Dumbells for whole body

Monna2
Monna2 Posts: 100 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello
I had a gastric sleeve two months ago. I need to strengthen my muscles to avoid loose skin. I have a set of 5-pound dumbells at home. Can I use them to strengthen my stomach and back muscles?
There are many YouTube videos that claim that when you do squats or lunges holding dumbells , your muscles become stronger . I feel that dumbells are only good for the arms.
I don't wanna go to the gym, but I also don't want to waste my time at home.
Can dumbells really be effective for total body toning?

Thank you

Replies

  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,208 Member
    edited April 2018
    Monna2 wrote: »
    Can dumbells really be effective for total body toning?

    Yes, but not 5-pounders. Consider investing in a pair of adjustable dumbbells that go up at least 20 lbs. each, with the potential for doubling that. You'll probably be squatting 50+ lbs. within a few months. You don't need to lift super-heavy, but it needs to be challenging.

    See here for a list of programs to follow:
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    Yes dumbbells can be used for the entire body. 5 pounds is only going to take you so far, you will want to increase weight over time. To make the changes (grow muscle, increase strength, etc.) you will need to create environment where your body is forced to adapt to tension; keep increasing the the demands on your body by increasing the weight being lifted.

    As a beginner you can start with body weight and then progress to a dumbbell or other routine (you would need to decide if you want to join gym or buy necessary equipment to workout at home).

    See the link above.. it contains various strength training programs.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Good advice. Most of my work for 4 years has been dumbbells and suspension trainer. You'll need more than 5 lbs and the exercises will be a little different than barbells. I like the short dumbbell handles that you can put 1-10+ lb plates on. You can get the plates very cheap at Goodwill so the setup is much more economical than the fancy automatically adjustable DB. They can a bit more awkward for some moves and take up less space than a large set, but I've adapted. By the way, strength will help your appearance but does not affect loose skin one way or the other. Skin is a genetic thing and partially related to how much you weighed before and how fast you lost.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Dumbbells can be used for your whole body...however, 5 Lbs isn't going to take you very far. You may want to look into adjustable dumbbells.

    Your lower body is going to be a lot stronger than your upper body...I think it likely that you can already squat and lunge with more than 5 Lbs.
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,396 Member
    I recently quit the gym and started working out at home. I was gifted a treadmill, then went on FB marketplace and found used dumbells and kettlebells. I use fitnessblender.com and do a mix of lower body, upper body, core, and flexibilty. I used my dumbells/kettlebell that range between 5 and 20 lbs for all of those except the flexibility. I am loving it! I did a 40 minute butt and thigh work out this morning using the dumbells and I'm having a hard time sitting and standing up, lol.

    So yes, you can use dumbells for total body work outs, but you'll need more that 5 lbs (I suggest looking on local resale sites, no reason to buy new unless you just want to).
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
    DeadliftsAndSprinkles wrote: »
    lorrpb wrote: »
    Good advice. Most of my work for 4 years has been dumbbells and suspension trainer. You'll need more than 5 lbs and the exercises will be a little different than barbells. I like the short dumbbell handles that you can put 1-10+ lb plates on. You can get the plates very cheap at Goodwill so the setup is much more economical than the fancy automatically adjustable DB. They can a bit more awkward for some moves and take up less space than a large set, but I've adapted. By the way, strength will help your appearance but does not affect loose skin one way or the other. Skin is a genetic thing and partially related to how much you weighed before and how fast you lost.

    I thought that strength training was something that was generally beneficial to helping lose some of your loose skin...? Obviously results are never guaranteed, but that's what I've always heard.

    It might help some vs no strength training, but unless you are a bodybuilder working over years (& maybe not even then), your muscles are not going to "fill in" all the area that the fat left, especially if you are losing a lot of fat. The good news is that over a couple of years, many people notice that their loose skin is gradually becoming less. The main reason to be doing strength training while working to reduce fat is that you will minimize the amount of muscle you lose in the process. This you want :)
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
    you can gain a lot of strength with body weight, maybe look into a suspension trainer like a TRX at home. i love mine and you can do sooo many different exercises just with your own body weight. Its way more versatile than a set of dumbbells.
  • Monna2
    Monna2 Posts: 100 Member
    Thank you all. I appreciate your advice.
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    I use dumbbells for most of my strength training, but the weight varies from 8lbs (triceps extensions on stability ball) to 20lbs (front squats, side squats on cardio step, seated lat rows on stability ball). When I started out, I was doing 3-5lbs, but... I got stronger.

    I will say that most of my core work is body-weight. There's one exercise where I'm using a 6lb medicine ball (deep abs ball transfer), but for everything else no added weights whatsoever.
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    I don’t think anyone addressed this directly, but in response to your thought that dumbbells are only good for your arms - when you do an exercise like a squat or lunge, your legs are moving the weight of your body PLUS anything attached to your body. The more weight your legs have to move, the more effort it takes. Grab a heavy pair of dumbbells and lunge or squat, and your legs will feel it! If you’re hanging the weights down to your sides, your arms aren’t even doing that much work - it’s mostly about your grip and gravity while your legs are doing the hard work. For direct core work, generally bodyweight is sufficient, but weight lifting is a great core workout too - all those muscles work to stabilize the weight of your body, and again, the more weight they have to move, the more work they have to do.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    DeadliftsAndSprinkles wrote: »
    lorrpb wrote: »
    Good advice. Most of my work for 4 years has been dumbbells and suspension trainer. You'll need more than 5 lbs and the exercises will be a little different than barbells. I like the short dumbbell handles that you can put 1-10+ lb plates on. You can get the plates very cheap at Goodwill so the setup is much more economical than the fancy automatically adjustable DB. They can a bit more awkward for some moves and take up less space than a large set, but I've adapted. By the way, strength will help your appearance but does not affect loose skin one way or the other. Skin is a genetic thing and partially related to how much you weighed before and how fast you lost.

    I thought that strength training was something that was generally beneficial to helping lose some of your loose skin...? Obviously results are never guaranteed, but that's what I've always heard.

    This is said a lot but it doesn't really make sense. If you have loose skin because you lost 10 lbs of fat, then even if you gained 10 lbs of muscle it won't fill out the same amount of skin because muscle is denser than fat (takes up less space). Nonetheless you will look better with more definition.
    Don't worry about loose skin. There isn't anything you can do about it, it's not nearly as bad as most people fear, and the many many benefit of weight loss far exceed a little loose skin.
  • Keto_Vampire
    Keto_Vampire Posts: 1,670 Member
    Sequencing/complexes are great for total body workouts...I do these occasionally when crunched for time
    Ex) deadlift-> clean -> squat -> press (in that order, =1 rep...try doing 10!) using Dumbbells

    YouTube some videos on this (Jeff Cavalier has some good ones). Con: not for beginners & you need to be familiar with a variety of lifts as well as form (not to mention weight will be limited to your weakest lift...usually clean or press at least for myself)

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