If you could only use one piece of fitness kit for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I recently asked this question to Cody Mooney of pliability and Luke Zocchi of Centr, two formidable athletes in their own right who have trained the great and good of CrossFit and Hollywood, respectively.
The answer, unanimously, was a pair of dumbbells.
"Give me a pair of 50lb dumbbells," says Mooney. "I could do some serious stuff with those. Lunges, squats, presses, cardio, strength—you can get pretty creative."
Dumbbells would also be my pick and that's why they are always the first thing I recommend to anyone—beginner or advanced—looking to start a home gym.
In terms of value for money, space-saving practicality and sheer versatility, you can't get better than a set of rubber hex dumbbells.
For starters, the hexagonal head means they create a stable base for floor-based exercises like renegade rows and weighted bear crawls, and won't roll out of reach like rounded alternatives.
The rubber padding on either end will protect your floor—or toes—from repeated blows. And, while the best adjustable dumbbells will enable you to cycle through multiple weight options, I prefer the simplicity, sturdiness and long-lasting durability you get from a set of fixed-weight dumbbells.
That's why a pair of 15kg (33lb) Rogue Hex Dumbbells (Rogue dumbbells in the US go up in 2.5lb or 5lb increments) have become the cornerstone of virtually every home workout I've undertaken since I made that shrewd purchase at the start of the first COVID-19 lockdown.
What weight of dumbbells should you buy for your home gym?
I opted for a pair of 15s, knowing it would be heavy enough to use for full-body compound lifts like squats and lunges, while light enough for muscle-building isolation exercises like biceps curls and triceps extensions.
But what weight is right for you? My rule of thumb is that you should opt for a weight that you can use to press overhead comfortably for at least 10 reps.
If you hit 10 and feel like you can keep going the weight is likely too light and won't challenge your muscles enough to increase strength. If your form crumbles in the single digits, the weight is probably too heavy and will present a low ceiling for any chance of strength gains.
An even better solution, if your budget allows, is to opt for one light set and one heavy set. For me, that would be a pair of 8kg and 15kg dumbbells. That way you can seamlessly switch from maxing out your strength to strengthening all the smaller stabilizer muscles that will help boost fitness and reduce injury risk in the long term.
What to do with your new dumbbells
Here's one of my favorite full-body one-kit workouts if all I've got to hand is a pair of 15s.
- Goblet squat x 10
- Reverse lunge x 10 each side
- Romanian deadlift x 10
- Dumbbell deficit push-up x 10
- Renegade row x 10 each side
- Alternating biceps curl into overhead press x 10 each side
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