What Exercises Should You Use a Barbell Instead of a Dumbbell?

Two of the most effective pieces of free weight equipment are barbells and dumbbells. If you want to improve your physical prowess, then the question you should ask is not whether to include barbell and dumbbell exercises in your routine, but rather which exercises you do with each. While you can do any barbell exercise with a pair of dumbbells, certain exercises are better done using barbells than dumbbells and vice versa.

  1. Fundamental Compound Exercises

    • Compound exercises are those that require you to use multiple joints to lift the resistance. These types of exercises are excellent strength builders and allow you to use a great deal of resistance. Compound exercises are quite complex, so it is best you do them with a barbell rather than dumbbells, especially if you're a beginner. Dumbbells require more balance and don't allow you to lift as much weight as barbells. There are several compound exercises considered fundamental exercises, as they are essential to any strength training program. These exercises include the bench press, squat, bent-leg deadlift, clean and press and bent-over row. It is best you do all these movements using a barbell.

    Other Compound Exercises

    • The plethora of additional compound exercises are not quite as fundamental as the aforementioned movements in terms of building raw strength and power. Examples include the close-grip bench press, walking lunge and stiff-legged deadlift. You can't lift as much weight when doing these exercises as you can the fundamental compound movements. In fact you shouldn't, especially during exercises such as stiff-legged deadlifts, as doing so put you at high risk of injury. So, since these are not maximal strength lifts, you can choose to use either barbells or dumbbells, depending on your preference.

    Isolation Exercises

    • In contrast to compound exercises, isolation exercises primarily involve a single joint. Because of this, these exercises use fewer muscles and don't allow you to lift as much weight. When you use dumbbells, though, you can work more muscles than with barbells because of a higher need of balance. So, it is best you do isolation exercises using dumbbells.

    Sets and Reps

    • When performing the core compound exercises, stay within a lower rep range of between four and eight reps and use the maximum weight possible. Do three sets for each exercise you choose to include in your routine and go to muscular failure during each set. For other compound exercises and isolation exercises in your workouts, do three sets of 10 to 15 reps using moderate weights. Perform the fundamental compound exercises first thing in your workouts, because these exercises are the most challenging and require the most effort.