Strength Training For Cycling With Kettlebells

Training with free weights is arguably the most effective way to build both strength and muscle.

It’s nothing new, but it works, and millions of guys have seen incredible results from following workout routines consisting primarily of free weights.

Now to be clear, when people say ‘free weights’, they’re generally referring to both barbell and dumbbell exercises.

You’ll find both barbells and dumbbells in most gyms – yup, they have been around since before any of us were born, and aren’t going anywhere.

And before I get into things, let me first say that both barbells and dumbbells can be incredibly effective tools to develop your body.

That being said, I often get asked by clients which one of these is better.

Does it make more sense to focus on barbell vs dumbbell exercises?

As you might expect, there is no simple answer to this question…

Both barbells and dumbbells have specific advantages and disadvantages. Niether one is simply better than the other.

In this article, I’m going to clarify some of the specific differences between the barbell and the dumbbell, and discuss why you ideally want to be incorporating both of them into your workout routine.

This is because you are using fewer stabilizer muscles on barbell exercises, which allows you to lift more weight.

Advantage #2: Barbells Let You Progress Faster

As I’ve written about many times before, of getting bigger and stronger.

And in order to do this, you need to be able to incrementally lift more and more weight.

While you can do this with both barbells and dumbbells, it is often easier to do with barbells – especially at heavier weights.

This is because the smallest amount that you can increase with dumbbells is often 5 pounds for each dumbbell – meaning that the smallest progression you can do is 10 total pounds.

In contrast, with barbells you can increase by just 5 pounds (a 2.5 lb plate on each side), which can make it easier to steadily progress and build more muscle and strength over time.

Advantage #3: Barbells Can Be Safer When Lifting Heavy Weights

When you’re lifting heavy weights, you can’t afford to make mistakes, or you’ll open yourself up to injury.

This means , and lifting in a very controlled way for each rep.

With exercises like the and the , it is arguably easier to maintain perfect control with a barbell compared to a dumbbell.

You are better able to lock yourself into position, grounding your entire body before you begin the lift.

When doing the dumbbell variations of these exercises, however, you have to hoist the dumbbells into the starting position, which increases the likelihood of something going wrong with the setup and hurting yourself as a result.

Advantage #4: Barbells Can Be More Practical With Certain Exercises

While many exercises can be done with both barbells and dumbbells, there are certain exercises where the dumbbell version greatly limits the amount of weight you can lift.

Take the squat, for instance.

Dumbbell Advantages

Advantage #1: Dumbbells Make Greater Use Of Stabilizer Muscles

Remember how I was saying that barbells allow you to lift more weight, since they don’t require as much help from your stabilizer muscles?

Well, this is a double edged sword, since even though you this may mean that you can lift more total weight with a barbell, you also may not be hitting your muscles as comprehensively as with dumbbells.

In addition, for certain exercises (like the bench press), it has been shown that there is greater chest muscle activation with dumbbells presses compared to barbell presses.

Advantage #2: Dumbbells Can Be Safer When You’re New

While there is the argument that barbells are safter on certain exercises with heavier weights, it can also be said that dumbbells are a safer way to learn some of the basic movements when you’re newer to weight lifting.

I would say that a dumbbell bench press is easier to learn for a beginner than the barbell bench press.

Same thing for shoulder presses – easier with dumbbells when you’re first starting out.

Advantage #3: Dumbbells Can Provide Better Range Of Motion

Maintaining a full range of motion is important when weight training.

All things being equal, a greater range of motion works the muscle being trained more effectively than a shorter range of motion.

As a general rule, barbells can be seen to be more strength focused, whereas dumbbells are more hypertrophy focused (although this is admittedly a simplification).

For this reason, I’d suggest starting your workouts with heavier barbell movements (often in lower rep range), before moving on to dumbbell exercises in potentially higher rep ranges.

That way, you’ll be getting the best of both worlds, without the downsides of training with only barbells or dumbbells exclusively.

Do you prefer working out with barbells or dumbbells? Let us know in the comments below.