Is it bad to just do a couple focus muscle lifts?

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withinthemargin
withinthemargin Posts: 14 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I haven't been able to find a gym I like around me and as a result, I haven't lifted weights in a long time. Would it be a bad idea to buy a pair of 15 lb dumbbells and just do bicep curls, shoulder lifts, and similar, without doing the other large muscle group workouts?

I'm not necessarily looking for the "most efficient" way to build muscle or anything like that. Basically I just want to know if adding this in to just running will be detrimental in some way.

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  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,685 Member
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    There are no strict parameters to what you HAVE to do to lift. There are lots and lots of guys in my gym who train upper body only. If that's their goal, then that's their goal.

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  • herringboxes
    herringboxes Posts: 259 Member
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    From my point of view, if that is what you want to do, I’d say go for it 💪 And you will be better off doing just that than not doing it at all 👍
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,569 Member
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    It's definitely not the most efficient way. It's not "bad".

    You'd be far better off buying a pair of adjustable dumbbells. They probably go up to about 50 pounds each, and some are expandable from there should you feel the need.

    What's likely to happen if you buy a pair of 15's is it's better for some exercises than others, and whether you feel the need to advance to exercises for your chest, back and legs (which you should...), or whether you just outgrow the 15's as you get stronger, you'll end up buying another set of db's after that. And then the problem repeats. A pair of adjustable db's lets you quickly switch between whatever you need for chest press, rows, goblet squats and lunges, Romanian deadlifts, biceps, triceps, etc. etc.

    If you're in the US maybe look out for Labor Day sales. An adjustable bench would be nice too, but not essential for now.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,773 Member
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    Another option would be to consider a bodyweight program for now, with whatever progressions are suitable for you given your current strength.

    Since your profile says you're male, and my best bet would be that you're younger than I am (67) as well as that 100% male-er, I'm thinking the 15s are not going to be challenging for very long, even for the isolations, at least without many adaptations to increase useful stress.

    Here are some body weight programs others on MFP have suggested:
    BodyWeight Routines

    . . . from this thread: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

  • Luna_athena
    Luna_athena Posts: 5 Member
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    You could buy the heaviest ones you can find and do squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press to failure over and over. It would definitely do something!
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,700 Member
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    Have you ever seen Olympic male gymnasts? Some of the most enviable arms in the world, and they get it from strictly bodyweight. I second what @AnnPT77 suggested. Bonus: it's free!

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