Hello everyone!
Anyone can recommend me best type of adjustable dumbbells? Thanks in advance..
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It’s going to depend on your goals. I’ve owned Powerblocks and Ironmasters.
Powerblocks are awesome if you want a set that you can rapidly transition the weights on, so if you do a lot of drop sets or if you train with a partner that’s a different fitness level than you, it’s a solid product. The negative is that going from set to set is prohibitively expensive, and the bells get rather unwieldy as they get larger in size.
Ironmasters are an awesome modular product, as the plates go with dumbbells, kettlebells and a weight vest, so you have a whole system to play with. They’re also very solid and feel the most “dumbbell like”, compared to that weird square tube situation with the power blocks. The negative is that changing out plates is a big more involved compared to the pin design of the power blocks.
I had PowerBlocks. I really liked them. Easy to switch out. Indestructible. Went up to 90lbs. Adjustable in small increments.
Power blocks are great but the ones I have only go up to 50lbs. I wish I had the 120lb set.
I have never used iron masters but they look amazing. Just haven’t seen them second hand in my area before I got the others.
Olympic dumbbell handles are quite versatile; especially if you have an adjustable set for lighter weights 5-50, and then use plates with dumbbell handles for heavier stuff (presses, rows, etc). They are longer and odd to use for some things (curls, lateral raises, etc). But mostly they can be a pain to get used to setting up for presses as you need to be strategic how you rest the barbell on your legs before getting them in position. I would not use spring clamp collars with Olympic dumbbells as they often won’t hold 25’s or more in place reliably without slipping. I bought some nicer Rogue collars that worked really well at a fairly reasonable price in their discount section of the website.
I got lucky once and found Bowflex 10-90 adjustable dumbbells 2nd hand at a good price. I probably use them the most just because they are the fastest to ramp up/down in weight when switching exercises or doing “feeler” sets. They are not has robust as the power blocks or other options so I am a bit more careful with them when setting down the db after pressing for example…you certainly would not want to drop them. My biggest complaint about the Bowflex DB is that they have a strange handle profile. It’s metal but not particularly grippy as it only has light knurling on half of the surface. There is a wide spot or bulge in the handle that you often find with cheaper rubber hex head db sets that doesn’t add any value and is rather irritating.
Power blocks have a good handle it’s just usually wrapped in a heavy rubber-foam type grip. Metal knurling would be better. You can find aftermarket knurled handles for both types of db on the internet.
Looks like there are a lot of new options in the market today. Whatever you go for I would try to get as much weight as possible or pick an option that you can add weights in the future at a relatively reasonable cost (ie power blocks).