3 Surprising Benefits Of An Upper Body Workout With Dumbbells

Dumbbells Aren’t Just For Bodybuilders

When you think of dumbbells, what comes to mind?

But the truth is, an upper body workout with dumbbells is so much more than any one of those things! When used correctly, dumbbells accompanying an upper body workout can be a big asset to your health.  

Why Upper Body Workouts Are So Important

Before we reveal the lesser-known benefits of an upper body workout with dumbbells, it’s important to understand why upper body strength is so important. Your upper body allows you to perform many activities such as:

If your upper body is weak, you will be more prone to injury and your body will use other less appropriate muscles to compensate.  This can lead to a whole slew of problems like

It is so important to ensure you have a strong upper body, and an upper body workout with dumbbells is the perfect way to get (and keep!) your strength.

3 Benefits Of An Upper Body Workout With Dumbbells

Aside from the obvious benefits of strength training, there are 3 benefits that may come as a surprise to you.

1. Cardiovascular Health

One of the most important benefits of an upper body workout with dumbbells is improved cardiovascular health.  Strength training allows your body to build lean muscle mass.  That lean muscle mass allows the blood the heart is pumping to go to more places.  This in turn puts less stress on your heart. Your arteries don’t have to work as hard so they aren’t as stressed out. This lowers the possibility of having a stroke or heart attack.

2. Protect Bones, Muscles, and Connective Tissues

A regular upper body workout with dumbbells can also help protect your bones, muscles and connective tissues. Your bones lose bone mass daily, but with consistent (at least 3x/week) strength training, working your muscles can actually stimulate bone growth!  As you practice movements with load, the connective tissue around the joint is also being conditioned to accept the load.  Adapting to more and more load will make the tissue more resistant to wear and tear.  

3. Correcting Imbalances

One last interesting benefit from an upper body workout with dumbbells is that they find your strength imbalances and erase them.  We all have a “strong” side. But when you’re strength training and using dumbbells, what you see is what you get.  Your arms are both holding the same amount of weight, so it is impossible for one side to overcompensate.  Both arms are being strengthened equally.

The Bottom Line On Upper Body Workouts

Muscles weaken over time, especially if you aren’t using them enough! That’s why a regular upper body strength training routine is important.  Hopefully after reading some of the extra, less known benefits of an upper body workout with dumbbells, you’ll be inclined to make sure this part of your body is well taken care of. But where do you start?

Where To Find An Upper Body Workout With Dumbbells

There is  a great course right here on Fitstreams: Upper Body Strength Training With Laurent.  There are 5 classes ranging from 15-30 minutes each.

In this course, you will learn how to train your upper body using safe and effective exercises properly.  It’s a great way to continue (or begin!) an upper body workout with dumbbells that you can do anywhere, anytime.  Click here to get a free, 14-day trial to Laurent’s course, as well as all of the amazing courses Fitstreams has to offer.