The two types of free weights you’re most likely to encounter at your local gym. Dumbbells and kettlebells. Both have their weaknesses and strong points. But which is better for results? Read on and you’ll find out.
If you’re looking to add more dynamic movement into your workouts, then kettlebells are the way forward. Kettlebells are extremely effective if you’re looking to implement explosive and physical movements. Also, if your goal is powerlifting, plus improvements, or if you’re competing in a sport that requires explosiveness, like basketball or Cross-Fit games, then kettlebells can help you to reach greater gains.
Some kettlebell exercises can involve using several major muscle groups at a time. A good example of this is the kettlebell swing. The kettlebell swing can help increase your heart rate which will provide cardiovascular benefits as well as building muscle. A kettlebell swing will activate your entire posterior chain of muscles, whereas you won’t get that from using dumbbells alone.
When it comes to working out with basic movements, the dumbbells win this one. “Dumbbells are great for a little bit of everything.” They’re great for basic exercises like chest press, shoulder press or even squats and they don’t require swinging the weight around. This helps to make your workouts a little bit more straightforward.
If you want to mix up your workouts a bit, to keep you on your toes, then kettlebells can help. Try using kettlebells during a high-intensity interval training workout. 30-60 seconds of all-out effort kettlebell swings to finish off your workout can work wonders.
Kettlebells can help improve your grip. This is because the handle on a kettlebell is thicker than the handle on a dumbbell. Therefore, something like a bent-over row with a kettlebell weight will usually help strengthen your grip. By improving your grip, you will find it easier partaking in more challenging workouts, like pull-ups.
Kettlebells aren’t great for improving your general strength and fitness. Basic weightlifting will usually lead to significantly greater improvements in your strength over a short period. Therefore, sticking to dumbbells is probably the best idea if your goal is a general strength and fitness improvements.
If you’re new to working out, then maybe kettlebells aren’t the best idea maybe unless you have a personal trainer with you. Dumbbells are definitely the better choice for newbies in weight training and much easier to start training with.
Although, if you’re looking to add something a bit more challenging into your workout, then kettlebells will definitely do this for you. They don’t provide that stability that you get when lifting dumbbells, which makes them more like unbalanced objects that you pick up every day. This means that they provide an extra challenge, as well as the element of danger. Which is why people new to working out should definitely stick to dumbbells to begin with.
You can, however, use dumbbells also to make your workouts more challenging. You don’t need to use dumbbells in slow movements. You could attempt explosive movements with them by doing some cross-fit exercises such as squat cleans or hang cleans. You could also practice some of the kettlebells explosive moves with dumbbells first before you move onto kettlebells. Also, kettlebells don’t always come in small size increments as dumbbell weights do. Therefore, it could be difficult to find the perfect fit.
So, which should you choose? If you’re a newbie, or you’re looking to perform basic strength training, then you should head towards the dumbbell set. If you’re looking for a challenge, however, then maybe think about picking up some kettlebells.
