When it comes to the bodybuilding world, there are many pieces of equipment that you can choose from. Each one of them offers a unique approach to weight lifting exercises and each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. However, there is one single piece of equipment that’s praised by both beginners and experienced athletes, it’s easy to use, super versatile, offers many variations, and is accessible to everybody, I’m talking of course about dumbbells. When it comes to deciding which amount of weight to choose from, it can get pretty confusing especially if you’re a beginner. With that being said, will 4kg dumbbells do anything?
If you’re a beginner, 4kg dumbbells are heavy enough to promote growth, however, you’ll eventually need to increase the weight in order to continue gaining muscle since 4kg will become too light.
In this article, we’ll talk more in-depth about if 4kg dumbbells can do anything, if they’re effective, and if you can start with them.
Table of Contents
Will 4kg Dumbbells Do Anything?
The answer to this question all depends on your current strength levels, and whether you’re a beginner or an experienced weight lifter.
For Beginners:
If you’re a beginner, meaning that you’re starting from scratch and you’ve never lifted dumbbells before, then 4kg can be considered a relatively heavy weight for you. In this case, lifting 4kg dumbbells will definitely promote muscle growth during the first couple of weeks of your weight-lifting journey, especially for minor exercises such as bicep curls (You’ll be able to lift a lot more in a bench press for example since the chest is a naturally strong muscle group). To put this into perspective, at first, you’ll probably be unable to do more than 8 repetitions when it comes to bicep curls but with time, you’ll eventually grow strong and have the ability to do way more than 20.
This is called progress which is the secret magical formula to growing your muscles. And in order for this magical formula to continue working, you’ll always want to increase your weight to constantly promote muscle growth and see results. The best way to perform progressive overload is by increasing the weight every time you can do more than 12 repetitions of a certain exercise easily.
This means if you can reach 12 or more repetitions using 4kg dumbbells, it’s probably the best time to increase the weight. The “perfect” amount of weight is the one that lets you struggle during the 8th repetition.
For Experienced Weight lifters:
If you’re an experienced weight lifter, that probably means that you managed to get strong and build a decent physique. If that’s the case, then 4kg dumbbells are probably not worth your time unless they’re used for warm-up exercises. The same secret formula that applies to beginners also applies to experienced weight lifters.
Always go for an amount of weight that will make you struggle during the 6th or 8th repetition. That little struggle to lift the weight is the main reason why your muscles grow and adapt to heavier weights. If you’re not feeling any kind of struggle or “squeeze” during your workouts, that probably means that you’re not doing enough and you should either increase your weight or do more sets. And as I mentioned in the beginning, the only time where it’s viable to use 4kg dumbbells for experienced weight lifters is either to warm up or to get used to a new exercise that you’ve never done before.
Are 4kg Dumbbells Effective?
4kg dumbbells are definitely effective for beginners since it’s the perfect amount of weight that isn’t too light or too heavy. They’re a great introduction to weight-lifting using dumbbells especially if you’ve never lifted dumbbells before, they’re excellent to get used to certain movements that are done using dumbbells before using the actual heavy weight in order to prevent injury and to get used to the exercises, and they’re effective for warming up.
Can You Start With 4kg Dumbbells?
4kg dumbbells is a reasonable amount of weight to start with especially if you’ve never lifted dumbbells before. Since it’s your first time, you probably wouldn’t know what weight is the most convenient for you so you don’t want to go for something that’s too heavy right off the bat. Instead, you should go for something that’s light in order to get a feel of the weight of the dumbbells so you can decide the perfect amount of weight that’s suitable for you. To put this into perspective for you, here is how you should go about it:
Use the 4kg dumbbells first and check the number of repetitions that you can do with them. If it’s more than 12, it probably means that 4kg is too light for you and you should increase the weight. If you can barely do 8 repetitions even with 4kg dumbbells, then that’s your most suitable weight for the time being. And don’t worry, you’ll eventually be able to lift a lot more sooner than you think.
Conclusion:
If you’re looking for the ultimate weight that’s going to introduce you to the world of weightlifting using dumbbells, is perfect for warming up, and that can make you get used to a lot of exercises to prevent all sorts of injury, then 4kg dumbbells are your best choice. And if you’re looking to build muscles, just make sure to increase the weight as soon as you can do more than 12 repetitions using this set of dumbbells.
