Not all dumbell exercises are isolation. For most upper body barbell exercises, you can find a corresponding dumbell exercise which recruits more stabilizer muscle. Compare, for example, the barbell bench press to the dumbell version - the dumbell version is harder since you need to stabilize each dumbell in 2 directions rather than 1.
Or just look at the turkish get up. That's all stabilizer.
Of course, there is no substitute for squats and deadlifts. The closest is pistol squats which are great for advanced athletes, but pistol squats are very hard to do if you haven't done a lot of barbell squats first.
Dumbbell bench requires more stabilization muscles, but you'll be able to build more raw upper body strength with barbell bench.
I did dumbbell bench exclusively for close to a year, and got to the point that I could get 5 reps with the 120 pound dumbbells. However, when I moved over to barbell bench, there was surprisingly litte transfer - no real difference from where my barbell bench was before I started doing dumbbell.
Absolutely agree on squats and deadlifts. Squats should be the cornerstone of a strength program.
This is what I was thinking. There are dumbbell adaptations of most barbell exercises. I've been doing dumbbell deadlifts and the one-legged variant, as well as lunges.
They are certainly different and have a different emphasis and limitations, but for a lot of training goals they can do the job very well. And even the mini-gyms found in hotels and apartments tend to have some dumbbells, while the same access isn't there with barbells.
One doesn't need any barbell squats to do pistol squats. They are more about balance, flexibility and body shape. Short, flexible, fit women usually have no problems with them. Most little kids can do them with a bit of practice. Long legged inflexible men won't be able to do one without a lot of specific practice, even if they have a decent barbell squat.
Comments
Not all dumbell exercises are isolation. For most upper body barbell exercises, you can find a corresponding dumbell exercise which recruits more stabilizer muscle. Compare, for example, the barbell bench press to the dumbell version - the dumbell version is harder since you need to stabilize each dumbell in 2 directions rather than 1.
Or just look at the turkish get up. That's all stabilizer.
Of course, there is no substitute for squats and deadlifts. The closest is pistol squats which are great for advanced athletes, but pistol squats are very hard to do if you haven't done a lot of barbell squats first.
Dumbbell bench requires more stabilization muscles, but you'll be able to build more raw upper body strength with barbell bench.
I did dumbbell bench exclusively for close to a year, and got to the point that I could get 5 reps with the 120 pound dumbbells. However, when I moved over to barbell bench, there was surprisingly litte transfer - no real difference from where my barbell bench was before I started doing dumbbell.
Absolutely agree on squats and deadlifts. Squats should be the cornerstone of a strength program.
This is what I was thinking. There are dumbbell adaptations of most barbell exercises. I've been doing dumbbell deadlifts and the one-legged variant, as well as lunges.
They are certainly different and have a different emphasis and limitations, but for a lot of training goals they can do the job very well. And even the mini-gyms found in hotels and apartments tend to have some dumbbells, while the same access isn't there with barbells.
One doesn't need any barbell squats to do pistol squats. They are more about balance, flexibility and body shape. Short, flexible, fit women usually have no problems with them. Most little kids can do them with a bit of practice. Long legged inflexible men won't be able to do one without a lot of specific practice, even if they have a decent barbell squat.