Barbell vs Dumbbell

[diamondpete]

Gentlemen

As you may remeber, I am starting HGM. My weights arrived last night and I am just getting ready.

I will be doing the HGM beginners phase 1 which consists of the following:
Barbell/Dumbbell Bench Press
Dumbbell/Barbell Dead lift
Lat Pulldown/B.B./D.B. Pullover
Leg Press/B.B./D.B. Squat
Cable Seated Row/B.B. Bent Over Row/D.B. Lying Row
D.B./B.B. Lunge
B.B./D.B. Cuban Press
Seated Calf Raise/B.B./D.B. Seated Calf Raise
Crunch

I have a straight bar, curling bar, 2 adjustable dumbbels, 2 10kg dumbbells.

Naturally I want to go thru the routine (in the above order) with minimal breaks as prescribed by the program which means for me as little jiggling around with changing weights between exercises (a bit of a problem with my limited equipment)

So I am trying to determine whether the dumbell execise or barbell is better for each part of the routine, and or coordinate it with the weight settings that I have to minimize the switching around between exercises. Which would be better for these exercises do you think( especially for a beginner). For example I think that for me squats would be better with a barbell (less of a balance control of the weight issue, so it is easier to maintain good form)

I have about 140 KG of plates (that's a lot for me) so I should be able to put enough weight on the barbell and leave enough for dumbbells.


Sorry to make this so long (but aside from the DB being "better" in that you work seperately and need more control balance) is there somthing else I should consider in choosing whether I will use BB or DB for the first part of this program.

I will be doing stretching and form practice this week to get a feel for things before I start the routine, so and suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated (especially like DON"T use a barbell for that if you are a beginner because it is easy to injure yourself.

Thank you in advance.

Peter
Takamatsu, Japan

[chris_f]

The one thing I would really consider is if you can safetly do excercise with a barbell. For example, if you don't have a spot for a bench excercise, then definately use dumbells for that, and use the bar for bent over rows or something like that.

Same goes for squatting. Do you have a rack? If not, i would squat with dumbells. [img]smile.gif[/img]