Could be beneficial for many. They take more coordination and move the joints in a more natural pattern and could assist in mobility and flexibility. The ancient Greeks used dumbbell like stones called halteres to lift and jump with. I think many people focus on weight as opposed to creating a contraction with the weight and make the mistake of pushing too much weight.
Here lately I've been incorporating overhead dumbbell presses into countdown workouts. Alternated with rotating handle push-ups and sit-ups, I use 25 pound dumbbells to countdown 12 to 1. As a PED free trainer, I used to be decent at overhead pressing when I was much younger - being able to press behind the neck 135 pounds for 5 reps and military press that same weight for 12. I also could alternate dumbbell press two 75 pound dumbbells for 5 reps.
On one hand, one of the weaknesses with the Atlas style of training is lack of training overhead strength. On the other hand, during the times I could press a lot of weight overhesd, my shoulders were stiff and mobility was lacking. If you can't use your strength to do daily tasks and athletic things, what is the point?
So anyway, for me, at an age where heavy weights are not a good prospect for joint health, the 25's are a good compromise. I can do more, but the idea is not to develop the ability to lift heavy dumbbells, but to strengthen my joints and range of mobility. With a 12-1 countdown you are doing 78 total repetitions within a relatively short period of time along with supersetting them with push-ups and the sit-ups. which are done 24 to 2. It is a tough workout that promotes stamina, mobility and strength.
John I have all 3 of Marlon's books. I'm a fan of Bass's diet. That's how I lost 50 lbs. I have read all of his Ripped series but only have Ripped 3. I do have Lean For Life, Take Charge and Challenge Yourself. Mike Joplin was a big fan of his book Take Charge.
Marlon's books have good information and some exercises I didn't see until I read them. He emphasises the push up more than I'm interested in doing. He also does a three chair dip which he says works the back but I don't understand this. But overall good stuff and doable.
I have read Bass's training stuff and believe one could make their own routine from his. What I mean by that is You could do self resistance, light dumbells, visualized resistance, calisthenics or a mixture. It's not like You're using heavy weights and You control the resistance. So it would be safe on the joints.
Anyhow let us know what You do and Your results.
Thank you Greg and Michael.
I appreciate your responses.
Michael--I think you hit the nail on the head about the need for variation. I do sometimes fall into the bad habit of doing the same thing over and over again (and expecting a different result...wait, isn't that the definition of insanity?). I think the problem is I'll do something different, get great results, and therefore keep doing it because of those initial results. Even though I should know better, I seem to forget that it was the "doing something different" that actually lead to the results in the first place. Thanks for the reminder. By the way, I too have one of Marlon's books and all 3 of Bass's Ripped series in my personal library. Ah, that brings back memories. The Ripped books were my first diet books and I was blown away by them at the time. What's funny is I've pretty much run the gamut on dieting strategies since then, only to find myself 25 years later back in alignment with Bass's nutritional approach.
Greg--I actually went back and reread your original posts on the Transformetrics forum about your arm experiments only to discover that I had already asked these same questions. I'll probably keep asking you every couple of years until I too have arms that are so big that they look "awkward" on my frame.
But seriously, I appreciate your response. I was always intrigued by the FRY exercises, but found them very confusing. I like that idea of combining tension based exercises with pumping/partial range movements. I guess in a way I've kind of been doing that, but not in a systematic or consistent manner. I've also never tried doing them with DVR or self-resistance.
I think it is time for an arm experiment.
Hi John - the biggest my arms got were with a combination of push-ups done several times a week, along with some of Frank Rudolph Youngs biceps exercises. Around that time they were 17 inches cold, which was awkward for my frame. As Michael said, the exercises don't matter as much as how you do them. Basically you need tension and contraction exercises that help thicken the muscle fibers. Then you need pumping style exercise to build capillarization and sarcoplasmic fluid. Another thing was hitting the muscle fibers at all angles of pull, which FRY's exercises were good for.
So, with the light dumbell exercises you are doing focus on tension and contraction on both concentric and eccentric. That builds your muscularity and strength. Picture the look of some of the MMA guys with a pared down look. Then follow up with pumping and partial movements to build the size, something akin to the Larry Scott/Bill Pearl era of bodybuilding. Two extremes there, but I think it might give you a mental picture. Another strategy I used was isometric for the biceps with a belt followed by several sets of pumping by resisting the belt with the foot and thigh which could be done standing or seated.
John I was waiting to see if Greg answered You. He is probably really busy right now. I would like to share my recent experience if You're interested. A couple of months before the end of 2017 I haven't trained my arms directly for over a year. My arms shrunk by an inch and a half.
I'm not sure if this will help You because I believe in what we use to call muscle memory. Whether it's true or not science wise I don't know. Anyhow, cables and light dumbells brought my arms back to the inch and a half size more they were before. I can't tell You what exercises Greg used. But I don't think the exercises matter.
Ever since You mentioned Cosmetic Bodybuilding in another post I've gone back and re-read a couple of books. One was Clarence Bass's," Ripped 3" and one of Marlon Birche's books. One thing I remember I used in the past was variation. Marlon talks about how Your body adapts to stuff after 3 weeks. Bass pretty much says the same thing.
Now these are just my thoughts about this and I hope my ramblings help You some how. Sometimes a lack of progress is because of doing the same old thing. I believe this could work if You were only concerned about strength but for grow the same old thing only works for so long. Sometimes the body gets tired and can't respond to the same old thing. Sometime the body just needs more rest.
A couple things that Clarence Bass mentions for variation is changing the way You split Your body parts or doing full body workouts. He also mentions changing the reps every four weeks. Example would be 20 reps 4 weeks, 12 reps 4 weeks and 8 reps 4 weeks. Also You can do straight sets, supersets, circuits, rest pause, ect...
A couple of supersets I've been using are drag curls with bodyweight tricep extensions. And DB curls with double DB kickbacks. Another note, I did the bodyweight thing everyday for a pretty long time. I know You use tension which is very good but sometimes our body can't recover from this. But I'm not You so I can't say for sure. Anyhow I hope I gave You food for thought.
Hello Greg
I too prefer lighter dumbells (20-25 lbs.) and go for tension and volume (like calisthenics).
However, I remember several years on the Transformetrics forum you were experimenting with cosmetic bodybuilding (which is my training focus) and achieved some incredible arm growth with even lighter weights (3-5 lbs. if I remember correctly) and focusing in peak tension and contraction.
I was always amazed by your results (I remember you made a video around that time and your arms looked huge). If you don't mind my asking, what arm exercises were you doing at the time?