Increments with Dumbells

[Xcalibur]

Hey there

I have been lurking on these forums on and off for years. Ive recently got back into training and i often wondered about increments when using Dumbells,

I know the FAQ says to make it simple do 5-10 lbs for uppper body and 10-20 for lower. I use KGs as im from the UK.

The question is, when doing the bench press for example, if using the barbell you add 2.5kgs each increment but that means only 1.25 for each target muscle, But when you use dumbells i have been adding 2.5kg on each dumbell as the FAQ states that your muscle wont really be able to recognise small increments of 1kg etc.

So is this right to add 2.5kg on each dumbell? or should i be adding 1.25, because it gets very heavy very quick when doing Military press etc. I guess im trying to find the least increment in KGs that will give the most hypertrophy while still giving me enough room inside my maxes to keep adding weight.

Another question is: Do you guys think single leg squats are nearly as good as normal squat? I work out alone and at home, so i dont have squat rack or a spotter, so i use a chair to have the other leg on and hold onto the dumbells and do one leg squats, adding 2.5KG on each dumbell each increment.

ALso what i do is for example add 2.5kg on each dumbell and do the Military press, then repeat that weight next workout then add 2.5kg each again the following workout. Repeating means i can keep adding big increments which should induce more hypertropy and still have enough workouts over the cycles. Do you guys think this is good or would smaller increments but going up EVERY workout be better.

Any ideas would be great

 

[Lol]

Hey Xcalibur,

If you look at the loads in terms of percentages, adding 5kg to a db is usually going to be a big percentage increase. Even adding 2.5kg (2 x 1.25kg) is often going to be higher than a 5% increase. That's still a decent increase.

I don't have a problem with micro-loading, particularly for dbs. It's possible to use chains for small load increases but they don't work very well with dbs. You could try certain types of magnets or large washers.

Single-leg squats are pretty darn hard and you should be able to make some good gains if you progressively load them over time. However, I doubt you'll be able to use an equivalent load to a regular back squat (or even a front squat), so your potential will be limited by the loads you can use.

I doubt there'll be any noticeable difference in how you decide to increment loads over the course of a cycle. Just keep pushing them up each cycle and you will be making progress.

 

[imported_electric]

If you have a hard time micro-loading the DBs you can always repeat the same weight for two bouts as suggested in the FAQs. If you can only increase your DB in 2Kg increments for example you can use 16, 16, 18, 18, 20, 20 assuming a 20Kg RM for the exercise.

 

[Xcalibur]

hey LoL thanks for the quick reply

so you think 1.25 kgs on each dumbell is a decent enough increase for upper body then?

Doesnt bryan say your cns or muscle cant tell the difference its just mind games for 1kg increases, although he might have meant on the BB.


Im not sure if it would be better to put bigger increments (2.5kg each DB) so as to make a bigger mechanical effect on the musscle then repeat the bout one more time since the RBE wouldent have caught up that much in one workout? Or better to just raise it 1.25kg each DB and raise it every workout.

I do Single Leg squats cause i think its safer, cause i can then effectively double the weight i can load on one leg without having to hold very heavy barbells on my back which is hard to get up there and back down with no rack

It is a bit awkward and i tend to feel it more in the hams than the quads for some reason.
I also can do stiff leg dead lifts in the same workout without too much stress on the lowerback over all.

 

[Lol]

From the FAQ: <div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">We need to try to make each workout a relatively more severe structural challenge to our muscle tissue.</div>
A 5% increase each session is a pretty good way to accomplish this. If a 1.25kg increase is around 5% I'd say that's fine for incrementing.

Over the course of a cycle you will be incrementing about 15-20 times, perhaps with some zig-zag too. So, if you are increasing a db by 1.25kg each workout that would mean increasing the load by ~20kg per db. That's probably only going to be possible for compound db lifts.

Doing what electric said and increasing loads every couple of workouts is a good idea - fewer but larger increments.

To complement your single-leg squats, have you tried learning to power clean the bar to the racked position and then front squatting? Squat cleans are great too. Lunges can be good too, esp. if holding a couple of heavy dbs. Zercher squats are another alternative to try.

 

[Xcalibur]

yeah i see, i will try do 5%-10% increases for smaller muscles and repeat once. thanks for the help mate. i always enjoy reading ur posts.

 

[MicroBerto]

I do 5% myself, and have a nice spreadsheet to calculate it that you can find around these parts.

But if you really want to get picky about it, there are small 1.25lb weighted magnets that you can buy and add to the outside of your dumbbells if you have metal dumbbells.

One brand is PlateMate

 

[Alek]

I had my best succes training at home with dumb-bells, purposefully choosing exercises where my total weight lifted wasn't big. I made huge progress with 0.5KG increments on some exercises.

Depending on the exercises. Some were 0.5KG increments every training, some were as much as 2KG increments every training... with having an increment every single exercise.