Frances Barangay's Health Tips

How can I get strong with using only dumbbells?

I am very skinny and really don’t have much muscle so I am trying to get stronger to be healthy and look better. I am a boy as well, 16 years old.

Living where I am, there aren’t many gyms around. The closest is my school, which now doesn’t let anyone go there. You now have to be on a varsity sport to lift and that is not my case. I have no clue where the nearest gym is, but I am sure it’s pretty far.

I know this sounds stupid, but I have only one dumbbell with 4 14.3 pound weights. I can lift the 28.6 doing bicep curls so the weight is fine.

But I have 2 questions:

1. Is it possible to build some muscle using one dumbbell (and switching of course)?

2. What are some exercises to do (a good website would be nice)?

By the way, I also have the stand where you can do chest press. Just the stand part, not a big weight for that.

Hi Dan,

You are in a classic situation. I’m 27 and have been body building since i was about your age and everybody starts with only a set of dumbbells. Even though you only have one it’s better than nothing. You just need to be creative.

At 16 you don’t want to be going to mad anyway as you are not fully grown yet and any sort of excessive weight training a can be quite damaging.

If you look about the web you will find loads of sites. One in particular has a nice collection of single dumbbell exercises for all the major muscle groups.

http://www.body-mind-strength.com/weight_exercises/free_weight_weight_training_exercises.html

Try and get hold of a pair of dumbbells, a bit more weight and a bar and you will be well on your way. Good Luck.

David.

Standing Dumbbells Biceps Curl

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