CrossFit Dumbbells & Dumbell Sets

Functional training is a type of strength training that helps you perform better in everyday life as it mimics the movements we use in everyday activities, whether that be carrying heavy shopping or walking up a flight of stairs.

CrossFit is a very similar to functional training but it is performed at high intensity. Both CrossFit and functional training can be performed at home and dumbbells are extremely useful in both types of training.

The Benefits of Dumbbells

Dumbbells are always popular in any home gym as they are small and compact, so you don’t need a large space to use them and, although it depends on your choice of dumbbell, they are overall pretty reasonably priced. They are also an easy piece of equipment to transport around with you. But one of the greatest advantages of the dumbbell is the sheer range of exercises you can do with them.

Firstly, you can use them for strength exercises to build muscle mass, they can be used for isolation work as with the bicep curl they are most associated with and they can be used for a range of compound exercises. They will improve your stability as you will have to coordinate your movement to use them effectively and they will help your bones and joints to get stronger.

An additional benefit of exercising with dumbbells in CrossFit and functional training is that, unlike the popular barbell, dumbbells require unilateral movement, this means that your arms move independently of each other. This can highlight strength imbalances between your right and left arm.

Dumbbells in CrossFit

There are literally loads of exercises you can do in CrossFit using dumbbells but some of the best known include the dumbbell lunge, the dumbbell thruster and the dumbbell hang power clean.

The dumbbell lunge, which requires holding two dumbbells at each shoulder whilst you lunge forwards alternating your legs, works your bilateral strength and requires a bilateral transfer of force whilst you ensure that your trunk is always stable.

The dumbbell thruster requires you to hold two dumbbells at your shoulders as you sink into a squat, raising them above your head as you rise up. Again, this will very quickly highlight any imbalances that you have between your right and left arm strength.

Other popular CrossFit dumbbell exercises include dumbbell burpees, bent over rows and shoulder press.

What About Functional Training?

Dumbells are a great fitness tool to help you perform functional full body workouts. Remember functional training involves compound exercises that recruit several muscles and requires them to interact.

Examples include the bent over row which is a great upper body functional exercise that targets a range of different muscle groups including the biceps, rhomboids and posterior deltoids.

The "plank dumbbell drag" is another example of how the humble dumbbell can help target muscles including the core, obliques, trapezius, rhomboids and glutes. This exercise is great for your core and with the introduction of the dumbbell a plank exercise is made more challenging as you introduce movement with resistance.

Other exercises include the dumbbell squat press and the dumbbell jump squat.

Considerations When Buying

There are different types of dumbbells to choose from so it is important that you understand what these differences are before you buy. Fixed dumbbells are popular in home gums with sets available from 2.5 kg to 30kg. Fixed dumbbells come in different finishes, rubber and urethane, both are popular in CrossFit and functional training.

Fixed rubber dumbbells are hard wearing and durable with a protective outer coating, they are good at reducing the noise when exercising which again makes them popular in home gyms. Fixed urethane dumbbells are stronger than rubber and are popular with people who don’t like the smell of rubber as they are odourless. They also will not mark your floors.

You can also choose fixed rubber hex dumbbells , the hexagonal shape is great is you want to avoid your dumbbells from rolling around the floor, this can be really useful in exercises involving quick movements. Adjustable dumbbells are less popular with those performing CrossFit exercises due to the time required to change the weights.

In Summary

Overall most CrossFit and functional training requires strong, durable dumbbells which usually means choosing between fixed premium rubber or urethane options. The only real dumbbell to avoid for this type of training is the studio dumbbell which are the small coloured dumbbells which are usually light in weight and fully coated. These tend to be popular in gyms for cardio workouts only.

When deciding which weight of dumbbells to buy we would advise buying a range of weights - light, medium and heavy, so that you can use the dumbbells in as flexible a way as possible. It is worth remembering though that for CrossFit the standard dumbbell competition weight is 22.5kg for men and 15kg for women.