Comparing Dumbbells to Barbells

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You may notice that with certain exercises, you’re much stronger/weaker using a dumbbell to execute the movement, as compared to a barbell or vice-versa.

There are good reasons for this.

You should always use whichever modality you prefer, above all else as a means of safety first.

But if you have no injury issues, are strong and want to experiment, there are advantages to each.

As a great example of how much these options can differ, we’ll reference the bench press:

Most people will be stronger on their barbell press over using dumbbells for the bench chest press.  Reason is easy to understand; using dumbbells requires more stability, stabilizer muscles, to keep the shoulder joint stable as compared to its barbell counterpart.  It’s almost always the case that the more stabilizers needed to execute the exercise, the more difficult the move will end up being.  Hence, less weight when compared to the barbell.

The push or pull movement will obviously come into play here a great deal, in determining how/when stabilizer muscles are activated.

Generally, a pull movement such as for the lats opposing the chest, it’s often a lot easier to handle a great deal more poundage with a rowing movement using a dumbbell, over the bent-over barbell row.

Being mindful of these things will enable you to best determine when additional poundages can be experimented with, if your goal is to attempt to add more muscle to your frame as part of your overall fat loss plan.

Love, Happiness, Health and Peace………………..Tim 

Big Pharma Capitalizes Big Time on Cheap Omega 3’s:

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You can go to your local health food store and look for a good quality omega 3 fish oil for about $40 per month supply, watching for toxin levels like mercury and other heavy metals, and you’d be spending money on a valuable supplement that can and likely will improve your health on multiple levels.

Or, you can get a prescription called Lovaza that costs literally ten times more from your physician made by GlaxoSmithKline and help stuff their pockets with more riches than they already take on, and receive the same benefit health-wise, either way.

At least I have not seen any increased benefit from taking the prescrip over the supplement, but I wouldn’t doubt a biased study will be presented at some point favoring the prescription over the supplement, with a bent study that does not adequately cover the real differences and with more skews than most common consumers can readily recognize, prompting a marketing campaign that will further this financial windfall at the cost of the public at large, and…(real cynical here, aren’t I???)….;p

Big phama already has it’s dirty, filthy, smelly, ass-wiping hands all over enough of the supplement industry.

Ease any burden on your insurance company for everyone’s sake, and get a good quality omega 3 oil supporting your local health food store instead.  You will likely notice and feel the benefits, without stuffing the pockets of people who have nothing better to do than re-name an already-available product and re-price it to the loss of the gullible and ignorant.

Love, Happiness, Health and Peace………………….Tim