Description
The easiest, most inexpensive way to build muscle strength, size, and power turns out to be the best, with this supremely effective guide from the world’s largest men’s magazine
Workout fads and fitness equipment come and go, but as trainers and bodybuilders know: nothing tops a simple set of dumbbells for convenience, reliability, and versatility when you are trying to build muscles and get in shape. In Men’s Health Ultimate Dumbbell Guide, Myatt Murphy, a fitness expert and longtime contributor to Men’s Health, shows readers how to use dumbbells to develop just about every part of their bodies.
For anyone who believes that dumbbells can be used only for arms and shoulders, Myatt Murphy proves them wrong. Featuring 200 photographs, Men’s Health Ultimate Dumbbell Guide demonstrates how to perform a total body workout and get maximum results. There are exercises here–lunges, squats, dead lifts, curls, shrugs, kickbacks, presses, and more–that develop abs, arms, chest, legs, and shoulders, along with innovative new ways to get the most of this versatile piece of strength-training equipment.
With instructions for creating literally thousands of dumbbell exercises for the novice to advanced lifter, Men’s Health Ultimate Dumbbell Guide will be an indispensable addition to any home gym.
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C. Alexander –
This is genuinely a great book for people wanting to work with dumbells. There’s a lot to read but it’s easy to build a structure and build on it as you develop your experience and want more variation. It covers just about every workout you could hope for using dumbells. And all this for a small price. Highly recommend.
Susanna Hutcheson –
It’s good to make as much in our life as simple as possible. This book will make your workouts simple. But it will also make you strong and toned and help you burn fat.
Nothing beats dumbbells. I bought this book because I have a unique problem at this time and needed a way to workout but take it easy on a torn rotator cuff. I can’t lift the barbell at all because my right arm has lost most of it’s mobility. It’s coming back but it’s not totally back.
So I needed a way to workout and not let my muscles atrophy. So now I can use a lighter weight in my right hand and my regular heavy weight in my left and do bench presses. No, it’s not ideal. But it works.
Of course, that’s not what this book is about. It’s not for those with injuries. It’s for anyone. All you really need are dumbbells. The author even tells you the various types you can get and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
To your dumbbells you will probably want to add a bench or, at the least, a fitness ball. But for a small investment, you can get all you need to get a real workout in the privacy of your home. And I mean a “safe” workout.
The author gives exercises for all levels. He describes them fully and tells you how you should go about each exercise, how many reps and sets.
Oh, and gals, don’t be afraid to buy the book. You have muscles too.
This is a great resource and I highly recommend it to you.
– Susanna K. Hutcheson
Al T. –
First, this is a solid book. The information provided is all accurate, to my knowledge, and organized reasonably.
The problem is its emphasis on numbers of moves instead of good form. The author will list a scant 4-5 bullet points describing a basic “master move” like the squat and then spend 15 pages describing different ways to tweak it to create more variations, “new moves.”
This is way out of proportion. There should be much more discussion of the basic move, guidelines for doing it safely, techniques for keeping body in proper form, etc. To be fair, the author does occasionally include a safety tip, but IMO, far too few. For some moves, like the bicep curl, this approach may be fine, but for more complex moves like the squat, lunge, deadlift, etc., a few bullet points feels totally inadequate. There needs to be way more information on stance width, leg posture, back posture, breathing, cadence, range of motion, proper weight selection, etc.
If you’re a beginner, this is not a safe introduction, and if you’re an expert, I doubt you’ll learn much. Do you really need to be told you can do a bicep curl seated on bench, seated on a swiss ball, one hand at a time, both hands at once, one hand constricting while the other is relaxing, overhand, underhand, standing, etc. And then it’s this same list of variations repeated for each exercise, usually with no additional info specific to the core exercise. It’s obvious that one can do most of those same variations with the preacher curl. It’s just so, so much repetition and fluff.
Now, all of that said, I actually do like the book. I had a trainer years ago and know generally how to be safe and lift responsibly, and I got the book to remind me of exercises and variations. If you’re like me and just want a refresher with a few new moves, it’s good for that. Just be prepared to skip a lot of pages.
EDIT: I read this on my Kindle. So when I say, “15 pages,” I mean Kindle pages. Also, I recently read “The Great Dumbbell Handbook” by Potvin, and while it’s only 1/4 the size, I think it provides more actual instruction on how to perform core dumbbell exercises correctly. It’s definitely better for beginners, with its emphasis on form and safety.
louie iliov –
Great item and just the best service
Rafael –
It is a great book for individual that want to take time to work every area of there body with Dumbbell’s. Very helpful, it shows how to do the exercise and also great little tips.
Viraf Jal Godrej –
New ideas.
But basics of breathing rhythm while using etc should also be explained.
Nelson Cruz –
If this book had even half the variation ‘s in it I would have been dancing in the streets. But Mr. Murphy gives you even more ( much more) . He reminds me of Charles Poliquin in his writing. And of Bill Pearl in that he gives you many variants to the same exercise. As a home trainer at the moment it really helps .Chapter six is particularly interesting. Schedule’s for your skill level is provided and is well put together. In my particular case this book has helped me find the right angle using dumbbells to still work for strength.
Ward Mercer –
Very informative
Fast service
Joseph J. Truncale –
Over the years I have read numerous books on the use of weights for strength and fitness but I must say that this 275 page soft cover book (Ultimate Dumbbell Guide by Myatt Murphy) has the most total and complete text I have ever read on the use of dumbbells. I purchased this book on Amazon for a bargain price and if you are seeking a book that has more than 21,000 different moves and variations of using the dumbbells for strength and total fitness.
This excellent text is filled with black and white photographs showing each exercise. The three parts in this book covers the following material: part one is about the truth about dumbbells and the many options and advantages to using dumbbells in your workout programs. Part two explains the master moves and how to work your abs, arms, back, chest, legs, and shoulders. Part three deals with how to create a million moves for your muscles by following the plan in this book.
This is the best book on the use of dumbbells I have ever read and if you use dumbbells in your workout programs you should check out this book.
Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Training Alone in Combatives and Self-Defense).
luke sims –
Edit: This book is useless. I was too kind in my previous review. Which if you’re interested starts below.
Original Comments:
I will use this book. Trying each movement for a couple of weeks at a time to identify areas of weakness.
However, lots of compound movements and really interesting variations are absent.
Ok, maybe no need to feature Turkish Get Up, but where is the Arnold Press?
Also next to zero physiology or discussion of rep ranges.
Probably great for someone completely new to exercise, in their 40s or even 50s.