Adjustable Dumbbells

I don't have an opinion between the two brands, but from experience, I've learned that the adjustable to tend to break fairly frequently. I just have an entire range of individual weights now.

I'm not familiar with those brands. I have a set of Weider adjustables at home - 25 lb each. The only issue I've ever had with them is that sometimes they get a little stuck. So, it takes a little longer to switch weights than just click-click-lift. Not too bad, though.

don't know anything about those two. I loved my bowflex ones, until I dropped and broke one.
But even then, I was doing Asylum, half dead during the jumping portion of the cardio dumbbell video, and injured... and dropped it while the weight was up over my head and I was airborne.

If you just plan on using the weights for typical bodybuilding type workouts, the durability isn't much of an issue. but if you plan on using them for pushup handles or kettle bell type swings or anything a little off the wall they are iffy.

That being said, I've seen adjustables where you put your hand into something that looks like a cage. I'd avoid those.

I personally would not buy the ones where you put individual plates on and then screw on a collar. just too much of a pain in the *kitten* to adjust mid workout. Although a good money saving idea might be to buy just a few individual dumbbells in the range that you most frequently use and then get adjustable ones like these to fill in gaps from workout to workout.

the other thing about any form of adjustable dumbbell is that they will be that much longer then any individual dumbbells, which makes some exercises a tiny bit different and it can be annoying.

I like PowerBlocks a lot. Been using them for 4 years and they've never broken. The only minor downside: 10 pound plates, with two 2.5 pound cores to adjust the weight. This lets you do 10 pounds, 12.5 pounds, 15 pounds, and 20 pounds; but not 17.5 pounds. But that hasn't been a big problem for me. You can get PowerBlock sets with very heavy weights, up to 90 pounds, I think.

jrwac77 wrote: »

Do you find them cumbersome at all?

For me, even fixed heavy dumbbells are cumbersome, so yeah, they aren't the easiest things to lug around. The only things I want to do that are too hard with PowerBlocks are heavy goblet squats and skull crushers. Probably any two-handed single-dumbbell lift would be hard, unless it is so light you can hold them with the cage bars instead of the center grip. The newer line with tapered handles are easier to grip, which makes a difference for lifts with some swing in them, like curls or kickbacks.

I use a barbell for most of my workouts, so the PowerBlocks aren't my primary piece of equipment. But I use them a lot, and they work great for me.

I own and would recommend the Ironmasters. Reasons I chose IM were space savings, ability to drop, expandable to 160 lbs per dumbbell and lifetime guarantee. If you need quick weight changes though the Powerblocks may be a better choice. If you plan to do a progressive weight lifting program you will probably outgrow either dumbbell’s maximum weight, especially for the heavier lifts. But that okay you can always still use the dumbbells for other lifts.

I looked into buying some adjustables, too, but I now prefer the range of different dumbbells that I collected over time. I work a lot of supersets (need to switch weights for different exercises) and taking so much time to switch plates kind of defeats the purpose of a superset without rest times. I train at home in limited space, but it's really not an issue.