You don't have to lift 50-lb. dumbbells to get stronger. You should never doubt just how much of a workout you can get with a light pair of dumbbells. A simple pair of 5-lb. dumbbells is all you need to do a variety of workouts that will make you stronger and leaner. Light weights are great for warming up, cooling down, increasing your cardiovascular strength and even building and toning your muscles.
Warm Up
It's always important to warm up before every workout. Warming up gets your blood circulating and loosens your muscles so you're at less risk of cramping, pulling a muscle or injuring yourself. Before you lift weights, you should always warm up with light weights before you progress to heavier ones. For example, if you're going to do a bicep workout, warm up by doing a few sets of curls with your 5-lb. weights. If you're going to do a chest workout, warm up by doing a few sets of bench presses and flys with your 5-lb. weights. You can warm up for a cardio workout by jogging in place with your dumbbells for five minutes.
Cardio
Doing cardiovascular exercise while holding a pair of 5-lb. dumbbells increases the intensity dramatically. Not only are you challenging your arms more, you're also adding 10 lbs. to your body weight, causing your legs to work harder, too. Jogging, sprinting, climbing stairs, shadow boxing and even just walking are all good cardio workouts you can do with 5-lb. dumbbells.
Supersets
An easy way you can get a good strength-training workout with 5-lb. dumbbells is by doing supersets. A superset is when you do two or more similar exercise with no rest at all in between them. For example, try doing one set of bicep curls, one set of reverse curls and one set of shoulder presses all in a row. Depending on your current level of strength, aim for 10 to 15 reps of each exercise.
Stretching
Stretching and cooling down after your workouts are just as important as warming up. You can cool down after lifting weights by doing some shoulder circles with your 5-lb. dumbbells. Once you have cooled down, you can do toe touches and overhead stretches to loosen your muscles. Doing the cool down and stretches with the dumbbells will keep the intensity up so you can burn additional calories at the end of your workout.
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