5x5 with dumb bells

wwk10

Does anyone do 5x5, strong lift etc with dumb bells instead of bar bells?
I realize these programs do not tranlate well to dumb bells.

Any suggestions on something similar or is there no way to do it w/ DBs

tuffytuffy1

Bump, I'm curious too.

DopeItUp

Bumped.

Nopedotjpeg

There's two main reasons barbells are used usually:
1. Some of the lifts using barbells stress a lot more muscles than using dumbbells (definitely squats)
2. It is much easier to use linear progression and add resistance steadily with barbells.

However, if you have olympic dumbbells where you add plates to them and can make smaller weight jumps, it might work. I've never heard of it done before though.

BrettPGH

I do 5x5 and all I know is Mehdi dude says not to use dumb bells in place of the bar.


But he says a lot of things...

ilovedeadlifts

gonna be hard to squat with dumbbells, and deadlifts don't go as smoothly either.

wwk10

Thanks everyone.
You told me what I knew.

bloodguilt

Does anyone do 5x5, strong lift etc with dumb bells instead of bar bells?
I realize these programs do not tranlate well to dumb bells.

Any suggestions on something similar or is there no way to do it w/ DBs

Agree with anyone here. I'm on my 4th week on SL5x5 and so far so good. Anyhow, I have been lifting for nearly 3 years now so I decided not to follow Medhi's workout plan.

Now, I didn't change anything but I added one isolation per body part like reverse flys for Flat Bench Press [would alternate with inclined barbell or dumb bells each lifts]. I would alternate Military Barbell Press with Seated Dumbbell Press. Lifting with dumbbells helps you develop a sense of balance and strength at the same time because whenever you lift dumbbells, you're not only lifting the weights, you're also balancing them. I know dumbbells is a big no-no for Medhi and its pretty hard to lift heavy weights with dumbbells. I don't do dead lift and squat with dumbbells either as it doesn't look manly to me. Hope this helps.

IPAfan5

I'm doing SL right now and am on the 3rd week. I'll switch up DB and BB for bench and overhead press sometimes because we only have 1 bench and BB at our gym so I don't want to sit around and wait 15 minutes to use the bench. But for squat and DL I always do BB.