Dos and Don'ts When Exercising With Dumbbells

Incorporating dumbbells into your daily exercise regimen has a host of benefits whether your intention is to build bigger muscles or just to keep fit and build stamina. It is a form of weight lifting that is pretty much user-friendly. You essentially just need one set of dumbbells, which is 2 dumbbells: one for each hand, and you are set to go.

Strain and Sprain

As with any form of exercise, it is imperative to pay close attention to some dos and don'ts so as to protect yourself from getting hurt while doing any of the exercises. Exercising incorrectly can lead to undesirable muscle strain and ligament sprain which is what you must do in your utmost to avoid. A strain is when the muscle is stretched too far or torn. This damages the muscle fibers. When bone or joint ligaments are over-stretched or torn, it results in a sprain. Ligaments are fibrous connecting tissues that connect muscles to bones and joints.

Dos and Don'ts

DOs

• Warm up first before you start lifting the dumbbells, even if you are just practicing. Warm-up exercises help warm up the muscles to prevent overstretching too quickly which could hurt either muscles or joints as mentioned earlier. You can warm up the muscles with light cardio, or by doing a light set of each exercise before proceeding to heavier weights.


• Take a rest in between sets of exercises. A set is defined as a group of repetition for different exercises.


• Go slow when handling your weights. Lift and lower your weights slowly and steadily.


• Stand up straight. Make sure your posture is straight. Engage your abdominal in every movement you make to keep balance and protect your spine.


• Choose at least one exercise for each major muscle group. Some major muscle groups are: chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and abdominal. Leaving any muscle group out could cause an imbalance in your muscles and possibly lead to injuries.


• Take a rest for 1 to 2 minutes, or long enough to catch your breath, between each set of exercise.


• After you complete your routine, remember to cool down with light cardio and/or stretching.


• Take rest days too! They are as important as workout days. Make sure the same muscle groups is not worked for 2 consecutive days.

DON'Ts

• Don't use momentum to lift the weight. If you have to swing to get the weight up, you could be using too heavy weights.


• Don't forget to breathe! We are tempted to hold our breath especially when it is the toughest. Don't. As the American College of Sports Medicine puts it "Exhale when the exercise is hardest, and inhale when the exercise is the easiest."

Check out Dumbbell Routines and Exercises for a total body workout to improve your physical fitness in 90 days. Digital format means you can get started working out right away.