Dumbells and Growth?

[AJS]

Hey guys.. I have a serious question If some one can help me..I'd really appreciate it. Well, I workout at home I only have Dumbells and a bench. I cant join a gym, cause the closest one is like 15 miles away. Can I get some growth and size with dumbells? Becuz I feel like I'm wasting my time. But I have no choice. If i can Please suggest the bodypart and exercise. Thank you I really appreciate it..


-AJ

[DBarcelo]

Hey guys.. I have a serious question If some one can help me..I'd really appreciate it. Well, I workout at home I only have Dumbells and a bench. I cant join a gym, cause the closest one is like 15 miles away. Can I get some growth and size with dumbells? Becuz I feel like I'm wasting my time. But I have no choice. If i can Please suggest the bodypart and exercise. Thank you I really appreciate it..


-AJ

You can hit pretty much every body part with dumbells. Yes, you can get growth from dumbells alone, but you need a wide veriety of weights. You should be able to move up in intervals of 5 lbs.

You can work your biceps, triceps, forearms, quads, lats, delts, erectors, quads, everything.

In order to build, you have to work the muscles with heavy weight, since heavy is a relative thing, you have to figure out what you need. If you can go from 5 lbs to 100 lbs per dumbell, then you're good to go (I assume you're using plates and not fixed weights).

First, you have to work out heavy, but start everything very light. You have to strengthen your connective tissue first, get the motion right (poor form is the cause of most injury), get your joints used to the stress and motion.

Second, you need to work with a weight that you can only lift about six times but not less than four reps. When you can lift it for 10 reps, then you ad 5 more pounds. Only exceptions to that are the shoulders and the sides of your stomach.

Remember to worm up your joints and work yourself up to the weight you're going to work out with. An injury will really slow down your progress. (I assume that you don't have much experience with working out because of the question you asked).

Now the excercises.....

Biceps... Standing dumbell curls. Hold the dumbells at your side, slowly lift the dumbel up (one at a time) toward your shoulder. If you suponate your arm (twist it) when you lift, that's a regular curl, if you leave the dumbel facing the same direction, that's a hammer curl. The hammer curl works out the forearm muscles. You lift one at a time so you can concentrate on the contraction of the bicep muscle. Lift it slowly so you don't have momentum carry the weight instead of your muscle. You can sit on a chair with your legs open (like most guys do anyway) put the dumbell between your legs on the floor. Put your elbow in the middle of your thigh (for example, your right elbow in the middle of your inner right thigh). Grab the dumbell with that hand, keep your other hand on your other leg (you have to be bent over slightly). Slowly lift your arm up towards your chin. That's a concentration curl without the machines.

Forearms.........Same as the curls, just keep your hands facing down through the entire movement.

Tricep.....Stand infront of a chair or table and hold on to it with one arm while holding a dumbell in the other arm. Bend your knees a little and bend over so that your tourso is paralel to the floor. Hold your arm so that your upper arm is parallel to the floor and your lower arm is hanging down. Your elbow should be up against your body. Slowly lift the weight up behind you, while keeping your upper arm parallel to the floor. Number two. Take two dumbells (start out very light, because you can tear up your elbows with this one) and lay down on your back (on a bench or on you bed if you have to). Hold the dumbells up over you with your arms streight. Keeping your upper arm vertical to the floor, slowly lower the dumbells down to to your shoulders and then slowly lift them back up. Don't twist the weight (don't suponate your arms).

Delts......Once again, with a very light weight. Hold two dumbells at your sides. Bend your arms a bit and lift your arms out to your side, keeping your arms bent through the entire movement. Military press will work out the quads and the traps. Hold two dumbells up in the air over your head. This is best if you do it infront of a mirror. Lower the weight so that your arms are out to your sides, with your forearms streight up. when your upper arms are parallel to the floor, slowly lift it back up. Going much lower than parallel to the floor increases the risk of injuring those very small muscles and ligaments.

Traps......Grab two heavy dumbells, hold them at your sides while standing up. Simply shrug your shoulders. Do it slowly and hold the possition for a few seconds before lowering the weight each time. You can put the weight a little in front of you or a little behind you, but most people say to keep the weight a little bit infront of you.

Lats.......Bent over rows. Put a very heavy dumbell infront of you on the floor, (or two moderately heavy dumbells). Bend your knees slightly. Bend over so that your torso is parallel to the floor. Make sure that your back is streight (your spine itself). If using one dumbell, grab the dumbell with both hands and lock your fingers around the handle. If using two dumbells, then just grab each dumbell. Slowly lift the weight to your chest with your elbow out, away from your body. Concentrate on the muscles in your back.

Quads.......Forward lunges. Hold two dumbells at your side while standing. Keep your back streight. Put one foot about four feet infront of you (your front leg should be bent at about an 90 degree angle) and then pull it back and do it with the other leg. Squats....Hold the dumbells at your side or up at your shoulders and bend your legs as far as you can. Keep your back streight. I assume you know how to do a squat.

Stomach......Hold a light dumbell at your side. Let the weight pull you to your side until the dumbell is about at your knee. Then streighten yourself out. Make sure you stay streight. That works the sides of your stomach.

Chest......If you have a bench, you can do dumbell bench presses. Best to have someone help you with handing you the weights. Once again, I assume you know how to do a bench press.

Hope that helps. There are more. If you're interested in a particular body part, just let me know.