whenever you can easily do three sets of 12+ with a given weight, it might be time to consider going up 5 lbs.

it'd honestly be cheaper to go to the gym then to buy a dumb bell for each arm

if you had a spotting partner everyday i'd say get a bench and do flys on it, tricep press, lateral raise, curls, have the spotter help you do shoulder press', bench press' incline press, start a cardio routine to get really fast

Start small aim big. Like with anything.
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RoboXgp89 posted...

go to the gym

Uh, on second thought, I think I'm just going to try to do this on the weekends from now on, once fall semester starts.
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Chewster posted...

What, one of those five-gallon jugs? No offense but that's only like 45 pounds, you can't lift that? I grew up as a really skinny guy but I'm pretty sure even I was able to lift that much before doing any kind of strength training >_>

It's also worth remembering that Eclair may be short so may be lifting that weight to an awkward height.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

short

I'm five feet and nine inches tall.
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EclairReturns posted...

Kyuubi4269 posted...

short

I'm five feet and nine inches tall.

So you're lifting it below shoulder height?
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Get a trainer, ok?
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You need to sign up with a gym that offers a session or two with a trainer. Don't buy into their bullshit about more sessions. Get a basic routine from them and practice your form with low weights. When you git gud increase the weight to a comfortable but challenging level.

Or purchase a workout bench (just a basic one) and some free weights to practice at home.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

below shoulder height

If you mean I would be lifting it below my shoulders if I could carry it, then yes.

ClarkDuke posted...

trainer

I don't know if my college's gym has that. I checked, and it doesn't.

SmokeMassTree posted...

purchase a workout bench

Wouldn't that cost more than the dumbbells I proposed at the start of the topic?
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I wont repeat what everyone else has said so far, but I havent seen anyone mention resting yet. Dont overdo anything by repeating the same lifting workouts multiple days in a row. If you work out your arms on a Tuesday, dont do it again on Wednesday. Recovery time is just as important as the exercising time when it comes to weights, and overstressing a muscle can lead to injury.

Good luck!
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To start? Basically wherever you feel comfortable. That might be 3 or 5 pounds. Maybe 10.

If it feels heavy when you pick it up, it's probably too much to start with.

The worst thing you could do right now is start too heavy, then injure yourself because that will stop you before you get started.
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The Popo posted...

I wont repeat what everyone else has said so far, but I havent seen anyone mention resting yet. Dont overdo anything by repeating the same lifting workouts multiple days in a row. If you work out your arms on a Tuesday, dont do it again on Wednesday. Recovery time is just as important as the exercising time when it comes to weights, and overstressing a muscle can lead to injury.

Good luck!

That depends entirely on what he's doing.

Let's not say dumb bells because we don't know his weights or exercises. Let's say push ups. If he started doing 25 push ups today (5 sets of 5), he could repeat that tomorrow. It's only as you start to do more intense workouts that target specific groups where that rotation and rest really factors in.
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Yellow posted...

I was told it's better to pick a lighter weight you can do many lifts with than to pick the one weight you can barely finish your reps with.

Who told you that?
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Can you do a push up?
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Smarkil posted...

Yellow posted...

I was told it's better to pick a lighter weight you can do many lifts with than to pick the one weight you can barely finish your reps with.

Who told you that?

Yeah, that's not wholly accurate.

green dragon posted...

Smarkil posted...

Yellow posted...

I was told it's better to pick a lighter weight you can do many lifts with than to pick the one weight you can barely finish your reps with.

Who told you that?

Yeah, that's not wholly accurate.

Comfortable but challenging is best

Too light and you're just wasting your time

Too heavy and you're more than likely using bad form and are going to injur yourself
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