Dumbbells and barbells are both commonly used instruments in fitness training, and both have their own advantages and disadvantages. Only by clearly understanding the differences between them can we choose a more suitable exercise method according to the individual training situation. The differences between dumbbells and barbells and their selection methods are described in detail as follows:

Different training weights

In practical training, barbells can use a lot of weight, which can make the tension on the unit cross-sectional area of muscles greater, which is more conducive to promoting the growth of muscle fibers. Compared with barbells, the training weight of dumbbells is much smaller. The maximum weight of dumbbells in many gyms is 60kg, mainly because dumbbells are difficult to control.

Dumbbells are two independent training loads, which need two arms to control the balance independently, which will allow more small muscle groups to participate in the force to maintain the stability of the arms and body, so it will consume more energy and be more difficult to master.

Generally speaking, it is best to use barbells to train the strength of lower limbs, such as squatting and hard pulling. Because the barbell can evenly distribute the load on both sides of the spine, it can remain stable even if the training weight is heavy. Lower limb muscles are the most powerful muscles in the human body, and greater training weight means better stimulation effect.

Balance of power

In barbell training, because the training load is a whole, even if one side does not exert enough force, it can successfully complete the training action by enhancing the other side's force. In this way, the increase of dominant lateral force will make the training load on both sides unbalanced, which will lead to the imbalance of muscle strength on both sides of the body.

But if you train with dumbbells, this will not happen. In addition, in the case of asymmetric strength on both sides, isolating the weak side with dumbbells can gradually strengthen the connection between muscles and nerves and correct the uneven development of muscle strength on both sides.

Dumbbells are more flexible

As long as you are flexible enough and creative, you can use dumbbells to complete all kinds of training. As for barbell training, because of its strong integrity, there is naturally no more room to play. Therefore, in dumbbell training, many exercises that barbells cannot complete can be completed, such as asymmetric bilateral exercises, unilateral exercises, yoga ball exercises and so on.

Range of motion

Although the barbell is more complete and stable, it will also limit the range of joint movement, which is not conducive to the deeper stimulation of muscles in the sports area. For example, in bench press training, barbell bench press is difficult to promote the full contraction of pectoralis major, which is related to the small abduction of shoulder joint. However, in dumbbell bench press training, due to the greater abduction of the big arm, it can promote the overall contraction of pectoralis major.

Muscle activation rate is different

We all know that stretching after fitness training can enhance muscle elasticity and improve the activity of muscle fibers. Similarly, in strength training, the greater the movement range, the more fully the muscles stretch, and the more muscle fibers participate in the exertion, the higher the degree of muscle activation. Therefore, under the same training weight, dumbbell training has better stimulation effect on muscles.

Dumbbell lift and barbell lift

Biceps biceps brachii connects forearm and forearm, and drives elbow flexion and extension, so it is used in elbow flexion and extension. Therefore, bending over is one of the classic movements to exercise biceps brachii. Dumbbells and barbells can both be used for bending training, but what's the difference between them?

Barbell training is heavier and more stable, and it is not easy to shake the forearm during training, so barbell training has greater stimulation intensity to the biceps brachii, and the training action is easier to realize. From the stress point of view, barbell training does not stimulate the weak arm (usually the left arm), which is not conducive to the balanced development of the strength of both arms. However, if dumbbell training is adopted, the problem of uneven stress can be well corrected.

Dumbbell bending action range is larger, biceps brachii contraction is more sufficient, and the stimulation effect on muscles is better. However, when the weight of dumbbell training is heavy, it is inevitable that the arm will stagger and the dumbbell will shake. This will limit the weight increase of dumbbells, but it can exercise many small muscle groups in the arm. Generally speaking, the training of the two has its own characteristics, which can be reasonably selected according to the current training situation of the individual.

Safety of training

Barbells are mostly assembled, and their training load is concentrated on the slender connecting rod in the middle, which will reduce the safety of barbell training to some extent. For beginners, lack of training experience, failure to find barbell problems or barbell abnormalities in time will increase the risk factor of barbell training.

In addition, in the event of joint sprain and other accidents in barbell training, the weight of barbell will be directly pressed down, causing secondary injuries. Dumbbells are much safer for barbells. From the structural point of view, the connecting rods connecting the loads on both sides of the dumbbell are much shorter, and some of them are integrally molded and cast, which will greatly increase the safety of the dumbbell structure.

Dumbbell training requires high finger grip strength and core stability, so it will limit dumbbell training with large weight, and lower training weight can also reduce the risk of sports injury. In addition, when there is an accident in dumbbell training, you can completely throw dumbbells on the mats at both sides of your body to avoid secondary injury to your body.

Nevertheless, this does not mean that dumbbells are absolutely safe, and safety can only be relative. Dumbbell training requires high grip strength and wrist strength, so weak forearm strength or fatigue may cause dumbbells to fall off. In addition, the movement of dumbbell training should not be too fast and too fierce, and the range of joint activity should be controlled within a safe range, otherwise it may cause joint sprain.

Finally, it needs to be explained that besides strengthening muscle strength, muscle endurance, core stability of the body and the balance of left and right muscle strength are also very important in fitness training. Therefore, the training of dumbbells and barbells is very important for people who want to improve their physical fitness in an all-round way. Only by giving full play to their advantages can we promote the all-round improvement of sports level.