Dumbbell Training

by Allen Hedrick

Maximum results with minimal equipment. Dumbbells have always been a strength training staple because of their versatility, affordability, and effectiveness. With the enormous popularity of all-in-one, adjustable versions, dumbbells have solidified their standing as the must-have muscle building tools. Now comes the one authoritative guide to using dumbbells to achieve the results you want. Developed by renowned strength and conditioning coach Allen Hedrick, Dumbbell Training features the most effective dumbbell exercises for increasing strength, power, and muscle mass. Targeting the core, upper body, lower body, and total body, the more than 81 exercises are accompanied by step-by-step instructions, common errors and corrections, and safety considerations. Expert insights, variations, and training tips further explain how to isolate muscles, increase range of motion, and stimulate stabilizing muscles to protect joints. More than just exercises, Dumbbell Training includes workouts and programs proven to add muscle mass and definition and enhance sport performance. You’ll find 33 programs for increasing power, speed, agility, and balance for athletes in 11 popular basketball, cycling, ice hockey, skiing, soccer, softball, speed skating, swimming, track, volleyball, and wrestling. It’s all here and ready to use. At the gym, home, or on the road, Dumbbell Training is a targeted approach to improving strength, power, musculature, and performance. If you own dumbbells, this book is a must-own.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Autumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do like the exercise finder chart that lists various exercises and the body parts. I question why so many crunches and some with weights over other core exercises; planks, dead bugs, bicycle, etc.

Also some exercises are done on benches, extension bench, etc. not just dumbells.

[Richard Subber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent “go to” resource for athletes, trainers and ordinary folks like me who want to know how to do effective, safe and healthy exercise with dumbbells. I recently had to give up larger exercise equipment for space reasons, but I kept my old dumbbells with the intention of figuring out how to do a good, alternative exercise program. Hedrick’s book fills the bill for me, and more serious athletes and trainers will love it even more.
This is soup-to-nuts, very detailed guidance on using dumbbells for building power, strength, endurance and muscle mass. Hedrick explains and illustrates 78 exercises with step-by-step instructions and very useful reminders about “common errors.” There is a photo sequence for each exercise—you really can’t get it wrong. He provides incredibly customized directions for specific exercises that will benefit coaches and players in 11 top sports, with clearly defined variations that will assist in developing speed, agility, power and balance for athletes, from amateur to pro.
Hedrick draws on his long career as a strength/conditioning coach, mostly in collegiate positions, including a long stint at the U.S. Air Force Academy. His dumbbell manual is authoritative, easy to understand, fully detailed and encouraging in its straightforward approach to sensibly using dumbbells to get healthier and stronger.
More at
http://richardsubber.com/

[Rui Ma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book. It provided key points for dumbbell training for different muscles. it works for people like me who prefers to stay home with simple dumbbell set.

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough, No-Nonsense, Guidance

I found this book useful. It had a lot more to it than I really needed, but all of it was interesting and well presented.

The book starts with a brief but surprisingly interesting section extolling the virtues of dumbbell training, (inexpensive, minimal equipment, space saving). We then proceed to exercises - upper body, lower body, core, and total body. The final, and lengthiest, section introduces complete training schedules, (day by day, exercise selections, reps, etc.), for fitness, or weight loss, or increased muscle size, or increased power, or speed sports, or agility and balance.

I reviewed this mostly for some general guidance and for descriptions of various specific exercises. If you go to a full gym regularly, or otherwise follow an exercise program, and just want to put together a simple dumbbell program for intermittent use at home, this book may be a bit of overkill. That said, by mixing and matching the exercises that I found here I was able to put together a complete, comprehensive, and varied and flexible program. Of most importance, since each exercise came with a full description, photos, and a list of exercise specific do's and don't's I feel confident that I've put together a decent plan. Very helpful.

The individual programs for specific training goals looked professional and thorough and well thought out, and I imagine they would serve reasonably well as a blueprint for someone intending to create a complete program from scratch. Although I suspect that someone wanting to do that would probably want a program that used more equipment, (stretch bands, barbells, specialty equipment), than just dumbbells. I was impressed by the explanations of the differences between goals like fitness, weight loss, power, speed, muscle mass, and so on. (I also thought it interesting that the author didn't think that emphasis on dumbbell type exercises, without a lot of other components, including diet management, would be very useful for weight loss.)

The book felt straightforward and free of cant or salesmanship. It's more like meeting with a very, very thorough personal trainer. That was fine by me.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

[Hal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once I got past the inevitable jokes from my friends to the book I was reading I could tell them how much this book has to offer. This is one of the most comprehensive books I have found in specifically laying out a wide range of training applications for dumbbells. Like me I would think most people would say this weight training device is made for a few specific purposes. Allen Hendrick shows in a most organized easy to follow way how they can be used for just about anything you could want to focus on in your workout. He covers 78 exercises and 15 programs with descriptive and well illustrated how to ways to get what you want. He even goes into specifics on training for a number of sports applications. The dumbbell also requires little in the way of investment unlike a lot of exercise and training equipment out there. The book is a must for anyone looking for unlimited ways to get the most out of training that pretty much covers it all.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good summary of the theory and practice of dumbbell exercises.

[Helena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. It's not particularly revolutionary, just very basic info about strength training.

[J Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative

The sport-specific schedules were helpful for forming a personal plan. The exercise descriptions (e.g., for the one-armed variations) are clear, but redundant.