A good starting weight for dumbbells?


Question:
I'm a 30-year old male. Up until last year I worked as a nursing assistant for a few years and all the physical labor kept my arms pretty tone. Now that I've been working a computer job for a year, and getting little exercise, I can tell quite clearly that my arms don't have the strength they used to. Been doing tae bo to improve my physical shape in general, but it's not doing much for my arms.

I am interested in dumbbells, but don't know what is a good weight to start with. Is a good weight something you can lift quite easily, or something that will tire you out quite fast, or something from between? 10 lbs seems kind of nice, I can feel the weight well but it's not so much that I wouldn't be able to do repeated sets of exercises.

I am new to all this stuff.

Answers:
i suggest you buy the kind of dumbbell that is adjustable and not the kind that has a pre-fixed weight. in that way, if you feel that you are not improving with the current weight that you are using, you can purchase weight disks to add to them. so you can start with the smaller one. ©

if i may add, buy two 10 lbs and two 5 lbs disks as starters. You can use these dumbbells for biceps, triceps, deltoids, trapezius, chest and back (with different exercises.) thus you can prepare yourself with these two different weights. You can use the smaller one if you think the bigger ones are more difficult to handle in a specific exercise, like the one-handed tricep press. (hey you can even purchase 2.5 pounders, just in case.) With some of these exercises, you can handle heavier weights and with others lighter weights are advisable. Do not try to push yourself and use heavy weights immediately or you'll risk injury. You know that your exercise needs a little push if after three sets of 10 repetitions, your arms are still not tired.

you can purchase a complete set but it will be expensive. it is cheaper to canvas those that give cheaper weights for the disks, since you will still use the same weight (only the price and slightly the quality of the disks differ).

regarding the exercises, you can buy some mens health/fitness magazine or just google the exercises. too many websites offer suggestions on every body part thus it is not difficult to find one. It is advisable to have several exercise on a specific body part. Your body can easily adjust to the stress that you give to it, so be able to change your exercise say after two months of doing such. It is better to keep your body guessing so to speak.

Goodluck! Exercise is always good for the body.
I'd suggest getting on a formal work out program like Rippetoes. It involves more than dumbbells but you'll gain muscle all over.
I'd say 15 to 25 pounds.
No more than 5 or 10 pounds, to start off. You seem to know more than you let on. Have a great weekend.
Taebo is a great workout for your arms to how long have you been doing taebo it takes a while for it to work. For dumbells I would around 3 or 5 that's what I would use. And start going to the gym if you have to
i would try 10-15lbs. depending on your size/strength. to start you should be able to do alot of reps, fairly easy. otherwise you might over work the muscle/tear. then once your used to it just use more weight.
If your goal is to build big biceps, I suggest that you read:

http://www.criticalbench.com/bigger-bice...

if you just want to exercise your arms, yes start out with a dumbell that you can only do 8 reps, increase the weight by 150% and do as many as you can. take care and good luck
1- pick up random dumb bell
2- if it falls to the floor or flies to the cieling > go to step 3
3- choose different dumb bell until you find the one like Baby Bear "just right"

"just right" - means not to heavy but more heavy than light, so challenging but not impossible
it also matters on if you have good form
Always start out with something comfortable and easy, especially if you haven't actually ever worked out. You will be sore after the first time doing this. Keep doing it until it becomes too easy and you don't become so sore after each session really. Move up in weight, do that until you're comfortable... You're working your muscles no matter what, so just keep it up.
yea id start with 10lbs or a 15 or even a 20 lbs dumbbell set..

just start light, so 10 is probably best for you since it..
"10 lbs seems kind of nice, I can feel the weight well but it's not so much that I wouldn't be able to do repeated sets of exercises."

so set up a regular workout witht e 10lbs ( you can google/ yahoo workouts.. there are TONS of em online) ind one thats fits you, and do it..

Once the 10lbs feels kinda light and liek it doesnt sem to be meeting your new rquirements. step upto 15lbs or a 20lbs and do your work out and progress in weights..


hope that helped!
The weight has to match your weight and your body. !0 lbs is nice if you can feel the weight. My suggestion is to life them until your arms are freaking tired, then your muscle will be visible and cut, trust me.
i would suggest push-ups as a safer alternative to dumbbells. but if you want to use them, and if 10 is easy and 20 is hard, go for 15 lbs. it shouldn't be back breaking to get through 12 reps three times, but it should make you start sweating and getting warmed up. it should be hard, but not too hard, you don't want to hurt yourself.
it depends on bodyweight and bodyfat. if y ou have average-low body fat 100lbs-115lbs should work with about 15lbs.
115-130 should start with about 20 pounds.
130-140 should start with about 20-30 pounds.
140-160 lbs should use 30-40 pound weigths. and so on and so forth.
if your on the squishy side it will probably deminish possible strength acorrding to body weight. if you have low body fat, you should have pretty descent strength for your body weight.

then again, i feel that the most important aspect is to have the right state of mind. you have to push your self and work hard, your muscles should feel like total **** afterwards, if you just starting. if it feels to easy then your probably doing something wrong.
A good starting mesaure is whatever weight you can preform curls with 3 sets of 8 reps. Shoulder press should be about 3 sets to 6-8 reps. The chest will be a bit stronger and you should be able to do 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
Good luck.
This depends on what you're going to use the dumbbells for. I tell people that if using these try to do a variety of exercises that work large muscles groups or multi-joint movements such as squats, lunges, dead lifts, and benching movements. Try to avoid the single-joint movements like bicep curls and triceps kickbacks. Instead do chin ups and dips. Can finish off a workout with the single-joint lifts. Basically think of big lifts or lift for movement not muscle. As for as weight try to complete at least 10-15 reps for 3 sets. If easier than that then you need to get heavier weights.
Just go to Wal-Mart or any workout equipment store and just pick up dumbells and see what works best for you. We can't tell you what to get because we don't know you're body type or how strong you are. What I can tell you is get a lower weight like a 10 pounder or 15 pounder and do I high reps to tone your arms and do the opposite if you want to gain strength and some mass.
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