Dumbbell Wars – Buying Guide for Dumbbells in a Home Gym

With the addition of the Power Maxx Dumbbell Sets to our range, I thought I would give you a quick rundown on what I believe what dumbbells work best in a home gym environment.The combatants in this battle are as follows: – Spinlock Dumbbells – Fixed Dumbbell Sets – Adjustable Dumbbells – I will be referring to the Ironmaster Quick Lock Dumbbells as they are my favourite for serious weight training.

Spinlock Dumbbells I think every weight training enthusiast has had a pair of these kicking around at home at some stage. They were great when I was starting out when I had no idea what I was doing, but I haven’t touched a pair for years now. These dumbbells are great if you are on a budget – at the end of the day a dumbbell is a dumbbell. To make your weight training easier, try to cut down on weight changes between sets. I would just do 3 sets with the same number of reps and use the same weight for all 3 sets. Changing weights on these is a pain so if you minimize the number of times you have to do it life will be a lot easier. The other disadvantage is that you can’t rest the dumbbells on your thighs and kick them up when lifting heavy weights.

Fixed Dumbbells At the other end of the spectrum we have Fixed Dumbbell Sets – just like what you would see at a commercial gym. There is no denying that if you have got the space and got the money a rack of fixed dumbbells is simply the best weight training equipment money can buy. The big problem is most of us don’t have the space and the money. To compensate and make dumbbell sets more affordable for home gym use condensed sets have been made up. For example we sell a 10-40kg Dumbbell Set which is great in that it gives you a good spread of weights. The big downside is that you are jumping in 5kg increments after 25kg. Sometimes it can be like hitting a brick wall when trying to jump 5kg when using dumbbells.

Adjustable Dumbbells Adjustable Dumbbells are a happy medium between the two above. Basically they are much more affordable than a rack of fixed dumbbells and take up a lot less space. Plus they have been designed to change weight quickly. In the case of the Ironmaster Quick Lock Dumbbells , they have such a great number of weight combinations. You can go up in 5lb increments all the way to 54kg or 120lb if you have the Ironmaster Add on Kit . We sell the Power Maxx 2.5kg-50kg Dumbbell Set for nearly 5 times the price of the Ironmaster Dumbbells plus Add on Kit combo. It is this reason why I would opt for the Ironmaster’s instead of going for a condensed set of fixed dumbbells. I believe the ability to make smaller jumps in weight allows you to continue progressing longer than making larger jumps.

The winner of the dumbbell war will depend on your individual circumstance. If you have got no space and no money, get a set of spinlock dumbbells. If you have got no space and a bit of money get the Ironmaster dumbbells. If you got heaps of space and heaps of money get a fixed set of dumbbells. The one thing that people always raise when discussing adjustable dumbbells is drop sets. Here is what I have to say about drop sets in a home gym environment .