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[siddhant]

Im more of a dumbell guy, I use to do ALOT of barbell training but with a trainer , dumbells helped me workout alone as I gained lot of confidence and enjoyed working with em. Can I get huge if I keep investing in dumbells? Im thinking of going from 5-50 kg dumbells and then get up to 70 kg when deadlifts start getting light. So how big can I get with just dumbells a bench and a pullup bar? Can I get 16 inch arms with it?

I havent lifted in a year and want to get back into it. I feel dumbells are much safer and I enjoy working with em. Theres one more problem after 25 kg I have 5 kg jumps in dumbells so do I up the weight when I reach 15 reps on the first set?

 

[deadlyapp]

I'm perplexed by many things in your post. Do you only care about your arm size? Do you always do 15 rep sets? Do you always work out alone?

Anything over about 10-12 reps is really just unnecessary for building size - you really should target that 6-8 rep range if you're purely looking for hypertrophy. But you should also mix in lower reps vs higher reps over the course of an entire cycle. 50kg (~110lb) is not enough for deadlifts if you're really trying to get stronger, and probably would also be limiting you on some pressing movements such as squat, bench, etc. In addition, just setting up with dumbells that heavy I'd argue is more dangerous and harder to do without a spotter.

You can get probably about 60% of the way there with only dumbbells and a bench. You'll have to do a lot more single leg work (if you even do legs) in order to get a similar effect (eg bulgarian split squats, single leg RDL/deadlifts, etc).

 

[siddhant]

I can get in more weight as I progress. But how is it more unsafe than a barbell? (just asking )

 

[deadlyapp]

I can get in more weight as I progress. But how is it more unsafe than a barbell? (just asking )

I've seen plenty of people twist their arm around or tweak their wrist trying to get a heavy dumbbell into place. Your chest can easily handle a 50kg dumbbell, however all your connective muscles, stability, etc may not be able to.

There are plenty of arguments for and against, but if you want a consistent overload and isolate only your chest muscles, then only having dumbbells will probably not get you there. Yes, you don't have to worry about getting pinned under a bar, but there are plenty of other things to worry about.

 

[robvas]

You can get plenty big with 70kg dumbbells...

 

[SNC]

You can get pretty big with nothing but bodyweight exercises. What are your goals?

 

[Trudyblammer]

Dumbells are the best IMO if you know how to handle them..you can get huge af with dumbells alone.

 

[siddhant]

Ah i decided to go against it seeing i may shift to canada in a few months

 

[Riverhound777]

I know you said you're moving, but for future reference, a set of Gymnastics rings would work great as well. I just hung some from a beam in my livingroom and man they are a crazy workout! And cheap, the rings with straps and mounts cost me less than $40.