The Best Free Weights to Buy for Your Workout

The Best Free Weights to Buy for Your Workout

We all dream of a fully-equipped home gym, complete with several types of cardio machines and more bells – barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells – than a campanologist convention, but for most of us, a lack of space makes such an enterprise an impossible fantasy.

So it’s best to get real and prioritize, and at the top of your list should be dumbbells – the obvious choice of free weight set fitness equipment for home workouts.

They’re small, they’re relatively inexpensive, and unless you opt for a fixed set you can adjust the weight on them so they’re appropriate for all kinds of exercises.

Related: The Best Dumbbells To Use At Home, According To A Trainer

What Free Weights Should I Buy?

There are many free-weight pieces of equipment for sale on the market today. But the best ones include:

1. Bowflex 552i Selectorized

It’s a serious investment, sure, but with a weight range of 2 kg to 24 kg, it’s one that will set you up for a lifetime of workouts at home. There are 15 weight options, chosen by twisting the handle when the dumbbell is at its base, which locks in different combinations of plates.

2. Power block Pro 32 Adjustable Dumbbells

Dumbbells-FirnessExpo Stores

They cost a pretty penny, but this pair of adjustable, selectorized dumbbells offer eight levels of weight from 1.8-14.5 kg – ideal if you plan on following a full-body dumbbell workout plan, where you’ll want to perform shoulder exercises with a lighter weight than you would use to perform curls. A heavier pair is also available with a weight range of 4.5kg-22.7kg.

3. JaxJox Dumbbell Connect

These selector dumbbells have an extra trick up their sleeve to lure you away from the more established brands above. As well as the eight weight options between 3.6kg and 22.6kg, which are easily selected using the buttons on the stands, these dumbbells link up with the JaxJox app to track your workouts and take guided video classes.

Be advised that we found the app to be a bit buggy, to put it mildly, and we had trouble even getting it to connect to the dumbbells we were testing.

Fortunately, the weights work just fine without any app involvement. While they do get a little large and cumbersome when using all the plates, that’s just the trade-off for the flexibility of an adjustable set, and they certainly save on space compared with picking up a similar range of weights with individual dumbbells.

4. BLK BOX Adjustable Dumbbell

The range on this adjustable dumbbell is the most extensive we’ve found anywhere, going up in 2 kg increments from 2kg to a massive 32kg. That makes it a highly versatile bit of kit and not the sort of purchase you’re likely to out-train – and it’s certainly better value than buying separate dumbbells to cover that weight range.

The robust steel plates are fairly slim so the whole kit, while undoubtedly large, packs away neatly and can be tucked into a corner.

5. Eleiko XF

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Hexagonal dumbbells are our favorite type of dumbbells since the rubber ends are floor-friendly and provide a stable base for renegade rows and the like (plus they don’t roll away when you put them down).

For casual home training, we’d normally recommend a more affordable retailer (like JTX, York, JLL, or DTX) than Eleiko, which makes barbells for serious powerlifting and Olympic lifting – but stock in the 10kg-20kg sweet spot has been hollowed out. Eleiko has fared better than most and, even better, it hasn’t got involved in the sort of price gouging you’ll find on Amazon, so you’ll find this brand now outclasses similarly priced models.

6. DKN Rubber Hex Dumbbells

These robust rubber weights are of decent value and most of the extensive weight range (up to 30 kg!) is in stock. That said, given the size of the 12.5 kg and 15 kg weights we tested, a 30 kg dumbbell might end up a little unwieldy due to its girth. You can buy a single weight or a pair, and the prices are reasonable.

7. York Neoprene Dumbbells

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Neoprene fixed-weight dumbbells are typically on the lighter end of the scale, making them ideal to use for Pilates, rehab, or just keeping your muscles and joints in working order with some light resistance work.

York has weights available from 1.5 kg up to 7 kg, although the price is for a solitary dumbbell. Before committing, you’d do well to check if Amazon’s own brand UMI has any pairs of neoprene dumbbells back in stock.

Related: Getting The Best Free Weights

What Free Weights Are Good For Home Workouts?

Dumbbells can be the favorite equipment for home workouts because they are small, inexpensive, and suitable for a wide variety of exercises. They come in a variety of shapes, weights, and materials that you can choose for your needs.

Try out these dumbbells recommended by Medical New Today:

  • Bowflex SelectTech 1090i Dumbbells
  • Skonyon Adjustable Dumbbells
  • Weider Rubber Hex Dumbbell Weight Set
  • Rogue Dumbbells
  • Amazon Basic Neoprene Dumbbell Hand Weights

Free Weight Equipment For Sale

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Home gym equipment has been on the rise since the pandemic hit. Using free weights at home is a creative way to resume your daily routine inside your home. When you are shopping for free weight equipment for sale, consider important factors like functionality (fixed or adjustable?), dumbbell material, dumbbell shape, and price.


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Fitness Expo caters to all your exercise needs from treadmills to fitness accessories. First opened in 1980 by the Rice family, the store continues to offer the top brands and largest selection of exercise equipment for the home or commercial facility making it one of the oldest and most reputable fitness retailers in the country.

We have showrooms across Louisiana and Mississippi, but you can also shop on our website from the comfort of your own home. Contact us today!