How to make a dumbell heavier?

[David Lake]

Hi Hypertrophy team,

Some context; I have recently moved into a new area, and I love to single arm DB row!

None of the local gyms have DBs over 50kg, which only becomes a problem when wanting to DB Row (a movement I have been historically strong with).

Out of curiosity, is there a simple fix to make these dumbells heavier? I may have seen people using tights bands and putting plates on either side, so I could try this. Also, the plates are huge urethane ones; not great to load onto a DB handle due to the crappy ROM. I’d appreciate if have any suggestions, or failing being able to do this anymore, any suitable replacements for this.

Thanks very much! – Dave

[David Lake]

Sorry, not supplements!!

[Simo Matikainen]

Bumb + I would change the exercise. Thats what I did when I hit 50kg. Its max at my gym too.. You could try one arm cable or machine rows or do incline rows/seal rows on bench with 2 arms which is way harder than 1 arm.

[Michael DeBlois]

U can buy Plate Mates and put them on the ends

[EBalage]

Hey Dave!

So I ran into the same problem, just with presses. I’ll give you what Bryce suggested for me: use techniques that make the set harder with the existing weight. Slower negatives, pause at the bottom or the top of the moment for a couple second (with a row, I would go eith the top/contracted position), use “stops” during the movement, or use 1-1,5 reps as “1 rep”.

For a substitute, I would either go with a good machine row, or lie on a low inc. Bench face down and row from there. Or maybe switch to 2 arm db row/bb row. If I may, my personal favorite instead of a db row is one arm, standing row on a plate loaded/hammer strenght machine. If you set it up nicely, the weight will get a slight easier on top contraction, so you can really squeeze the lats.

Also, a while back, I watched Dorian Yates explain his form/style on rowing, tried to implement it…and it cut my working weights in half 😁 maybe it was just me 😁

[Josh Landers]

EBalage wrote:

Hey Dave!
So I ran into the same problem, just with presses. I’ll give you what Bryce suggested for me: use techniques that make the set harder with the existing weight. Slower negatives, pause at the bottom or the top of the moment for a couple second (with a row, I would go eith the top/contracted position), use “stops” during the movement, or use 1-1,5 reps as “1 rep”.
For a substitute, I would either go with a good machine row, or lie on a low inc. Bench face down and row from there. Or maybe switch to 2 arm db row/bb row. If I may, my personal favorite instead of a db row is one arm, standing row on a plate loaded/hammer strenght machine. If you set it up nicely, the weight will get a slight easier on top contraction, so you can really squeeze the lats.
Also, a while back, I watched Dorian Yates explain his form/style on rowing, tried to implement it…and it cut my working weights in half 😁 maybe it was just me 😁

This is perfect advice.

[BryceBahm]

[athi sundarchandar]

Maybe try an one arm BB row

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