Lifting: Barbells vs. dumbbells

myurav

Hi pals

So, I've been doing 5/3/1 for the past month - just finished the first round, and started the second one last week. It's awesome, love lifting heavy, but I noticed something interesting yesterday.

I'm traveling for work for the week, so I'm relying on the hotel gym - they don't have any barbells, which is what I've been using, so yesterday, I used dumbbells for my deadlifts. And they seemed soo much harder, even though I was lifting at most 85% of my one rep max. Is lifting with dumbbells supposed to be more difficult? Not sure why it would be - maybe because I'm using more muscles to stabilize myself? I was lifting last week at 105 lbs for 5+ reps, and yesterday, I barely finished 5 reps at 90 lbs.

Just wanted to throw the question out there in case someone knows about this discrepancy. Thanks!

Huffdogg

When you pull a barbell, you (should) use your body as leverage against the bar's lateral shift. Essentially, you are dragging the bar up your legs. You don't have to worry about your hands twisting or the bar floating where it isn't supposed to be. Also, unless you thought to block them up, you're pulling from a lower point, closer to the ground, so you're essentially doing a deficit deadlift, which will pretty much always be harder.

AllanMisner

Yes, dumbbells are going to throw in some stability challenges you don't have with a barbell. I travel a lot and find I have to get creative at some gyms (if you'd call them that). What you should see from this experiment is that your body adapts to what you do and mixing it up regularly (periodization) is a good thing.

Bry_Fitness70

I prefer dumbbells. They work more stabilizing muscles, prevent you from favoring your weaker arm, and are easier to manage if you don’t have a spotter available.

ACB42

I am very new to lifting in general, but I think it's a stability issue.

VincitQuiSeVincit

When you pull a barbell, you (should) use your body as leverage against the bar's lateral shift. Essentially, you are dragging the bar up your legs. You don't have to worry about your hands twisting or the bar floating where it isn't supposed to be. Also, unless you thought to block them up, you're pulling from a lower point, closer to the ground, so you're essentially doing a deficit deadlift, which will pretty much always be harder.

This.
I do Crossfit and there are certain workouts where we'll use dumbells instead of the bar and I always find myself having to use a lighter weight.

phatguerilla

Deads and squats are going to show the most discrepancy between bb and db. The bb rotates, and using two hands to grip it will help prevent it moving out of your hand, especially if you use a mixed grip. Also you have to reach further down for the dumbbells, they often have poorer knurling, etc etc.
If you have to use only db's for a week or so it would probably be better to work on higher rep stuff and try to ignore the weight being used in comparison to your normal weight.

callie006

I had the same experience. After moving, I didn't have access to a barbell anymore and had to use adjustable dumbbells, and I definitely had to do down on the weight. I do like dumbbells though.

timeasterday

I prefer dumbbells. They work more stabilizing muscles, prevent you from favoring your weaker arm, and are easier to manage if you don’t have a spotter available.

Same here. Also so much quicker to move up in weight between sets. Just grab another pair instead of looking all over because the plates I need aren't anywhere around.