Fitness gadgets are freakin’ everywhere. TV, stores, informercials, the interet…jeez. And most are really expensive. And most also really suck. Instead of spending hundreds (or even thousands!) of dollars, spend a few bucks, get a pair of decent dumbbells, and get your cardio workout with those!
You can get super-intense cardio workouts with dumbbells (DBs) by simply doing a few sets of clean & press, snatches, squats, rows, or the like. Do them with one arm at a time, and you’ll effectively double the work you have to do (especially with full-body exercises like the clean & press and snatch). Or, you can really ramp up the workload by doing complexes – series of multiple exercises done back to back without rest. The best thing about DBs, though, is how cheap they are!
Sure, you could get some real expensive ones, but it’s just not necessary. For just a few bucks, you can have your own DBs, and get an awesome workout virtually anywhere you want. The first place you could look for DBs would be in the classified ads, garage sales, or craigslist. People are always looking to get rid of old fitness equipment, and you’ll likely to be able to find some for next to nothing – maybe even for free.
Next, you can check out sporting goods stores. You should start of with places like Play It Again Sports! that sell used equipment, but if that doesn’t work, you can check out other places, too. Many of the nice places sell either fixed weight DBs or adjustable ones that you can add/subtract weight plates to and from. Go with the latter option.
The fixed DBs are really nice, but are generally a lot more expensive. And if nothing else, you’ll spend a lot more because you’ll have to buy so much weight overall. If you use adjustable DBs, you could buy 20 ten-pound plates, and a few smaller plates (5s, 2.5s, etc.) and have enough weight to build two 100-pound DBs. This is going to be more weight than 95% of the population will ever need. The other drawback to buying fixed weight DBs is that it takes up a lot more room. Stick with adjustable DBs – not only are they cheaper, but they’re a lot easier to store, too.
