The dumbbell thread.

[Wildtim]

It was mentioned that it might be useful to have a thread of videos that illistrate the use of the various dumbbells available. Here they are!!!

The oldest styles:



The spring clips:

The spring clip dumbbell video will not be imbeded because its you tube code contains a sequence of letters that is filtered on this forum because it is also the name of a competitor (d P s) replace the asterisks with those letters and remove the space to view the video. (damn filters ) Use small d, capital P, small s.

http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umq8c***6TM


The compression ring collars:



Spinlock dumbbells:



Ironmasters:



Titan Adjustable dumbbells:



Powerblock dumbbells:

[pumping4life]

Excellent thread. I had considered taking some vids of my Powerblocks and Ironmasters, but these show it all.

[Keeptryin]

WOW nice job tim!!!

[Wildtim]

I'm still a little miffed about the spring clip one. Just because another site with slower shipping and poor customer service has some overlapping products they block a sequence of three lettters. silly.

[pumping4life]

I'm still a little miffed about the spring clip one. Just because another site with slower shipping and poor customer service has some overlapping products they block a sequence of three lettters. silly.

Meh. If people are too lazy to copy/paste and replace a few asterisks, they probably aren't that interested to begin with.

[karnavorr]

Some spring clamps will make using spinlock handles much faster.

[yitmy]

Great post there WildTim + rep!

i have the personal powerblocks(5-45) and love em. But I have tried the new 90 pound ones at a fitness store and they feel so different from my set. The adder weights seem to throw the balance of the bell, especially if only one is inserted.

I have been researching the personal plus handle and seems like a tight fit due to the weights added to the inside of the grip box.

I am not thrilled with the 10-90 system for higher resistance for shoulder shrugs(which I think I should just get the 130s because on a universal gym I was able to shrug 150 plates each side). If I drop doing shrugs then to have the excess weight for bicep curls and possibly chest press and flies seems like alot of money. ($600)

Squats with a barbell of 185 current max with free weight-unsure if holding the dumbbells low would mimic the resistance felt. And front squat ~125 how would I perform with dumbbells? Anybody do there squats with dumbbells?

[yankeemarko1]

Nice!! We just talked about this. I can't get that spring clip video to work at all. I add the letters and take out the space in the http. Youtube says it is not available. Was is taken down?

[Wildtim]

Some spring clamps will make using spinlock handles much faster.

Then it would be no more secure than the standard dumbbells with spring clips, using the spinlocks is for security not speed.

Nice!! We just talked about this. I can't get that spring clip video to work at all. I add the letters and take out the space in the http. Youtube says it is not available. Was is taken down?

I figured out the problem. It is case sensitive. The proper letter sequence is d P s thats small d, capital P, small s. Then it should work. Damn all paranoid system admins.

I'll edit the original post if I still can

[jfindon]

Then it would be no more secure than the standard dumbbells with spring clips, using the spinlocks is for security not speed.



I figured out the problem. It is case sensitive. The proper letter sequence is d P s thats small d, capital P, small s. Then it should work. Damn all paranoid system admins.

I'll edit the original post if I still can

I always have that problem if I want to say I use DPS Nutrition. It's really annoying.

[karnavorr]

Then it would be no more secure than the standard dumbbells with spring clips, using the spinlocks is for security not speed.

The little lips on the clamp help it lock into the threaded ends on the handles.

I probably explained that really bad.

I just tested which 50 pounds on on side (only 14 inch handles and my 25's a wide). Picked it up wobbled, shook and dropped. Zero movement from the collar and changes twice as fast as a spinlock collar. If you don't believe me buy a small spring clamp from a hardware store for a few bucks and try yourself.

[yankeemarko1]

I figured out the problem. It is case sensitive. The proper letter sequence is d P s thats small d, capital P, small s. Then it should work. Damn all paranoid system admins.

I'll edit the original post if I still can

It works that way. Thanks. I use those spring collars on my EZ Curl bar and that is about it!!

[Wildtim]

Me too. I use spinlocks for anything where the collars will suspend the weight over my head my compression rings on my dumbbells when any weight will be over my body or head, but I use spring collars on my standard or olympic barbells or EZ bars where the weight couldn't fall on me, provided I use collars at all.

[Wildtim]

The little lips on the clamp help it lock into the threaded ends on the handles.

I probably explained that really bad.

I just tested which 50 pounds on on side (only 14 inch handles and my 25's a wide). Picked it up wobbled, shook and dropped. Zero movement from the collar and changes twice as fast as a spinlock collar. If you don't believe me buy a small spring clamp from a hardware store for a few bucks and try yourself.

Sorry I have all the dumbbells and collars in my videos. I only use the spinlocks where the weight will be suspended by the collar directly over my body. If I'm going to do a drop set I use the spring clips for speed, but when I use the spinlocks I demand safety.

[arenasbuzzersho]

is there a video of the boflex adjustable dumbell

that is the only one at a local store i can find and dont know if its worth the money, i have heard a lot of mixed reviews

[Wildtim]

Bowflex sure isn't worth the money. Odds are either the set your local store has on display is broken or tied down so they can't be moved. I've never seen a display set that worked properly.

I wouldn't call the reviews mixed, I would call the product **** and so would most everyone who's ever sed anything else.

[keyboardworkout]

Do olympic spinlock dumbbell handles exist?

I have seen videos of 7 foot olympic spinlock barbells.

[ironwill2008]

is there a video of the boflex adjustable dumbell

that is the only one at a local store i can find and dont know if its worth the money, i have heard a lot of mixed reviews

The reviews are not at all mixed among people who train seriously; don't waste your money--they're expensive junk.

[.pumpingiron]

nice thread!

[arenasbuzzersho]

The reviews are not at all mixed among people who train seriously; don't waste your money--they're expensive junk.

what do you recomend most

[Keetman]

what do you recomend most

You're actually in a db thread....with videos of a whole bunch of different types of db systems. Have you taken the time to look at the videos? If you haven't, maybe you should then you might have a better idea of what type of system will best meet your personal goals, use demands, and preferences. Tim spent a good amount of time putting this together, its a good resource....use it.


Oh, Will has a sweet ass home gym with about 16 beautiful racks of individual db's. I assume he prefers those .....just guessing. He's just letting you know the boflex dbs suck and you got your information from somewhere other than here if you thought the reviews were mixed.

[ironwill2008]

what do you recomend most

Go with Keet's post, above.

[BRUTUSPLAC]

i bought 2 sets of pro style dumb handles SDH #5 & # 6

they should come friday or saturday. i loved my mixed dumb rack of 5- 85 plus my solid 140's ,145's & 150" s

i rather have FLAT ENDS . but to each their own

[sphex]

I recently got the ironmasters and I love them

[jimmt]

Do olympic spinlock dumbbell handles exist?

I have seen videos of 7 foot olympic spinlock barbells.

I bought these olympic plate adapters on Ebay,they come in 2 sizes for 5-10 lb plates and in the 25-45 lb plates,cost appx.$1.00 a pair plus shipping. You can use an olympic plate and standard plate on the same bar,they work pretty good.

[keyboardworkout]

I bought these olympic plate adapters on Ebay,they come in 2 sizes for 5-10 lb plates and in the 25-45 lb plates,cost appx.$1.00 a pair plus shipping. You can use an olympic plate and standard plate on the same bar,they work pretty good.

Does the spinlock have a spacer attached or are there spacers you insert in the plates?

[jimmt]

Does the spinlock have a spacer attached or are there spacers you insert in the plates?

There are two spacers, you put them in the hole on the weight and thread them together.Then put the bar throgh the hole and tighten the spinlock.

[hellzlegend]

I bought these olympic plate adapters on Ebay,they come in 2 sizes for 5-10 lb plates and in the 25-45 lb plates,cost appx.$1.00 a pair plus shipping. You can use an olympic plate and standard plate on the same bar,they work pretty good.

do you have links to that item?

[Keetman]

There have been quite a few posts recently referencing Olympic DB's versus Standard DB's (spinlocks). In another thread I made some statements that caused someone to ask me a couple of questions, so I took some pics and measurements of my DB's. I figured this would be a good thread to post what I found. I'm not trying to make anybody's mind up here one way or the other, but hopefully it will be good information to help someone make up their own mind.

The equipment I have is a pair of 16" Standard Spinlock Handles, a 20" pair of Olympic Handles, and a set of 120lb Ironmasters.


Spinlocks

The spinlocks I have are just typical 16" standard bars. I was able to get 100lbs on each handle and still get the collar screwed on. The setup was not necessarily safe and while it would be ok with many moves, not really so for anything too dynamic and definitely nothing with the weight over the user's face. It would really be best to drop these down to 80lb usage, or get longer db's. I really just wanted to get as much on there as possible while still using a collar....I did the same thing with the olympic handles.

The plates I used are typical 10lb pancake style plates. They are 7/8" thick and about 8" tall.





Longer options for the standard db's are available, and these lengths would give this setup an advantage over the olympics, imo. Two options that I was able to find were from:

Ironmind (24"/$239.99....yea really) http://ironmind-store.com/Big-Boy-Du...ductinfo/1224/
Shermworks (18"-24"/ $49.99) http://www.shermworks.com/pdb.html


Also, realize that while these might require a second set of plates as most people use olympic plates for barbell work, the plates can be stored on the handles and don't take up that much room. Not really anymore than the oly's themselves. If you notice in this picture, the standard setup is stored to the left of the bars while the oly's are on the right of the stand.





Olympic

With the 20" olympic handles I was able to put 6 x 10lb olympic plates on one side with a compression style collar. I didn't bother getting all the plates to fill up the entire db, but this gives a 20lb advantage over the standards. This isn't entirely a good comparison though, since there is the obvious length difference. The oly's are 4" longer, but only give the advantage of one plate.

The olympic plates are York G2's and are 1 1/8" thick with a height of about 9". They are also interlocking plates, so the thickness of multiple plates will be slightly thinner than many other plates.






Another option that many people have expressed a need to utilize with the olympic handles is to use 25lb plates to get more weight on the bar without eating up too much of the sleeve. Here is the pic of that setup:




Ironmasters

The ironmasters are obviously a popular option here and don't need an introduction. They are a good choice for adjustable, but are expensive. I'm just providing these as an extra reference since I measured them and took pics. The total length of the IM's was about 18" with about a 7" height.

This setup should weigh about 110lbs as pictured. I weighed both of my db's and they were off a bit (as they are notorious for doing), however they were consistently off at 103.5lbs and 103.25lbs. Personally, I'm ok with the discrepency, especially since they were close in weight from one db to the other.

[JJ-]

Really nice comparison Keetman!