During your fitness transformation journey, choosing the right amount of weight is one of the most important things that can differentiate between having fast or slow results. It’s the key element to any workout and it’s part of the major factors that control hypertrophy. And dumbbells are no exception to this. Choosing the ideal dumbbell weight should be one of your top priorities. With that being said, are 35-pound dumbbells heavy?
35-pound dumbbells can be considered too heavy for beginner lifters but also too light for experienced ones. It all depends on your current strength levels and the type of exercises that you’re performing with them.
In this article, we’ll talk more in-depth about if 35-pound dumbbells are heavy, if they’re good, and what types of exercises you can do with them.
Table of Contents
Are 35-Pound Dumbbells Heavy?
Since the answer to this question depends entirely on your current strength levels, we’ll divide this section into two main parts:
For Beginners
In order to answer this question, we first need to understand what I mean by “beginner”. You can consider yourself a beginner if you’ve been in the game of bodybuilding for no more than 4 months. If that’s the case for you, then 35-pound dumbbells are definitely considered heavy for you and you should probably go for something lighter to avoid injuries. Not only that but going light during your first couple weeks of training will help learn the ropes of training using dumbbells since they’re the hardest out of all types of equipment, it’ll also help you get used to the movements that are done by them and prepare your fragile muscles for the intensity of heavier weights.
And in order to verify when’s the ideal time to upgrade your weights is by doing the “dumbbell strength test” which basically involves performing an exercise using a specific amount of weight and seeing the number of repetitions that you can do. If you can do more than 12 reps using 35-pound dumbbells on a specific exercise with ease, that pretty much means that it’s time to upgrade for that exercise only. If you struggle to do even 6 or 8 reps, it means that 35-pound dumbbells are way too heavy for you and you should use something lighter for the time being.
For Experienced Lifters
What I mean by “experienced lifter” is someone that’s been in the game of bodybuilding for longer than a year. If that’s the case for you, then the answer to this question will depend on what types of exercises you’re performing with 35-pound dumbbells.
Generally speaking, 35-pound dumbbells can be considered light for you in case you’re doing exercises that involve bigger muscle groups like the chest, back, or the legs. If you’re targeting smaller muscle groups with your exercises like the biceps or the triceps, 35-pound is still considered heavy even if you’re an experienced lifter since these types of muscles don’t generally need heavy weights in order to grow.
And in this case, the same test that I mentioned earlier to find out whether or not a specific weight is ideal for you can be applied here. As a general rule, if the weight can provide a certain struggle, especially during the 8th to 12th rep, it’s ideal and heavy enough for you. If you can’t even do more than 6 even if you’re an experienced lifter, it’s too heavy for you and if you can do more than 12 reps with ease, then it’s time to increase the weight.
Are 35-Pound Dumbbells Good?
Generally speaking, if you reach a point where you can lift 35-pound dumbbells with ease, it means that you’ve become good at what you’re doing and you’re probably starting to see some results. It’s an ideal amount of weight that can promote muscle growth depending on the types of exercises that you’re doing.
For example, if it’s bicep curls, 35-pound dumbbells are excellent weights that will make them grow and can provide a variety of movements that target every part of the bicep, the same thing goes for tricep pushdowns.
If the exercise is a bench press, 35-pound dumbbells in this case can be considered average weights that are great if you’ve been in the fitness game for a respectable amount of time. However, since the chest is a pretty big muscle group, it needs heavy weights in order to push it to its limits and promote growth. Ideally, if you struggle during the 8th repetition of a bench press, then it’s a perfect amount of weight.
If the exercise is shoulder presses, 35-pound dumbbells will be a challenge for beginners and a breeze for experienced lifters.
I can’t mention all the exercises since there are hundreds of them but you get the general idea. 35-pound dumbbells are good for certain strength levels and for specific exercises.
Conclusion:
35-pound dumbbells can be considered as a checkpoint in your fitness transformation journey. If you manage to reach the point where you can lift them with ease, then be sure that you’re on the right path toward great success in terms of muscle growth and sculpting that dream body of yours.