Are dumbell squats as good as a barbell squat? because i only hav a bench and obviously cant clean and press my squat weight so without a rack i cant get my squat weight onto my shoulders
They are easier for your torso muscles because of the weight dangle at the end of your arms (unless you clean the dumbells and place them behind your head for some reason), but the legs do the same work according to my sense of physics.
It’s hard to go as low with dumbbells. Standing on a small platform may help.
how heavy are your dumbells?? grip strength may limit the amount of weight you can do. you may want to try zercher squats.
They’re not as good. BB squats have a higher center of gravity, making you use more stabilizers. You can also handle more weight because grip isn’t a limiting factor. Front squatting and zerchers should help you out.
Only problems I see are what Pvoosen mentioned about weight used and grip strength, as well as it being easier to cheat or use poor form with dumbbells as opposed to a barbell.
Personally, I like supplementing my back squats with overhead dumbbell squats. I’d give those a shot in addition to what normal squats you try to do with the dumbbells.
What other leg exercises are you doing now in addition to squats?
I’m gonna say that if you are standing on a platform as you do your dumbbell squats and you stay upright and don’t turn the motion into a deadlift then Dumbbell Squats are conceivably as good as Barbell Hack Squats.
And if you’re weak, doing dumbbell squats with 22.5lb weights in each hand will pretty much give you the same results as squatting with an empty bar.
But most gyms don’t have dumbbells that go past 100.
A 200 pound dumbbell squat is a poor substitute for a 495 Barbell Back squat
A 100 pound goblet squat is a poor substitute for a 315 Barbell Front squat
I’m guessing the limiting reagent is equipment. If this is true, and you’ve got tons of weight, tons of strength, but no squat rack… just deadlift.
Alternatively, you could load up the bar, tilt it up on one end, get under it, and squat it up, like they used to before they invented squat racks. It’s a pain and requires very strong collars, but it’ll work in a pinch. I guess.
One-legged squats might be something you want to try. They’re fun challenging and don’t require much additional weight.
Pistols (One legged squats) are a good replacement for the BB squat. The unilateral nature of the pistol forces more stablizers into play. Also, loading with a dumbbell on one leg increases weight much more.
In the end, while it may be a good replacement, single limb can’t replace double limb exercises, so try to fit in some zercher/hack squats.