Adjustable dumbbell options

I have basically a boxer's workout, almost all cardio, with heavy bag
routine and roadwork. I would like to start incorporating weight
training into my routine. I am thinking about a dumbbell-only
routine... given that I have a small amount of space to work with, I
already own a nice flat/incline bench, and that's what I'm used to from
weight training when I was younger.

However, the main reason why I fell out of the habit of training with
dumbbells is that it was a pain in the ass to add and remove plates to
the adjustable set I was using (yeah that's lazy, but I'm just being
honest). I don't really have the space (or cash) for the full rack of
assorted dumbbells that I like. Therefore, I'm looking into some kind
of automatically-selectable system like the one that the Bowflex folks
run alot of commercials for.

I've looked into the Bowflex dumbbells, which run $399 and go up to
52.5 lbs each in 2.5 lb increments. I've also looked at a cheaper
competitor Stamina's "Versa-Bell" equivalent, which run around $250 and
go up to 50 lbs each in 5 lb increments. I would be really interested
to hear from anyone who owns either item, or other competitors that I'm
not familiar with. The main thing I'm curious about is weight
distribution. As you move the weight setting up and down, does the
weight on each end of the dumbbell stay equal... or do you have to move
in larger increments to keep the dumbbell balanced?

Steve wrote:
> I have basically a boxer's workout, almost all cardio, with heavy bag
> routine and roadwork. I would like to start incorporating weight
> training into my routine. I am thinking about a dumbbell-only
> routine... given that I have a small amount of space to work with, I
> already own a nice flat/incline bench, and that's what I'm used to from
> weight training when I was younger.
>
> However, the main reason why I fell out of the habit of training with
> dumbbells is that it was a pain in the ass to add and remove plates to
> the adjustable set I was using (yeah that's lazy, but I'm just being
> honest). I don't really have the space (or cash) for the full rack of
> assorted dumbbells that I like. Therefore, I'm looking into some kind
> of automatically-selectable system like the one that the Bowflex folks
> run alot of commercials for.
>
> I've looked into the Bowflex dumbbells, which run $399 and go up to
> 52.5 lbs each in 2.5 lb increments. I've also looked at a cheaper
> competitor Stamina's "Versa-Bell" equivalent, which run around $250 and
> go up to 50 lbs each in 5 lb increments. I would be really interested
> to hear from anyone who owns either item, or other competitors that I'm
> not familiar with. The main thing I'm curious about is weight
> distribution. As you move the weight setting up and down, does the
> weight on each end of the dumbbell stay equal... or do you have to move
> in larger increments to keep the dumbbell balanced?

Powerblocks get some kudos here. I've never tried them though.

I use adjustables at home sometimes, and simply bought two extra pairs
of db bars w. collars. Then, I preload the db's for the various things
I'm going to do, and with little effort, can get through most of a
workout w/o many plate changes. I added a few xtra plates for the
duplicates I need.

- bc