Advantages Of Adjustable Dumbbells Compared To Plate Loaded Dumbbells

When you think of adjustable dumbbells, there are 2 different types. The first are the quick change dumbbells that adjust by simply turning a dial or adjusting a set of pins, such as the Bowflex dumbbells or the PowerBlock dumbbells. These dumbbells essentially have all of its weight plates within one unit.

The second type of dumbbells that adjust in weight are the plate loaded dumbbells. With these, you have a set of dumbbell handles, and a pair of collars to lock in the plates for each handle. To adjust the weight, you would remove the collars, add weight plates to each side of the handles, and then reattach the collars.

Although you can change weights with both types of dumbbells, there are many advantages with the quick change dial dumbbells and selectorized dumbbells over the plate load kind:

You can adjust the dumbbell weight very fast

To adjust the weight on the PowerBlocks or Bowflex dumbbells (or any other selectorized dumbbells) is very quick. It normally takes only a few seconds compared to plate loaded dumbbells, where it could take a few minutes! When you’re working out with dumbbells, you want to spend your time working out, not adjusting the weights.

Easy to alter the weight

It’s easy to change to your desired weight with selectorized dumbbells. This feature is especially beneficial if you’re performing drop sets and you need to change the weight right away. With plate loaded dumbbells, you would have to unscrew, add or remove weight, re-screw, and repeat a total of four times. Very cumbersome.

Easy and neater storage

With adjustable plate loaded dumbbells, you’ll have to have a lot of weight plates lying around. I don’t know about you, but after I’m finished my workout, the last thing I want to do is clean up and spend time organizing all of my weight plates (believe me, I’ve done this before). With the Power Block and Bowflex dumbbells, all you do is place it back with the rest of the dumbbell set, and you’re done!