{"id":81,"date":"2013-02-20T13:02:18","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T13:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/absstrengthguide.com\/blog\/?p=81"},"modified":"2014-01-24T09:51:48","modified_gmt":"2014-01-24T09:51:48","slug":"the-dumbbell-advantage-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/absstrengthguide.com\/blog\/the-dumbbell-advantage-story\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dumbbell Advantage Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\np{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:20px;}\nol,ul{margin:0 0 20px 0;}\n.drksig{color: #000080;text-align: right;}\n.headlinestle{font-size:16pt;font-weight:bold;color:#ec008c;text-align: center;}\n.blue{color:#0270db}\n.orange{color:#fe661e}\n.green{color:#005e20;}\np.style10{font-weight:bold;color:#fe661e;margin-bottom:20px;}\np.style11{font-weight:bold;color:#0270db; margin-bottom:5px;}\nli.style12 { list-style:circle;padding-left:0;margin-left:15px; }\np.style13{font-style:italic;color:#647c94;margin-left:20px;}\n<\/style>\n<p class=\"headlinestle\">The Dumbbell Advantage Story<\/p>\n<p class=\"drksig\">by Dr. Kareem F. Samhouri, CSCS, HFS<br \/>\n<em>Neuro Metabolic Fat Loss &amp; Fitness Expert<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I remember the first time I ever worked out with dumbbells&#8230; I really had no idea what I was doing&#8230; <\/p>\n<p>There I am standing in the middle of a gym by the dumbbell rack, trying to choose the right weight and having no idea what I&rsquo;m really supposed to do. I swear that everyone in the gym is looking at me, staring, and trying to figure out how strong I am before I pick up what&rsquo;s sure to be a tic-tac next to what they lift on a regular basis.<\/p>\n<p>There&rsquo;s grunting going on in all directions, Metallica is playing on the radio overhead, and I keep hearing weights slam in all directions as I nervously pick up some dumbbells to do some biceps curls.<\/p>\n<p>I finally grab the weight, lift 35 pound dumbbells off the rack, and I start to curl as fast as I can, secretly hoping that everyone&rsquo;s impressed by how fast and heavy I&rsquo;m able to lift. I knew I was one of the fatter people in the gym, so, inside, I wanted everyone to assume I must be fat and strong. I mean, if I can throw the weight around like this, it must mean that I&rsquo;m actually able to lift double the weight if I just slowed down, right?<\/p>\n<p>Wrong. There I am curling away when all of the sudden I take a glimpse into the mirror and realize that there&rsquo;s someone else who&rsquo;s clearly more jacked than me lifting 25 pound dumbbells behind me&#8230; and he&rsquo;s going slow and steady, but he&rsquo;s barely making the reps.<\/p>\n<p>At first, I start lifting faster to show him how weak he is, but then, all of the sudden it dawns on me that I&rsquo;m doing it all wrong. No sooner do I realize this than I feel this sharp, sudden grab in my back and the dumbbells go crashing down to the floor&#8230; <\/p>\n<p>At this point, I&rsquo;m nervous, seeing stars, and collapsed at the ground. What is everyone thinking now? How will I ever be able to stand back up and try to work out again? Is this just useless anyway?<\/p>\n<p>I start wondering whether or not I&rsquo;m even cut out for lifting weights, whether any girls may have seen me, or whether I&rsquo;ve actually injured myself in the process. This guy&rsquo;s face is burned in my memory as I&rsquo;m crouched on the ground, holding back the tears, and wishing that the stupid dumbbells didn&rsquo;t make so much noise as they went crashing down.<\/p>\n<p>I get it&#8230; I&rsquo;m done lifting with weights&#8230; there&rsquo;s no point, anyway. I&rsquo;d rather just do cardio.<\/p>\n<p>Then, out of nowhere, I feel something on my back, hitting me at about 75 beats\/minute. I look up and glance back, only to realize that it&rsquo;s the girl I have the biggest crush on in my school.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Are you ok?&#8230; hey, Kareem, are you ok?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Not only did she see me, but she was actually helping pick up the weights and place them back on the dumbbell rack. I&rsquo;m such an idiot! &#8230; and a weakling!<\/p>\n<p>The funny thing is, I&rsquo;m more concerned with how I look than how I feel. I rise up to my feet and totally lose my balance. I had hurt my back and didn&rsquo;t even know it. It was throbbing, my head was rushing, and my face was beat red with embarrassment.<\/p>\n<p><em>I knew I&rsquo;d never be the same&#8230; I was morally wounded.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Fast forward 15 years, and here I am today teaching you how to work out and lift weights with the best form in the world. I&rsquo;m showing you how to progress an exercise from bodyweight to dumbbells, safely, and make yourself look great in the process.<\/p>\n<p>Little did I know at the time that dumbbells would actually be the key to eliminating all of my joint pain, balancing out my muscles, and building a physique that helped me meet my wife. If I had only known that at the time, I probably would&rsquo;ve just taken the time to learn how to do things right, instead of crawling into my turtle shell and refusing to use dumbbells for another year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em><strong>Have you ever experienced something embarrassing in the gym or seen someone else do something as stupid as me? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>C&rsquo;mon&#8230; share with us so we can all laugh at ourselves and see how far we&rsquo;ve come.<\/p>\n<p>have a great day,<\/p>\n<p>Kareem<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dumbbell Advantage Story by Dr. Kareem F. Samhouri, CSCS, HFS Neuro Metabolic Fat Loss &amp; Fitness Expert I remember the first time I ever worked out with dumbbells&#8230; I really had no idea what I was doing&#8230; There I am standing in the middle of a gym by the &#8230;.<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/absstrengthguide.com\/blog\/the-dumbbell-advantage-story\/\"  style=\"display:inline-block;font-size:9pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;color:#6c5a4d;padding-left:10px;\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/absstrengthguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/absstrengthguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/absstrengthguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/absstrengthguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/absstrengthguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/absstrengthguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256,"href":"https:\/\/absstrengthguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/absstrengthguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/absstrengthguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/absstrengthguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}