Doing exercises with dumbbells is always good as it allows us to improve our physical fitness. Despite the general opinion that weight training is only good for muscle development, we find that depending on what exercises we do, we can do cardiovascular exercises and lose excess weight, while toning our muscles without developing them too much.
One of the most important points if we want to tone and not develop our muscles when doing exercises with dumbbells is to calculate very well the weight we are going to use. While most men want to increase their arm muscle mass, most women prefer to have slim, modified arms, but without gaining muscle. This does not mean, in any way, that we have to do different dumbbell exercises. The dumbbell exercises we propose in this article are exactly the same for both men and women. All you have to do is choose the weight of them depending on the goal you want to achieve.
If you want to do exercises with dumbbells in order to keep your arms beautiful and toned, you should use dumbbells weighing less than five kilos each. If, on the other hand, you want to do exercises with dumbbells to increase your muscles, you should use heavier dumbbells. On the other hand, it should be clarified that if you have never trained with additional weight, you cannot start using, for example, five-kilogram dumbbells suddenly. You should start very slowly with light dumbbells and increase their weight progressively over the weeks. This way you allow your arms to get used to the new effort. If you want to know more about how to do dumbbell exercises, pay close attention to what comes next.
What do you need to do dumbbell exercises?
Instructions for Doing Dumbbell Exercises
- Jumping jacks: this type of exercise is one of the most famous around the world. We’ve all done it at some point when we were little and did gymnastics at school. We also often link it to military training. The popularity of this exercise is undoubtedly due to its good results. If we perform sets of this exercise with dumbbells, we will be doing very intense cardiovascular exercise that will allow us to lose weight. In addition, by using dumbbells we will be toning our arms and legs since the effort of these to jump will be greater as we have to move more weight.
- Squats: Squats are another one of the best exercises possible. They help us tone our legs and buttocks. If you want to improve the effectiveness of this exercise even more, you just have to use dumbbells. Let your arms hang down and hold the dumbbells. Every time you perform a squat, try to bring your dumbbells all the way to the floor. This way you make sure that the squat is much deeper. In addition, the effort that your legs will have to make to propel your body upwards will be much greater. From the one you’re ascending, bend your arms toward your shoulders and bring the dumbbells up.
- Lying on your back, bend your arms at chest height and extend them toward the ceiling. This way you’ll be working your arms and chest. This is a great toning exercise if you use a moderate weight or a muscle-building exercise if you use a heavier weight.
- Fists: another of the best ways to improve the muscles of our arms is to perform a series of punches. In this exercise you must be very careful and use a fairly light weight. Ideally, you should do quick sets of this exercise. Therefore, it will be much more beneficial for you to use a lighter weight. By doing this exercise at a fast pace, you will not only be improving your muscles, but you will also be performing cardiovascular exercise.
Tips for Doing Dumbbell Exercises
- Remember that by using weights in your workouts it is much easier to injure yourself. For this reason, you should be careful about the weight you use. Never lift too much weight if you are alone as you could have an accident. Remember that you are doing all these exercises to improve your health and fitness.
- If you want to enjoy sports and exercises with dumbbells but you can’t afford the expense that they entail, here is an article that will explain how to do sports without spending money that will surely be of interest to you