General question on how to incorporate dumbells into HLM

[heavyiron8]

Hey, so title says it. Just mainly trying to fit some DB assistance work into perhaps light or medium day. Any experience or recommendations? I'm just looking for some variety during my time in the gym.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I'm not a huge fan of DB work as a replacement for BB work. I like it better as a supplement in addition to the BB work. This might change with more time under your belt and the DBs you are using get heavier, but usually at first just add a few sets at the end of the main body of work.

[heavyiron8]

Andy,

You're right, and I won't be replacing barbell work with DB. I was more thinking along lines of adding some DB assistance. Maybe some DB bench press after light or medium press days, as barbell bench flares up my tendonitis and DB bench does not.

[OZ-USF-UFGator]

I'm not a huge fan of DB work as a replacement for BB work. I like it better as a supplement in addition to the BB work. This might change with more time under your belt and the DBs you are using get heavier, but usually at first just add a few sets at the end of the main body of work.

in your book, you talk about programming DB's , but you state that one should be able to do 15 reps before moving up in weight. Was that advice specifically for people over 40? Also, how heavy is heavy enough to substitute? If one has a 260 flat 1rm bench, will 80 # inclined DB's be OK for a light day?

PS...I sent you an email asking about hiring you for either a couple hour consult or possibly for paying for a custom program.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

The 15 rep thing is general advice, sometimes I bump people up when they hit 12 reps or whatever.....it's not a hard and fast rule and 15 isn't necessarily a magic number. The main point is that I like to keep DB work mostly in the 8-12 range. When you go up in weight on DBs then you often drop reps pretty drastically. So if you get 80 x 8 and then go up to 85 you might be down in the 5-7 range and I like a bit higher reps than that. So I'll build the reps up to say 12-15 for at least one set and then go up in weight and expect their reps to fall back down to around 8-10 where I want them. Personal preference, others do it different, blah, blah, blah.