5 Safety Tips for Dumbbell Exercises

If your aim is to sculpt muscles and burn fat then dumbbell workout is an appropriate and effective choice for you. Dumbbell workout is an easy and inexpensive way to strengthen muscles, tone your body, and improve fitness. Dumbbell exercises also help increase fat loss and with a comfortable range of motion they are great for developing shoulder stability. However, safety is the primary concern when you are working out with weights.

To get the maximum benefit of the dumbbell workout, it is essential to learn how to use dumbbells safely to avoid any injury.

Warm Up

Warm up your body before you lift weights. Get your muscles warmed up by doing a light cardio exercise such as slow jog or a brisk walk for ten to fifteen minutes. Warming up before lifting dumbbells reduces the risk of injury by boosting blood flow to the muscles so that they can work better. Before you start your workout with dumbbells, stretch lightly after a quick warm up session. This will not only reduce the risk of any possible injury but will also improve blood flow throughout the body while improving joint lubrication.

Start with Light Weights

When starting up with dumbbell exercises, always start with light weights. Choose a weight that you can lift for at least ten to twelve repetitions. When you have skills and become proficient, you can increase the weight. Lifting heavy weight at initial stage is one of the most common causes of injury. It may cause muscle strain and sprains.

Maintain Proper Posture

Make sure you maintain the correct posture while you lift the weights. While different exercises require different movements, learn the proper way to do the specific exercise before you use the dumbbells. Don’t slump while you do the exercise. Keep your spine straight and erect and avoid hunching shoulders. Prevent putting extra pressure on your body to avoid injuries and maintain a good posture while you use dumbbells for sculpting.

Drop Set

Drop setting is usually used by bodybuilder and athletes. Keep dropping the weight till you do more repetitions with reduced weight. Start with using heavy weights and perform as many reps as you can. Keep lighter set of dumbbells near you so that you can switch to a lighter weight. Continue doing as many reps as you can. Keep reducing the weight until you are down to a very light weight and can do a few repetitions. This technique helps gain strength and keeps your muscles lean.

Stop If It Hurts

The appropriate weight is the one with which you can do a certain number of repetitions. But if the dumbbell exercises are done incorrectly, they may cause injury or pain. With incorrect posture you may experience lower-back pain from dumbbell curls or may be a shoulder pain due to incorrect dumbbell shoulder press. So to save you days of discomfort if you experience pain from dumbbell exercises, take precautions or seek physician aid if the pain persists.

Dumbbell Exercises

Triceps

To get a superior stretch, over-the-head triceps move is an effective move that does not only tone your arms but also builds strong arm muscles that may also help improve the shoulder, back and chest workouts.

Shoulder press

The dumbbell exercise for shoulder press targets your shoulders. Moreover, it also focuses on your upper back and triceps. Observe precautions if you have elbow, lower-back or neck injuries.

Bench press

Dumbbell bench press works your chest muscles, triceps and shoulder muscles. The ability to move heavy weight through the extended and high range of motion is the chief advantage of the bench press exercise.

Arm Exercises

Get sleek and toned arms and shoulders with dumbbell workout for arms. Get a sleeve-filling upper body with arm curl flexes. It helps extend the elbow joint and targets the brachialis muscles and biceps of the upper arm.

Squats

Leg squats exercise helps tone legs, build muscles of the hips, glutes and thighs, and holding dumbbells is just an add-on to increase the intensity of your workout.

Dumbbell exercises offer myriad benefits. They improve your overall health, build strong muscles, stronger bones and burn fat to give you a desired toned body. Although dumbbell workout is really fun, before you hit the gym or get into the dumbbell exercises, observe these safety precautions to avoid any possible injury.

Author Bio: Stephanie Ingram is a blogger and writer. She has been passionate about learning and sharing the ways to improve fitness and maintain optimal health in order to live an active life.