Every reviewer of loadable dumbbells always says, "you already have the plates, so you might as well just get handles to save money". But who has that many pairs of smaller plates already laying around?
First thing I bought was dummy handles and 20 x 5kg plates. Versatility is great but yes, a lot of time is wasted loading and unloading. You need legit collars as well.
That thought process is why I don't really recommend handles that are more expensive then these ones. There are a few lines that are even more money but I think the money could be better spent elsewhere but I suppose their money their decision
I thought this was going to be one of those mean hurtful comments that keeps me up at night but it turns out it was the opposite. I'm glad you're enjoying them and honestly very happy that you watched!
After several weeks of research, I decided on buying the 20-inch handles from Titan. I’m very satisfied with my purchase. You cannot beat the reliability, versatility, and affordability. If you’re serious about gym equipment, it can be easy to FOMO yourself into thinking you need the most expensive equipment of the highest quality. But don’t fall for it!!
Well I will say the price is hard to beat but you could definitely upgrade in other ways. They're a very good budget pick but completely understand if people want another option.
@@GlucksGym Yes, the best choice is always specific to the individual. It made the most sense for me because I plan to eventually upgrade to a power rack and barbell, which means that I would’ve needed to buy 2-inch olympic plates anyway.
Just bought my second rogue db-15 with matching 25, 15, 10 bumper plates to somewhat complete my db-15 pair. Honestly, i turn in on chest press and shoulder press isn’t bad as I press straight up with a slight inward movement. Love them, sweet review on these others. Mad informative bro. 💪🏻
I will always have a soft spot for pro-style dumbbells. Buy the plates in bulk and then purchase your various handles. Worked great when I built mine years ago.
Those things can be great if you don't have to tighten the damn nut all the time. I like them if for nothing else than I spent so many years using them at various gyms.
@@GlucksGym 100 bucks for quality man. Been loving them the past week and a half. Didn’t know about fringe! They seem Solid too. I feel like I’ll never have anything from rogue unless price Goes down 😂
I have Rouges db-15 which rule. They save space and you can go heavy with them. I have a kensui weight vest as well, gymnastic rings, that monkey feet thing, and the base bench so I’m all set at home. No space for a barbell but I’m making gains with my little minimalist gym
I have a 200 pounds 1 inch adjustable dumbbells from Yes4All and absolutely satisfied with them. Doing drop sets is almost impossible though as they are time consuming !
My friend has those (not 200 lbs though). Not my favorite because they dig in some on certain exercises but it doesn't matter my preference if they work for you!
I got the set of 1" inch screw on type handles from Titan. For the price well worth it and I just buy the 1inch plates in 10lb increments. My problem with olympic size dumbbells, is to use them as a pair, i need additional pairs of 5's, 10's and 25lb plates and I just don't want to spend the money on that.
I bought the rogue db15 out of the boneyard and I love it. Just bought a single for heavy unilateral work. Maybe eventually I will buy a second one but it works great for now.
I use a set of the pro style screw type from Baadass Dumbbells. Seem indistructible, grippy knurling, and since it's a screw type you avoid all of the issues with extra length and gouging your legs when resting the weight. Been happy with the choice, but their ordering process is definitely not my favorite.
You just mentioned all the problems that I faced, I just end buying hex rubbers. But, the adjustable ones saved me for a while and I did not had to buy 10 lbs to 25.
My hex DB set goes up to 50 lbs. Then I start using the Oly DBs. Just the cheaper option. What really helped my use with them is using the aluminum lockjaw collars. Way better than the cheap ones.
Great review Gluck! I have a set of Sorinex CMBs from 35-70lbs. Definitely not cheap but I felt they’re worth the money for being able to do DB and KB work.
I had loadable dumbbells for 5 minutes when I discovered that you can prevent them from digging into your legs by simply not being an idiot. Rest them on your legs horizontally, not vertically. 🤓
Great review, Gluck! I'm considering buying a pair of Titans. Would spring collars work with the smooth sleeves?? I enjoy your videos - you crack me up!😂
I bit the bullet and went with the stainless steel rogue db 15s pair with 10s and 15s bumpers. I already had a good amount of Eleiko change plates so I can load them up to 95lbs each with about 1/2in to spare. They are awesome no regrets here
Thoughts on dumbbell & plate cement molds? I don’t have a barn to make my own Rocky 4 gym so I figured I could buy the molds and make some cement dumbbells like my dads 1960s/70s weights I grew up on. I’m pretty sure you’ve broken a Guinness record on the most innuendos in under 10mins! lol
Yesss my proudest accomplishment! I know a lot of people have done it successfully but unfortunately I don't have a ton of experience there personally.
I have the Titan 15 inch handles and they're less awkward than the longer sleeve ones especially if you load them up with a few pairs of 10's or less. Since you can only add up to about 65 pounds that way, I bought a pair of 75, 85 and 95 pound regular dumbbells.
The 15 inch titan dumbbells are comfortable to do biceps curls, I have seen comments that the 20 inch dumbbells are uncomfortable, could you give me your opinion on this matter?
It's funny when you think about all the gym equipment out there that's really nice for the price, but then you think about 150lb dumbbells... Hmm, who buys those, not many people. Better yet who makes them? It's crazy how expensive individual dumbbells are, but commercial gyms can cost a million dollars literally for the crazy ones. The cool part is you can always find cheap alternatives that are still really good.
Going back and looking at different options. Might need to upgrade handles with the new fitness gear plates I got. Don’t know if you heard about that. 😂
I want a set but the sleeve needs a wider inside. Also they need to make a add on for the end of the sleeve. Just a rubber flat end that has a collar, that way when they are on your thigh it doesn't hurt.
Some people use tennis balls but I work around it and doesn't really bother me but it's not ideal. Do you mean a wider handle or wider loadable sleeve?
Great video! I have a pair of Armstrong sport loadable Olympic handles and quite honestly they suck. The handle diameter is miserably thin and the sleeves are loose and the knurling is smooth. I wish I had spent more and bought from Rogue. I have a set of 5-100lb fixed dumbbells as well, but I ultimately chose to cheap out and get a loadable pair vs heavier fixed when I began to out lift the 100s...It has since proven a far inferior option😅
They published that IG post about them after I finished editing this thing and I thought, damn it Kabuki. I'm sure they're exceptional quality but that price is up there and probably only worthwhile for a few people. I'll try to get my hands on them but I need to quit my job to cover all this stuff fast enough!
I am slowly building my fixed dumbbell inventory up so I am getting to the point where my old school standard plate handles are only used for certain exercises (bent over rows, lunges, Bulgarians, etc…). I just plain got sick of changing the weights on those loadable handles.
@@GlucksGym nah, but it can make for a decent forearm workout with those old spin locks. These are very low profile and not like the old star spin locks which can also be used to scrape the meat off of Buffalo hide when not being used to hold plates on the bar.
'Wrestlemania III, Pontiac, Michigan, yeah. Ninety-thousand plus people watching right there and this is Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboats cup of coffee in the big time, yeah. CUP OF COFFEE IN THE BIG TIME because he'll never get closer than now. I am the Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion and will remain the Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion and George 'The Animal' Steele, on the outside, will be no factor, yeah.'
I made my own (at work 😉) during lockdown. When the price of dumbbells got (and still is) ridiculous. TBH I can’t see one’s for $150+ being any better than what I made. If I could find any at a decent price I’d have fixed. Agree they are pain changing out and cumbersome when getting heavy. EZ Curl bar anyone?? 🤷♂️
Love my EZ curl bar and if being resourceful worked for you that's awesome though for me justifying $150 on something that well made was easy it's not for everyone
I have powerblock and Ironmaster dumbbells. Once you have them you will never go back… the Pepin dumbbells are pretty good too but the handle is wider than I like. Ironmaster with the 15 pound add-on that is right around your hands is awesome. Keeps everything close to your wrist so it is balanced.
I have the Iron Masters with the 15 pound handle kit and love them. I have two handles without the 15 pound kit too. Had to buy a couple more handles for circuit sets.
@@markhalstead2386 Great idea! I probably would do similar if I did not have the power blocks as well. I also have magnetic platemates so I can easily go up 2.5 or 5 poinds. The adjustable dumbbells save so much time that it would be smarter to get a part time job just to quickly save up enough cash to get them over plate loaded ones lol. They are that good, plus they aren’t gonna dig into the legs.
Those are another cool option but I'm not sure I'd recommend them for everyone. They are essentially fancy loadable dumbbells with their own plates. Faster and Def don't dig into the legs as much but the price and space they take up might not be for everyone.
On my list of next purchases will be the titan Olympic DBs because of the cost and frequency of use... If I'd use them more often I would go with Fringe and would opt of buying rogue unless bought used for the same cost as fringe... I personally like my powerblock DBs and would still use them most often but there are occasions where I'd really like to go heavy for one arm rows and flat bench... My powerblocks are maxed out at 125 now so this is the cheapest method I can exceed that... they do have a 175 lb set but that's not practical at the cost, the footprint (way bigger then most powerblocks), denomination selection(7.5 or 15 pound jumps not 5 or 10) so they aren't desirable... Also like the idea of iron master but don't like how long they take to load
PBs are a very popular option and of course the fact they can go so high makes them very versatile. You could look at Rogue Boneyard since they're up there right now up now but the savings isn't astronomical.
Had some titan ones, sold them. Awkward to use. Had 90 lb powerblocks, sold them. Ok but akward. Better then loadable. Had bowflex selectech, ug terrible junk. Worst things ever. Just started buying fixed ones used have up to 85lbs still looking to complete but just prefer them.
They're definitely great for saving money and saving space, but they're awkward as hell to use. I know they're lame but I'd take Bowflex over these loadable handles.
Everyone wants/needs something different and they have their place but for the price, they can't be beat! You like your 552s because you can't even lift them anyway 😂😍😘
Olympic dumbbells will never make sense to me. Standards are way better. Olympics are way too long to be useful IMHO. Powerblocks are less awkward than that.
There's also the Rogue db25-10... compared with the db10 it has a shorter, smaller diameter handle (bella bar rather than ohio) and longer, 4" loadable sleeves, a half inch more than the other loadable dumbbells under 15". I got my pair as boneyard and saved 60 buckeroos.
The boneyard is a great place, I just wish the DB had a deeper discount but in my experience the boneyard is an aggressive name for something that much of the time you can't even tell what's wrong with it without really searching.
I have the titan ones (short sleeves) and cap barbell (long sleeve). My tip would be to go cheap on adjustable dumbbells because you'll end up buying fixed dumbbells anyways. Buy once, cry once.
I have 90lb Bowflex adjustable dumbbells and they've worked great, have had them about 3 years with no issues and use them almost every day between my wife and I. I need a solution for 100+ lb lifts though, and am not sure if I should do fixed or Olympic handles... Anyone have a recommendation?...
@@GlucksGym thanks for the reply! The rogue USA aluminums are compatible with fringe? Only asking bc the diameter is 2 in(axle) and that collar is 1.5 in. And the rogue HG axle is 2 in width
Hey Gluck I bought a pair of 1 inch loadable dumbell handles and was excited to start loading with some 1 inch plates, but now that Im looking at things should I have gone for the olympic dumbell handles and tried to buy up 2 inch olympic weight plates? I just wonder what you think of if I should buy anymore weight. I've only purchased 4x 5 lb plates right now so I can still quit while I'm ahead. but I'd love your opinion
Personally I prefer Olympic plates since they work with everything I've got and will get. Standards will work and are often cheaper but I'd rather have one less set of things to keep track of and Olympic sized stuff is often better done.
Think Rogue went crazy with the prices of the dumbbell, than saw the price of the bumpers and that turned me off. Not much of a separation in innovation to spend that much.
They're like little Bella bars. Very nice but expensive. I normally wouldn't recommend people to crazy on loadables unless they know they're keeping them long term. If your are, and know they're short sleeves and small diameter handles then they're nice handles.
You can use any thin plate. The cheapest I've tried are from Cap and we've featured them in a few budget build videos like our latest on an Amazon build. I've also tried pretty expensive plates like Rogue's or Strength Cos. As long as they're fairly accurate they all tend to work.
You missed Kabuki Kroc loadable dumbbells. I kind of dislike adjustable dumbbells from Pepin/Ironmaster/baadass as the coating looks cheap compared to the cost, and paint will chip easily. I wish they can use rubber coated plates. I don't have enough room for dumbbell sets, so loadable dumbbells seem the only option. They're perfect for Kroc Row but not for dumbbell bench. Putting them standing on the thigh before the set is a pain.
I didn't miss them they're just at another level when your consider the price. This video is more of a, these items apply to the majority of people and those Kabuki are overkill for most even if they are very well made.
It’s funny, those fixed rubber dumbbells you have don’t swivel or anything with bearings yet Companies like rogue decided lets put bearings and all this fancy crap on ours to get people to pay a lot of money when most people are happy with fixed free weights like hex rubber weights that don’t move.
Hey, brother I can see that your body is not proportion. Your left shoulder is higher than to your right. To fix that you need to align your spinal cord, consult a chiropractor.
I kind of agree with you on this one. When editing I thought a bit that I could've lost a few and been good but I filmed this when I was pretty sick and these honestly take a crazy amount of time to make so I couldn't go back.
@@GlucksGym just keep doing what you do, homie. I love what you got going on. I've been planning on building a home gym since the beginning of the thing a year ago. Luckily in Texas we are aware of the scam and everything is been open. Love your work.
Good luck! Hopefully you can wait it out and get some amazing deals and thanks for the honest feedback because the down vote system doesn't tell me anything.
I have Powerblocks 90 myself, but the best cheap loadable dumbbell handles would be the DIY method from DIY Fitness Club. I would have considered replicating it but I simply didn’t standard plates. The biggest concern with traditional loadable handles (as seen in this vid) is finding strong clamps. If money is no object, the Gungnir handles with built in collars solves that issue. A cheaper Gungnir version (but sold out, only available in Australia) are the olympic handles with spin locks through gymdirect.
Funny you mention the clamps because in the video I'm using some of my cheapest worst ones but they hold up fine though I would recommend better than that. The Gungnirs, woooo that's a price but a cool idea.
