Random question on dumbells

[belly-be-gone]

How much weight do you think those "spinlock" dumbells can handle? I'm talking about those dumbells that you can buy at like Sports Authority or so with the spinlock mechanism so that the weights don't fall out. You can only use the plates with the 1" hole in diameter since the olympic size weights have too big of a hole. Would you trust them with like 70-80lbs? I know that the size of the plates would probably get more in the way if I were benching but just trying to see if any of you uses them at home. At the gym I just use the hexagonal shaped dumbells which are obviously a lot easier to use. Thanks!

[JimmyVengeance]

I've got a set of them, and they're all right. I've put about 70 lbs per bell on them in the past, and they held up just fine. Your suspicion that the plates will get in the way is fairly accurate, but I don't think it's unmanageable. A good trick is to use many smaller plates and as few larger plates (25lb and above) as possible, and, if you must use a larger plate, to put it on the outside, with the smaller plates closer to the handle.

There are also adjustable dumbbells set up to take Olympic plates -- they'd definitely be better, I'm guessing.

[belly-be-gone]

Thanks for the quick response, Jimmy. My main fear is that those dumbells cannot handle the weight; 70lbs might not seem like a lot, but for those dumbells, you never know, but I guess they're not as flimsy as they look. I might just pick up a pair of those olympic sized dumbells (bars) anyways and see how they work, I guess it's better safe than sorry when you have 70lbs + hanging above your face. :shock: Those olympic sized dumbell bars weigh like 10 lbs each, w/o any weight on them!

[fireman1]

I've got a pair of the dumbbell handles you're talking about. I've successfully (and without fear) loaded 80lbs. on each one and done bench presses with them.