I’m not near any gyms and have plenty of space, so I strongly prefer the safety profile of barbell + squat rack. If something goes wrong and I lose control of the weight, it’s good to know that there’s no way for it to hit me. And part of progressing is sometimes trying a weight that you’re only 80% or 90% sure you can actually lift successfully—I’d much rather the failure mode be clank “whoops!” than however many pounds of iron to the face.
I also find that it’s easier to track whether I’m using good form with a barbell vs dumbbells. The cues to moving a bar correctly are to keep it level and trace the correct path in a plane with it (usually straight up and down), whereas the cues to moving dumbbells correctly are… something about simultaneously tracking the position and orientation of two separate objects in 3-space? Definitely more complicated to keep track of all the moving parts when there are twice as many.
Barbells are also a compromise between fixed and adjustable dumbbells. You’ll probably want different weights for different exercises, and the exact weight you want for each will slowly increase over time. With a barbell, you modify the two ends to change the weight, and you can get plates as small as a few ounces if you need to increase the weight super slowly. With dumbbells, either you use fixed increments and have to store a lot of pairs, or you use adjustable ones and have to modify twice as many ends for each weight change.
If your access to equipment, space, and trainers is different from mine, though, your conclusions about the best options for training will likely be different as well.
There is no broad difference. This is also true of the machines vs free weights question. Many trials have investigated this, and if two exercises have the same general movement pattern and are hard in the same way (e.g. a legpress and a squat), expect them both to work the same.
Some extra considerations: * If I want to do a squat or deadlift patter, and I’m not a beginner, I’m going to be using inconveniently heavy dumbells. * If I want to train my side delts with a barbell, I got maybe one good option (upright row)
And for each individual exercise I can probably talk your ear off about nuanced improvements with one or other.
If your question is something like “If I only ever use dumbells, can I get 90% of my theoretical max gains? ” I’d guess yes. Use your creativity, google, and good sense to find exercises that challenge you as you advance.
Certain exercises such as skull crushers among others are more injury prone if you do it with dumbbells because you have more degrees of freedom.
There’s also larger interrelated mind muscle connection if you do things with a barbell i believe? (The movement gets more coupled with lifting one interconnected source of weight rather than two independent ones?)
I for example activate my abs more with a barbell shoulder press than I do with dumbbells so it activates your body more usually. (same thing for bench press)
How do barbell and dumbbell exercises differ? I always find dumbbells more convenient — is there ever a reason to use a barbell instead?
I’m not near any gyms and have plenty of space, so I strongly prefer the safety profile of barbell + squat rack. If something goes wrong and I lose control of the weight, it’s good to know that there’s no way for it to hit me. And part of progressing is sometimes trying a weight that you’re only 80% or 90% sure you can actually lift successfully—I’d much rather the failure mode be clank “whoops!” than however many pounds of iron to the face.
I also find that it’s easier to track whether I’m using good form with a barbell vs dumbbells. The cues to moving a bar correctly are to keep it level and trace the correct path in a plane with it (usually straight up and down), whereas the cues to moving dumbbells correctly are… something about simultaneously tracking the position and orientation of two separate objects in 3-space? Definitely more complicated to keep track of all the moving parts when there are twice as many.
Barbells are also a compromise between fixed and adjustable dumbbells. You’ll probably want different weights for different exercises, and the exact weight you want for each will slowly increase over time. With a barbell, you modify the two ends to change the weight, and you can get plates as small as a few ounces if you need to increase the weight super slowly. With dumbbells, either you use fixed increments and have to store a lot of pairs, or you use adjustable ones and have to modify twice as many ends for each weight change.
If your access to equipment, space, and trainers is different from mine, though, your conclusions about the best options for training will likely be different as well.
There is no broad difference. This is also true of the machines vs free weights question. Many trials have investigated this, and if two exercises have the same general movement pattern and are hard in the same way (e.g. a legpress and a squat), expect them both to work the same.
Some extra considerations:
* If I want to do a squat or deadlift patter, and I’m not a beginner, I’m going to be using inconveniently heavy dumbells.
* If I want to train my side delts with a barbell, I got maybe one good option (upright row)
And for each individual exercise I can probably talk your ear off about nuanced improvements with one or other.
If your question is something like “If I only ever use dumbells, can I get 90% of my theoretical max gains? ” I’d guess yes. Use your creativity, google, and good sense to find exercises that challenge you as you advance.
Certain exercises such as skull crushers among others are more injury prone if you do it with dumbbells because you have more degrees of freedom.
There’s also larger interrelated mind muscle connection if you do things with a barbell i believe? (The movement gets more coupled with lifting one interconnected source of weight rather than two independent ones?)
I for example activate my abs more with a barbell shoulder press than I do with dumbbells so it activates your body more usually. (same thing for bench press)