Working with Free Weights

Working with Free Weights

As you progress and become stronger, you might want to use barbells, but at least at the beginning of your fitness quest, light dumbbells are the free weights for you. Starting with one-pounders, they come in small increments. A typical weight room might be equipped with weights of 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 121/2, 15, 171/2, 20, and 221/2 pounds-perhaps even more.A rack of free weights stores a variety of sizes (and weights) for you to choose from.Hold the weights lightly but firmly in your hands without clutching them in a death grip.Some trainers like people to start light and progress to heavier weights. Under this approach, after warming up for each exercise with light weights, you increase the weight for each new set until you have reached the heaviest comfortable weight. If you haven’t completed your planned reps by the time your muscle fatigues and your form begins to go, some trainers recommend that you rest briefly and then switch to the next-lightest weight, or even no weight, for the remainder of the set. Other trainers like people to warm up, begin with the heaviest possible weight, and then move to lighter weights to complete the set.
Early in your exercise career, when you are using very light weights with small-diameter handles, you can crisscross, say, a three-pounder and a one-pounder, holding them both in the same hand to add just a little weight. This can get tricky, however, if you have very small hands or if the handle is large, because it is possible to drop one.
Although dumbbells are used primarily for upper-body exercises, they can also be used to add challenge to such lower-body exercises such as lunges, step-ups, or squats.
Scores of variations exist for dumbbell exercises. Here are half-a-dozen basic ones for the upper body. To determine what they do in terms of function and form for specific muscles or muscle groups, see the preceding chart on weight-machine workouts.
The following are six sensational free-weight exercises:
1. Arm or biceps curl. Standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, your knees slightly bent, and your arms straight and close to your body, bend your elbows up to your chest. Straighten your arms and lower the weights to the starting position. The term arm curl or biceps curl is used when you do this exercise with the palms facing the ceiling. When you rotate your forearms so that your thumbs are facing the ceiling,the variation is called a hammer curl; when you do it with the palms facing the floor, it is called a reverse curl. Each variation strengthens the biceps and the muscles of the forearm in a slightly different way. You also can do these curls while sitting on a bench or using a barbell.
2. Triceps curl. You can do this exercise with one weight in each hand or with a heavier weight held in both hands. Standing in the same position as in the preceding exercise or sitting on a bench, raise your arms straight overhead, keeping them close to your ears, and bend your elbows, lowering the weights behind you. Straighten your arms to raise the weights to the starting position.
3. Forward arm raise. Standing in the same position as in the first exercise or sitting on
a bench, keep your left arm at your side and raise your right arm straight in front of you
to shoulder height. Alternate bringing your left arm up and your right arm down and then your right arm up and your left arm down. This exercise strengthens your shoulders.
4. Lateral raise. Standing in the same position as in the first exercise with your palms facing each other, raise both arms out to your sides to ear level. Return to the starting position. This exercise strengthens the shoulders, especially the deltoids.
5. Chest press. Lie on your back on a bench or a mat with your elbows bent, your hands at chest level, and your palms toward your feet. Press your hands upward and straighten your elbows without locking them. Bend them to return to the starting position. This exercise strengthens the shoulders, triceps, and pectorals. You also can do this exercise with a barbell. When you do it on a bench, which gives you a greater range of motion, it is called a bench press.
6. Fly. Lie on your back on a bench with your elbows slightly bent and your hands above your chest.(If you are uncomfortable on a bench, you also can do this exercise lying on a mat, but you won’t get as much range of motion.) Extend your arms out to the side. Alternately open them and bring them together above your chest. Lying on a bench gives you a greater range of motion. This exercise strengthens the chest.
Weight-training accessories for special situations are also available. If arthritis is a problem that makes gripping hand weights uncomfortable, try heavy-duty plastic extenders called EZGrip, which clip onto the weights and provide a larger, more comfortable surface to hold on to. Call 877-439-4747 for details. Body-builders, of course, use support belts to prevent abdominal injuries while lifting heavy weights.Some people like to wear gloves while working with weights (especially if and when they start using heavy weights). If you wear gloves, you can avoid blisters by getting the right size. When your gloves begin to wear out or stretch, it’s time for a new pair.These products are readily available where serious exercise equipment is sold.