Adjustable dumbbells/kettlebells, weight stack pulldown? Ya or nay?

[Oldandfat]

So this is absolutely 100% first world problems. 100% wants and not needs.
Deadly covid and the forthcoming scarients still has me somewhat locked down and unable to travel/spend money.
I’m upgrading the flooring and there are thoughts through my head.

Dumbbells and kettlebells. I have a few kettle bells. Rarely used. For dumbbells I have spin lock collars and tons of what I call “pro plate” (1” holed plates). I make whatever dumbell I need as I need.

Last pulldown machine is plate loaded. Plates are shared with dumbbells.

It works, and has worked for decades. But I’ve been spoiled at work as they have a selectorized pulldown. Easy peasy to change weights. I miss it at home. Plus my daughter is staring to use the pulldown. There’s more switching.

Looking at possibly the Titan pulldown.

As for dumbbells what do you guys think of the adjustable ones? Pros/cons?

Thinking about this nOT just for convenience but also to to,clean things up a bit and eliminate a weight tree and some plates.

Also was eying up the rep rack with the built in pulldown. Pretty slick. Too bad it’s only 41” wide

[damufunman]

How heavy do you need? If 50# per hand is sufficient the Bowflex Adjustable DBs are pretty nice. They have one that goes up to 90#, but I've heard those are cumbersome.

[Wilhelm]

Too bad it’s only 41” wide

So 1" narrower I.D. on each side than a Rogue Monster or Monster Lite is a deal breaker?
That outside width on the Rogue 3X3s bothers some people.
It's never been a real issue for me, but i can see how it would be nice to have some extra clearance for the plates with the barbell.
I suppose Max PL grip on bench could be a little scary for re-racking.

[Hardartery]

I have a pair of Powerblock DB's, mostly because of Covid. They are okay, but I would totally have a giant rack with a DB selection in a heartbeat if I had room. The Nordic Track ones look okay, but they would be awkward for a lot of exercises.

[Oldandfat]

Too bad it’s only 41” wide

So 1" narrower I.D. on each side than a Rogue Monster or Monster Lite is a deal breaker?
That outside width on the Rogue 3X3s bothers some people.
It's never been a real issue for me, but i can see how it would be nice to have some extra clearance for the plates with the barbell.
I suppose Max PL grip on bench could be a little scary for re-racking.

My current rack is 44-1/2” inside so even rogues 43” is scary. 41” even more so. I need a wide grip for squats. Very tight shoulders. If I get a transformer or maarsbar then no issue.

I still say that the 2 x 3 infinity is the best overall. 41” racks are too scary for me.

[Oldandfat]

I have a pair of Powerblock DB's, mostly because of Covid. They are okay, but I would totally have a giant rack with a DB selection in a heartbeat if I had room. The Nordic Track ones look okay, but they would be awkward for a lot of exercises.

If I ditch my pulldown and get a rack with a pulldown I could fit a dumbell,rack. Thanks. I wanted to consolidate, not buy more, lol.

A dumbell rack is fantastic, room permiting.

[Oldandfat]

How heavy do you need? If 50# per hand is sufficient the Bowflex Adjustable DBs are pretty nice. They have one that goes up to 90#, but I've heard those are cumbersome.

At work we have a rack (dumbell) and I think it goes up to 80’s. I’ve never used them.

[Hardartery]

Too bad it’s only 41” wide

So 1" narrower I.D. on each side than a Rogue Monster or Monster Lite is a deal breaker?
That outside width on the Rogue 3X3s bothers some people.
It's never been a real issue for me, but i can see how it would be nice to have some extra clearance for the plates with the barbell.
I suppose Max PL grip on bench could be a little scary for re-racking.

My current rack is 44-1/2” inside so even rogues 43” is scary. 41” even more so. I need a wide grip for squats. Very tight shoulders. If I get a transformer or maarsbar then no issue.

I still say that the 2 x 3 infinity is the best overall. 41” racks are too scary for me.

With the narrower ack, you could maybe grip outside the hooks? I have done that when a rackpermitted, and I did with the squat bar at the gym I went to in NC, it was extra long so I could grab outside the rack. Maybe that doesn't work for you, just throwing it out there.

[FredM]

How heavy do you need? If 50# per hand is sufficient the Bowflex Adjustable DBs are pretty nice. They have one that goes up to 90#, but I've heard those are cumbersome.

At work we have a rack (dumbell) and I think it goes up to 80’s. I’ve never used them.

80s or any dumbbells?

I have the bowflex. They’re amazing for the price for not very strong people who like dumbbells. Personally, even as a not very strong person, I’m kinda over dumbbells. They’re ok for hypertrophy but cables are better. They’re ok for unilateral work that fixes imbalances but kettlebells are better. They’re ok for strength but barbells are better. If money were no object I’d have adjustable a that go up to 80 like nuobell or powerblocks. But I’d personally much rather have kettlebells. Think adjustable is probably overkill. You really only need 3. 6-8 if you want to do double workouts. That’s not that much space

[thejosef]

No love for the ironmaster adjustable dumbbells? They're hard to come by, but I love those dang things. Super durable and actually feel like a "real" dumbbell. No complaints, except they do take about 30 seconds-ish to change weights (not a huge deal for the space saving aspect). You can keep adding more weights as needed. They can go SUPER heavy. I once had a set up to 120 lbs, but sold off the heavy add-ons when I needed some cash. Lol. Great dumbbells!

https://www.ironmaster.com/products/qui ... -original/

I've had powerblocks too, and they are excellent. I just prefer the more traditional shape & feel of the Ironmasters.

[SquatsALot]

I have the ironmasters, and they're good for heavy stuff as they are tough. Not gonna lie, I get sick of changing weights on them, so I've thought about getting a set of powerblocks for quick change capability for my light stuff, and just use the ironmasters for heavy DB Bench/DB rows.

[FredM]

No love for the ironmaster adjustable dumbbells? They're hard to come by, but I love those dang things. Super durable and actually feel like a "real" dumbbell. No complaints, except they do take about 30 seconds-ish to change weights (not a huge deal for the space saving aspect). You can keep adding more weights as needed. They can go SUPER heavy. I once had a set up to 120 lbs, but sold off the heavy add-ons when I needed some cash. Lol. Great dumbbells!

https://www.ironmaster.com/products/qui ... -original/

I've had powerblocks too, and they are excellent. I just prefer the more traditional shape & feel of the Ironmasters.

I just don't see the point of dumbbells if you have a barbell and cable stack. The former is better for strength and the latter is better for rehab or iso work.

When I do use dumbbells because I'm bored I much prefer supersets or drop sets, which ironmasters get in the way of.

That said, if I only had 100 sq ft to build a home gym I'd 100% get ironmasters, a bench, some kettlebells and some bands and probably be 95% as strong as I am now and less beat up rofl.

[Oldandfat]

No love for the ironmaster adjustable dumbbells? They're hard to come by, but I love those dang things. Super durable and actually feel like a "real" dumbbell. No complaints, except they do take about 30 seconds-ish to change weights (not a huge deal for the space saving aspect). You can keep adding more weights as needed. They can go SUPER heavy. I once had a set up to 120 lbs, but sold off the heavy add-ons when I needed some cash. Lol. Great dumbbells!

https://www.ironmaster.com/products/qui ... -original/

I've had powerblocks too, and they are excellent. I just prefer the more traditional shape & feel of the Ironmasters.

I don’t see what the big deal is to change weights?

I watched the product videos and it more or less looks the same process to change my “spin lock” dumbbells?

[Renascent]

What about these (https://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-loadable-dumbbells) for dumbbells?

I bought a pair of the 15-pounders because I thought they might be useful for farmer walks. I forget the supposed weight capacity, but they were awkward as shit to use with 45s on each end -- turned the exercise into farmer shuffles, if I recall correctly.

However, I liked the idea of only needing two dumbbells (for space-saving reasons) and being able to load them as light or heavy as I please with barbell plates. Some people prefer having a full set and a rack, but I typically just use 'em for split squats/lunges, curls, and pullover-related shit.

If I could do the purchase over, I'd have gotten the 10-pounders with the shorter sleeves for more variation in curl exercises.

[hector]

If I could do the purchase over, I'd have gotten the 10-pounders with the shorter sleeves for more variation in curl exercises.

I have the db-10 dumbbells.
Is there something I can do with the 10s you can't do with the 15s?

[Renascent]

If I could do the purchase over, I'd have gotten the 10-pounders with the shorter sleeves for more variation in curl exercises.

I have the db-10 dumbbells.
Is there something I can do with the 10s you can't do with the 15s?

I'm guessing some basic curl variations. I remember trying the one that starts with your hands at your sides -- neutral-grip -- and turns into a supine-grip at the top of the movement. Kept having to swing my hips to the opposite side like Vince Gironda (from that video where he's demonstrating Gironda Curls in that General Zod-esque tracksuit) for clearance.

It felt weird to me.

Hit myself in the privates fooling around with concentration Curls, too. The 15s are useful, but for my purposes, I'd have been better off with the 10s.

[GrainsAndGains]

I use these Olympic dumbbells from Titan. I've been able to get them up to around 65 lbs per dumbbell. I haven't tried going beyond that but I suspect they would do fine in the 70-80 pound range as well.

The downsides are that you need a LOT of plates to get any kind of effective stimulus with the DB Bench (I have 8x10#, 4x5#, and a ton of 2.5#), and loading them up does take a couple of minutes each time. The price is great, especially if you already have the plates.

I've used them for bent over rows, chest flyes, basic curls, lunges, and split squats with no issues. The width of the dumbbell (20") does make pressing slightly awkward - you can't quite bring the dumbbells quite as close together at the top of the movement as you might like, and some bicep curl variants are also a little weird, as others have mentioned.

[Oldandfat]

I have a pair of Powerblock DB's, mostly because of Covid. They are okay, but I would totally have a giant rack with a DB selection in a heartbeat if I had room. The Nordic Track ones look okay, but they would be awkward for a lot of exercises.

Which dumbbells would you buy?

I watched the SS video on dumbbells and while mark doesn’t get a lot of love here his video made sense (rotating sleeves, max diameter plates).

I haven’t seen rotating handle dumbbells. Ho big a deal would that be?

It hasn’t been a problem for me. I use the spin locks and make mine as needed.

As I get older I want convenience

[murphyreedus]

Once you go Full Rack you never go back. With a good multi-tier rack it really doesn't even take up that much space if you can fit it against a wall.

If I had to choose an adjustable, it would be Ironmasters. If I was broke, Olympic handles and good collars.

I don't think rotating handles are valuable at all for the majority of people.

[mgil]

Even if doing dumbbell snatches, you can let the bar slip enough in your grip to compensate.