Weights; Bodyweight; Big Tires; I’m Confused!

Thomas, my aforementioned gregarious meat monger, asked me today,”Is it better to use dumbbells or barbells?”

There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not asked this exact question or some variant of it.  While it is true that there are different advantages to each training implement, the honest truth is this:

What you use doesn’t matter so long as you a) work hard b) consistently and c) with progression in mind*.

In other words, you could use barbells, if that’s what you have available.  Or use dumbbells.  Yes, dumbbells require more stabilization, but is that what you’re looking to train?  Moreover, does, say, more stabilization really even do anything above and beyond just “plain ol’ lifting”?

Here is the point – whatever advantages a given implement can deliver over another amounts to very little.  You won’t all of a sudden go from having a 13 inch arm to a 16 inch one by switching from barbells to dumbbells because of the “hypertrophic properties of multi-planar stabilization.”  Likewise, swapping out your kettlebells for a sledgehammer isn’t likely to magically make you punch any faster.  When proponents of these different training modalities compare and contrast the benefits you can receive from using their particular brand of equipment, what gets lost in the shuffle is that simply by using that training implement and paying attention to the three factors listed above will allow you to derive 99% of the benefits you can get from using the implement.

It isn’t the kettlebell/dumbbell/tire/milk jug/sandbag/Total Gym that you use.  It is that you actually use the thing.

*Nota Bene: A clarification of concepts is in order here;

Working “hard” means that you give forth a high degree of effort when performing exercises;

Consistency means that you train regularly enough so as to compound the positive response from each exercise bout (neither so often that your body can’t recover, nor so infrequently that you lose what you gained from each workout), and;

Progression means that you can do more this time than you could last time (either more weight, more reps, run faster, endure longer, etc.).

Digressions? Objections? Think I’m full of it and have a rebuttal? Post a comment.