How much weight?

pterradactyl

I've been thinking about buying some dumb bells, but don't really know how much weight I should try for to start. I had some 2 pound baby weights (don't laugh- I could barely even lift them at first) but now they aren't really good for much. I can lift a 5lb weight pretty easy, but I know that would get harder after a couple reps. I can also sort of do an 8lb, but it would be a lot harder from the start. Would it be better to start with something I can do fairly easily and work from there, or strt off with something more difficult and work up to it?

mfpcopine

I would work with the 5 lb for now, focusing on form and increasing reps and sets. When you can do 5 sets easily, consider going up. I wonder if there are give-away or bartering sites to which you could go to trade your dumbbells.

The problem is that you usually do need a range of weights: I have a shoulder injury, and there are a couple of exercises that I can do only with a 2 or 3 pound dumbbell.

I've seen adjustable dumbbells on the web, but have no idea if they work.

pterradactyl

Okay, thanks! That makes a lot of sense to me; I just wasn't sure if it would be a better idea to try and push myself harder at first. That sucks about your shoulder! I will keep that sort of thing in mind before I decide to chuck the smaller weights.

ValerieMomof2

When I first started, I bought 5, 8, 10 and 12s. You will advance past the 5's very quickly

dixiewhiskey

When I first started, I bought 5, 8, 10 and 12s. You will advance past the 5's very quickly

^ This.

It's good to have a few different ones if you can afford to because it's very easy to get past the lightest ones especially if you are using them daily.

jadams1650

I have adjustable weights...work great...expensive.

workout_junkee

I have adjustable weights...work great...expensive.

Me too. Best investment ever.

joel3736

Powerblock dumbbells are adjustable and they seem to work well. I have used them with clients and even tried lifting them myself and they don't seem to awkward even though they are like weighted rectangles lol but it would provide different levels of resistance to keep it fresh for you.

DavPul

How come women can easily lift and carry a 15 pound bag of groceries or a 30 pound child but when it comes to weights they can barely hoist 3 pounds? Is there some transitive property of dumbbells that I'm not aware of?

I agree with the other posters about getting some form of adjustable dumbbells so you don't have to buy an entire set

gxm17

I would recommend adjustable dumbbells. The PowerBlock SportBlock 24 is adjustable from 3 to 24 pounds (in increments of 3 lbs.). They aren't terribly expensive especially when compared to buying eight separate pairs of dumbbells. I love my PowerBlocks and wish I'd bought them sooner.

RunReadEat

How come women can easily lift and carry a 15 pound bag of groceries or a 30 pound child but when it comes to weights they can barely hoist 3 pounds? Is there some transitive property of dumbbells that I'm not aware of?

LOL

grdaze

How come women can easily lift and carry a 15 pound bag of groceries or a 30 pound child but when it comes to weights they can barely hoist 3 pounds? Is there some transitive property of dumbbells that I'm not aware of?

Carrying a child on your hip isn't the same as lifting the child up, putting the child on the floor, lifting the child up over and over again.

I'm sure you could change the 50 lb water cooler water bottle at work but would you use that as your weight? :P

DavPul

Carrying a child on your hip isn't the same as lifting the child up, putting the child on the floor, lifting the child up over and over again.

I'm sure you could change the 50 lb water cooler water bottle at work but would you use that as your weight? :P

You've just illustrated why compound exercises are what are recommended for beginners instead of isolation exercises like curls and kickbacks. If I can easily change a 50 lb water bottle at work I would choose 100 lbs as my starting weight.....for squats and deadlifts.

And even though the child is supported by the hip, I guarantee that more than 3 pounds of force is being used by the mom's bicep to keep the child in position on her hip. For goodness sake, an iPad weighs 1.5 pounds. Are you telling me there's a healthy woman that can't lift 2 iPads over her head a few times?

LoraF83

Carrying a child on your hip isn't the same as lifting the child up, putting the child on the floor, lifting the child up over and over again.

I'm sure you could change the 50 lb water cooler water bottle at work but would you use that as your weight? :P

You've just illustrated why compound exercises are what are recommended for beginners instead of isolation exercises like curls and kickbacks. If I can easily change a 50 lb water bottle at work I would choose 100 lbs as my starting weight.....for squats and deadlifts.

And even though the child is supported by the hip, I guarantee that more than 3 pounds of force is being used by the mom's bicep to keep the child in position on her hip. For goodness sake, an iPad weighs 1.5 pounds. Are you telling me there's a healthy woman that can't lift 2 iPads over her head a few times?

:drinker:

Ladies, listen to this man. And you should be aiming to BUILD your strength. More strength = increased abillity to do the things in life you need to do.

I can carry my 4 year old from a stadium to the car (a half mile away, then up 4 flights of stairs in a parking garage) in heels. I can do that because I have improved my strength from lifting heavy weights - and increasing those weights when the current weight I'm using gets too easy (this is called progressive loading).

Why settle for what you can do now? Why not try to improve that?