P90Xers, just like all the others working out at home, ultimately need to make a decision on what type of weights to use for the program. One of the benefits of P90X is that you have the option to use the bands, and Tony is even nice enough to show you how to use them for each workout. However, in order to get the best results from P90X, or any other home workout program, you need some free weights. As a service to our readers, Hardbody Geeks has done the heavy lifting for you (pun absolutely intended) to determine what the best options are for all you geeks working out at home.
When work out at home they usually don’t have a whole lot of space and are usually looking to keep the costs of getting in shape as low as possible. For us geeks the task is a little more daunting because most of our free space is cluttered with unimaginable amounts of gadgets, computers, servers, and routers, and we generally like to spend our extra money on toys. Usually that means bars, plates, and other large pieces of apparatus are out, leaving the home workout geek no choice but to get some dumbbells. The first choice you’re going to have to make when getting dumbbells is which style to you want (and more importantly have room for) – standard or selectorized.
STANDARD DUMBBELLS
Standard dumbbells are those heavy looking things you see at pretty much any gym. There are a ton of options to consider when purchasing dumbbells – type of handle, shape of the weight, coated or uncoated, and so on. However, the main concern with standard dumbbells is not so much all of the options, it’s the fact that they take up a lot of room. Most people are going to want weights ranging from 5-50 pounds, and in the world of standard dumbbells you’re looking at finding a home for at least 10 pairs of weights – that means getting a rack to keep them organized. Most racks are relatively large, even the ones designed to be space savers, and once you have those weight set there you won’t be moving the rack anytime soon. Also remember that since each set of weights is discrete, matching dumbbells from 5-50 pounds are actually 550 pounds in total weight – that means you’ll be dealing with freight delivery instead of UPS for these babies.
The plus side to standard dumbbells is that each weight is separate and discrete, so moving from 10 pounders to 15 pounds is as simple as putting one set down and picking up the other. There’s also zero learning curve with standard dumbbells thanks to the ingeniously designed opposable thumb. However, if you are having trouble picking up a weight for any reason other than it being too heavy, please stop working out now since you are probably going to injure yourself and everyone around you.
The quality of dumbbells will vary depending on the brand, but for the most part any dumbbell made from a single piece or a few pieces welded together will be virtually indestructible in your world. These weights are generally designed for high volume gym use, so the minimal knocking around you do at home won’t hurt these weights in the slightest.
The Stats:
Cost: ** ($600-1000 depending on options)
Space Efficiency: *
Portability: *
Ease of Use: *****
Quality: Varies depending on weights chosen
Hardbody Geeks’ Advice:
Standard dumbbells are the easiest to use, but they take up a lot of space and can be get quite expensive once you factor in the cost of a rack. This is the best way to go, but only if you have the space and money (i.e. for the successful geek). If space is even somewhat of a commodity, selectorized weights are a better choice.
SELECTORIZED DUMBBELLS
Selectorized dumbbells were designed with the space conscious in mind. They give you the ability to have the equivalent of racks and racks of weights in only a fraction of the space. There are not a lot of choices when looking at selectorized dumbbells, and we focus on the two main brands out on the market today – Bowflex and PowerBlock.
Bowflex SelectTech
www.bowflexselecttech.com
Brought to you by one of the most prolific home gym companies around, the Bowflex SelectTech dumbbells have been a very popular choice for home gym enthusiasts for a number of years. For the most part the SelectTech dumbbells do exactly what they are designed for – giving you a lot of weight options in a small footprint. Currently Bowflex offers three different SelectTech sets, but only the top two make the most sense. The 552 set gives you weight available from 5 to 52.5 pounds per side, and the 1090 gives you weight available from 10 to 90 pounds per side.
When you select your weight on the SelectTechs the locking hub snaps in the appropriate weight and all you need to do is lift from the handle. This gives a relatively good approximation of the feel of a standard dumbbell because the handle is open all the way around. However, you need to be sure that you change the locking hub on each side of the weight before lifting since each side is independent of the other. This can lead to often times not setting both sides equally which makes the weight feel very off balance. You can easily fix this mistake by re-racking and adjusting the side not set properly, but it can be a pain when you quickly change weights and don’t realize your mistake until you pick it up. Re-racking the weights can also be a bit of a pain (especially when you’re tired) because you need to fit the dumbbell exactly into place on the stand since unused plates sit in the stand.
The major problem with the SelectTech dumbbells is the overall feeling of cheapness when using them. The plates have a tendency to shake a lot during movement, and while I have never had a plate drop when using them, some users on various boards have commented that plates have fallen off while exercising. Others have also reported that accidentally dropping or banging the weights together has led to the locking hub breaking since it’s made out of plastic. Again, while I have never experienced that problem myself, I can’t say I’m surprised. When using the weights I’ve always been as careful as possible because I was afraid something would break if I was too rough with them.
Another negative about the SelectTech’s is that you need to use the base that they come on in order to hold the plates. While this isn’t a major problem, you can’t just lift the entire weight and move it to another place – you need to make sure you have the base as well.
The SelectTech’s also come with a Bowflex price that is generally on the higher side. While Bowflex does offer financing options, these weights does come in at about $100 more than comparable weights from other companies.
The Stats:
Cost: *** ($449-699)
Space Efficiency: *****
Portability: ****
Ease of Use: ***
Quality: ***
Hardbody Geeks’ Advice:
The Bowflex SelectTech’s will do everything that you need as far as dumbbells are concerned, but the overall quality of the product leaves something to be desired. There is also no way to expand the weight – you are stuck buying a completely new set if you need more. The SelectTech’s are the most stylish of the bunch, but you should be more concerned about functionality and quality then looks.
Power Block Elite
www.powerblock.com
Power Block has been around for a number of years, and I have even found their products in smaller gyms in various areas. The Power Block system uses a simple pin system similar to what you would find on any selectorized weight system at a gym. You choose what weight you need using the color coded chart on the handle, insert the pin, and away you go. Power Block offers many different product lines that are suitable for the home gym, but the Elite set is what most geeks will need to get through their chosen program. The standard Elite 50 set gives you weight from 5-50 pounds per side while the Elite 130 set gives you weight all the way up to 130 pounds per side.
Power Blocks are a nested set of plates that each weight 10 pounds that attach to the handle with a metal pin that slides underneath. There are also two, 2.5 pound ballast weights in the handle that can be added or removed for more discrete weight changes. The plus side is that this 2.5 pound increment gives you more potential weight choices, but when you move up to the next plate you are stuck with a 5 pound weight increase. For example, the handle weighs 5 pounds, and you can then add the ballast weights for 7.5 and 10 pounds increments. However, when you add the first plate and remove the ballasts you jump up to 15 (5 pounds handle plus the 10 pound plate).
The overall quality of the Power Blocks is top notch. The handle is made of a solid plastic, and all of the weights are made from steel which gives you a nice feeling of quality and stability. The downside to the handle is that it is a framed rectangle, so you don’t have the openness of a standard dumbbell. Sometimes you will find the frame hitting your wrist, but most of the time it’s minimal and can be avoided with proper form.
There is a bit of a learning curve when using the Power Blocks because sometimes you will have to lift out the handle to change out the ballasts and then select the appropriate weight. After using the Power Blocks for a while you will get used to the change with practice, and even in fast paced workouts like P90X you will be able to change weights and keep up with the workouts. If you’re not the type of person that loses things, I would suggest removing the elastic band that attaches the pin to the weights since it can make moving the pin a bit of a pain.
Because of the way the plates stack, the weights are fully contained without a stand. If you want to move the entire set, just put the pin below the last plate, pick it up, and move it. This makes it very easy to hide the weights away in a closet when not in use and then bring them out for your workouts.
The major downside to the Power Blocks is that you need to be mindful of which side the pin is on. When doing certain workouts, like biceps curls, you will want to make sure that the pin is never facing down because it can come loose if moving the weights around quickly. A little pre-planning when grabbing the weights should avoid this, but I have had times where the pin comes a little loose and I have to put the weight back down to secure it back in place. The design of the pins is such that a plate will never come flying off, but it is a little disconcerting when they shake loose a bit.
Probably the greatest asset of the Power Block Elite site is that you can increase the total weight of the dumbbells after your initial purchase. If after buying the Elite 50 set you find that you need more weight, all you need to do is purchase the Elite 5-8 add-on set to bring the total weight up to 90 pounds per side or the Elite 8-11 set to bring the total weight to 130 pounds per side. This is a major added value because instead of having to replace what you bought completely you can just add on for the additional weight. Power Block does offer discounts if you buy more weight, so if you find that the 50 pounds weight limit is too low and you know you’re going to turn into a hulking, weight pushing beast, you can buy the Elite 5-11 Big Block kit for a slight discount over buying them separately. It’s definitely not cheap to do this, but if you’re pushing that much weight you’re probably willing to make the investment.
The Stats:
Cost - **** ($359 - $898)
Space Efficiency - *****
Portability - *****
Ease of Use - ****
Quality - *****
Hardbody Geeks’ Advice:
The Power Blocks are the weight of choice for Hardbody Geeks – no questions asked. It does take some time to get used to adding/removing ballasts and moving the pin around, but the weights feel very solid and can definitely stand up to abuse. Power Block also has phenomenal customer service. When I first received my weights one of the pins was bent, and after a quick email describing the problem to their customer service department they had a new pin out to me immediately at no charge.
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6 comments:
Outstanding post, FT. I have been using those little crap screw on jobbies I picked up at Play It Again sports for my P90 workouts. In the past I have used Olympic style weights, which are great for bench press and EZ curl work, but suck most egregiously for dumbbell work.
I have been hemming and hawing about whether or not to buy selectorized dumbbells and if so, which ones to get. It's hard to get over the cost of these things. But since I travel so much for work they make the most sense for me. Lugging 500lbs of dumbbells or handles and plates from car to hotel room and back again is not a fun task. But it sure is a workout!
Tell me, how would the Power Blocks work for something like forearm work, where you roll the dumbbell to your fingertips and then up again? http://kbierek.powweb.com/shapefit-pics/forearms-exercises-palms-up-dumbbell-wrist-curls-over-bench.gif
Er, do a google search for "forearm curls" and check out the images..
For forearm curls you are limited slightly in your motion. For example, when doing a forearm curl in flexion (palm facing up and flexing your wrist so you hand comes up) you won't be able to extend your fingers all the way in extension. When working forearm curls in extension you don't get as much of a problem.
However, many functional strength advocates will say that you don't need to work your forearms separately because they get plenty of work during other exercises. I'm sure you've felt your forearms burn when doing biceps curls. If you increase your weight to the point where your forearms are burning out before the major muscle you're working they'll get stronger until they can handle the weight. Granted you can work them faster by working them independently, but now you're increasing your total workout time to work a small muscle.
Separately working your forearms is not a necessity unless you're lifting such massive weights that you can't get them to handle the weights as fast as the major muscle groups. For things like P90X and other functional strength training you usually don't run into this issue.
As far as portability and getting weight to another location, the Power Blocks are definitely the way to go. You can lug around 100 lbs in weights and have a full set wherever you go. Even if you go with the big boys you're only dealing with 260 lbs total, and that's replacing close to 1000 lbs of free weights.
If you're going to be traveling, especially when you kick over the P90X, the Power Blocks are HIGHLY recommended.
On another note, check out http://www.exrx.net for great examples exercises, movement, and the muscles involved. Here's a quick link just to show the forearm extensions:
http://www.exrx.net/Articulations/Wrist.html#anchor260949
Roger that. P90 has a set of forearms so I have been doing them already. I wasn't sure if P90X included them or not.
I have heard that about forearms and I have also heard that about abs. I used to not really do abs at all and after doing the TH 100 and 200's for the past nearly 3 months, I can say that doing abs makes a HUGE difference. Is it the same for forearms? I dunno. I'm guessing it's a matter of individual preference. I can see some advantages to independently strengthening the wrist, especially for sports-specific things. But you are probably right that the forearms do get enough work otherwise during hammer curls and the like.
Did you guys check out the Ironmaster Quick-Locks in your dumbbell search? They are not exactly selectorized, but they sure do look tough..
And, believe it or not, I have actually heard that about LEGS (that you don't really need to do them). As you can imagine, I took that with a grain of salt since at the very least the legs house some of the largest muscle groups in the body and even limited work just increasing density in those big muscles will raise RMR.
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