Do I need TWO dumbells?

keepkeyyellow

So you know when you see photos of the exercises and the people in them are lifting TWO dumbbells at once, well I've 1 dumbbell and have just been doing 12 reps on one arm then 12 on the other.

Does it make any difference or am I only doubling up time on my workouts?

d'Oracle

keepkeyyellow wrote: »

So you know when you see photos of the exercises and the people in them are lifting TWO dumbbells at once, well I've 1 dumbbell and have just been doing 12 reps on one arm then 12 on the other.

Does it make any difference or am I only doubling up time on my workouts?

It makes a difference, but not so much that one would worry about it.
It certainly doesn't mean you are wasting your time.

rubadub

I find it helps to have the other arm/hand doing something, e.g. if I hold a gripper in my free hand and squeeze it I can usually manage more reps with the working hand. You could use a tennis ball or a ball of socks or something, just keep it tense seems to transfer across. I notice this while doing chinups too, keep the lower body tense and I can manage more.

keepkeyyellow

Oh I found a solution to the problem. I never knew you could buy single plates for dumbbells in Maher Sports, even if I looked weird buying one plate to balance it out

rubadub

If your bar is 1" on the ends you will need "standard plates", not "olympic plates". That place seems expensive
http://mahersports.ie/product_info.php?cPath=292&products_id=8&osCsid=a189706fdc114b4d402b1c18a31cf16a

They are €2 per kilo here http://www.irish-lifting.com/standard-iron-plates-pe-243.html

It might work out cheaper to buy another set, amazon have free delivery on this set
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Golds-Gym-Mens-Hammertone-Dumbbell/dp/B002VYCWKE/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1323970687&sr=8-5

I would recommend 5kg plates if you are getting them though, since you can fit more weight onto the bar when you get stronger.

argos have them on offer
http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/3025862/Trail/searchtext%3E5KG.htm

thats a pretty good price.