Body For Life Forum - View Single Post

Rhone · 08-27-2008

I do my weight workouts with Bowflex SelectTech dumbbells and the bench Bowflex makes for using with the dumbbells. Space is at a premium for me too (one-bedroom apartment), but I'm able to store those in the corner of a walk-in closet and make a little floor space to pull them out for my workouts. There are certainly smaller and cheaper bench options if you forgo incline and decline settings and just get a flat bench; the dumbbell benches aren't nearly as big as the barbell benches. There are also cheaper dumbbell options, but I found some others to be clumsy/difficult to adjust the weight with, and you also want to keep in mind that you will be getting stronger, so you want them to be heavy enough to keep you challenged for a while.

Admittedly, I did end up also getting a weighted vest to help out with leg exercises--I got to a point where my grip on the weights was giving out before my legs. When I start reaching limits again I will use more reps for a bit and then work on switching to things like squats and calf raises with one leg at a time instead of both.

Dumbbells are perfect for upper body workouts (outside of maybe pull-ups and dips, they can work your arms, chest, and upper back in just about every way imaginable, with both compound and isolation exercises). With legs you're more limited to compound exercises; isolation exercises for quads and hamstrings are a little more difficult to do without things like leg curl and leg extension machines. Fortunately, compound exercises are much better for overall fitness anyway.

My approach to this is to simply stick with the same exercise for set 6 but drop the weight a bit more (this is an effective technique called a "drop set", and IMO it sticks with the spirit of the BFL workout, which is fatiguing the muscle beyond where it would be just from doing set 5 to failure). So for example, for my quads, I do squats with increasing weight for sets 1-4, then set 5 I do my 12 reps with the same weight I used in set 3; then I immediately drop the weight down to the weight I used for set 2, and crank out another 12 reps of squats (or more if I can).

You don't have to do it that way, though; you could switch it a little bit, perhaps doing 5 sets of squats and then sumo squats for the 6th set. For hamstrings you've got straight-legged deadlifts and lunges, but you could do lunges with a shorter or longer stride which shifts the emphasis between glutes and quads, and you can do regular (bending at the knee) deadlifts in addition to straight-legged deadlifts. Hamstrings unfortunately can't be worked through their full range of motion with just dumbbells; I make up for this partially by sprinting for my cardio.

For abs, I hold dumbbells to my shoulders while doing crunches, and I adjust the dumbbell weight like I do for any other exercise. For abs you really don't need to get any fancier than weighted crunches. You could do leg lifts to focus more on the lower abs, but it's harder to add weight to those unless you can hold dumbbells with your feet.

Good luck, I hope you can sort out something that will work for you. I completely empathize with being able to stick to the program better when I can work out home; I'd have to get up way too early in the morning to give myself time to go to a gym. I love being able to roll out of bed, guzzle some water, then immediately do my workout and get on with the rest of my day.

08-27-2008	#8 (permalink)
Rhone Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 265	I do my weight workouts with Bowflex SelectTech dumbbells and the bench Bowflex makes for using with the dumbbells. Space is at a premium for me too (one-bedroom apartment), but I'm able to store those in the corner of a walk-in closet and make a little floor space to pull them out for my workouts. There are certainly smaller and cheaper bench options if you forgo incline and decline settings and just get a flat bench; the dumbbell benches aren't nearly as big as the barbell benches. There are also cheaper dumbbell options, but I found some others to be clumsy/difficult to adjust the weight with, and you also want to keep in mind that you will be getting stronger, so you want them to be heavy enough to keep you challenged for a while. Admittedly, I did end up also getting a weighted vest to help out with leg exercises--I got to a point where my grip on the weights was giving out before my legs. When I start reaching limits again I will use more reps for a bit and then work on switching to things like squats and calf raises with one leg at a time instead of both. Dumbbells are perfect for upper body workouts (outside of maybe pull-ups and dips, they can work your arms, chest, and upper back in just about every way imaginable, with both compound and isolation exercises). With legs you're more limited to compound exercises; isolation exercises for quads and hamstrings are a little more difficult to do without things like leg curl and leg extension machines. Fortunately, compound exercises are much better for overall fitness anyway. My approach to this is to simply stick with the same exercise for set 6 but drop the weight a bit more (this is an effective technique called a "drop set", and IMO it sticks with the spirit of the BFL workout, which is fatiguing the muscle beyond where it would be just from doing set 5 to failure). So for example, for my quads, I do squats with increasing weight for sets 1-4, then set 5 I do my 12 reps with the same weight I used in set 3; then I immediately drop the weight down to the weight I used for set 2, and crank out another 12 reps of squats (or more if I can). You don't have to do it that way, though; you could switch it a little bit, perhaps doing 5 sets of squats and then sumo squats for the 6th set. For hamstrings you've got straight-legged deadlifts and lunges, but you could do lunges with a shorter or longer stride which shifts the emphasis between glutes and quads, and you can do regular (bending at the knee) deadlifts in addition to straight-legged deadlifts. Hamstrings unfortunately can't be worked through their full range of motion with just dumbbells; I make up for this partially by sprinting for my cardio. For abs, I hold dumbbells to my shoulders while doing crunches, and I adjust the dumbbell weight like I do for any other exercise. For abs you really don't need to get any fancier than weighted crunches. You could do leg lifts to focus more on the lower abs, but it's harder to add weight to those unless you can hold dumbbells with your feet. Good luck, I hope you can sort out something that will work for you. I completely empathize with being able to stick to the program better when I can work out home; I'd have to get up way too early in the morning to give myself time to go to a gym. I love being able to roll out of bed, guzzle some water, then immediately do my workout and get on with the rest of my day.