We interviewed experts about the benefits of using adjustable dumbbells in home workouts and involved several testers of various builds and training levels. Brad Schoenfeld, PhD, is a professor of exercise science at Lehman College and author of The M.A.X. Muscle Plan. Pete McCall is a San Diego–based certified strength and conditioning specialist and host of the All About Fitness podcast. (McCall is a consultant for Core Health & Fitness, a sister company of Core Home Fitness.) Nathaniel Jenkins, PhD, is an assistant professor and principal investigator at the University of Iowa’s Integrative Laboratory of Applied Physiology & Lifestyle Medicine.

Fitness staff writer Seth Berkman has covered sports for 18 years and utilized dumbbells in gym and home settings for over two decades. Supervising editor Ingrid Skjong is a National Academy of Sports Medicine–certified personal trainer who has programmed many strength-training plans using dumbbells. Both are longtime New York City residents and have a vested interest in space-saving, versatile exercise equipment.

Lifting weights isn’t some trending social media fitness fad or a hobby reserved for bodybuilders in muscle shirts gulping creatine. Resistance training confers a host of health benefits including protecting joints from injury. The US Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion recommends (PDF) that American adults complete a minimum of two muscle-strengthening sessions per week. Such regular training can pay huge (no pun intended) dividends. “Engaging in one hour of resistance training every week has the ability to lower your risk for metabolic syndrome or even cardiovascular morbidity,” said exercise physiology and nutrition expert Nathaniel Jenkins.

One way to reach those goals is to use free weights such as standard dumbbells or kettlebells. (Resistance bands can also do the trick.) But as you get stronger, you’ll find that you need to add more weight (or resistance) to achieve the maximum benefits. “The only reason the body adapts is because it’s challenged beyond its present capacity,” exercise scientist Brad Schoenfeld told us. “If the weights are too light, you can’t do that.”

If you’re committed to weight training at home, investing in a set of adjustable dumbbells—two handles that each allow you to load them incrementally with weights usually totaling up to 50 pounds or more—can save you money and space. A full set of traditional dumbbells can be prohibitively expensive and require the same amount of storage space as a small bookcase.

Up to 50 pounds per dumbbell may seem like a lot of weight. But even a novice exerciser is usually capable of deadlifting a load equal to their body weight for at least one rep after proper training, so 50 pounds per weight ends up making sense for most people. If you’re an experienced lifter and you would like more than 50 pounds per dumbbell, we have recommendations for you, too.

In evaluating adjustable dumbbells, we prioritized the following:

• Adequate load: We looked for per-handle loads ranging from 5 or 10 pounds to 50 pounds, which offer enough versatility for most exercisers.
• Speed and ease of adjustment: Being able to load or unload weight quickly and smoothly is important for workout timing and flow, and also for safety.
• Adjustment increments: The typical load adjustment increment is 5 pounds, but some dumbbells allow increases or decreases of 2.5 pounds.
• Ergonomics: How the weights feel in your hands and how you can move while holding them is extremely important, especially given that these dumbbells are likely to be bulkier, longer, and more unwieldy than standard cast-iron dumbbells you’d find on racks at a gym.
• Overall construction: More metal (and fewer plastic) components may make for a safer, longer-lasting set. Some sets are coated with rubber or other materials to reduce sound and prevent rusting.

You can find a variety of mechanisms for setting loads on adjustable dumbbells, and we were mechanism-agnostic when deciding which models to test. The most common types are:

Traditional: You manually slide weight plates, held in place by a threaded screw collar, on or off a bar.

Dial: The dumbbells sit in a cradle, and you turn a dial at one or both ends, engaging or disengaging the plates you need. The ones you don’t want remain in the cradle when you pick the dumbbells up.

Handle-twist: You rotate the handle to collect or disengage the weight plates from the center outward, with the unneeded plates remaining in the cradle when you pick the weights up.

We’ve tested 17 sets of adjustable dumbbells over the years. To test each set, staff writer Seth Berkman and supervising editor Ingrid Skjong worked out with them several times a week, doing a variety of exercises including curls, flies, rows, presses, raises, and deadlifts. We found that 2.5-pound increments were best for working out with lighter total per-dumbbell loads, while 5-pound increments could, depending on the exercise performed, require reducing the number of reps when increasing the per-dumbbell load.

We considered the ergonomics of using each set, particularly in maneuverability during exercises. We took into account the length of each dumbbell at given loads. Longer bars mean that for certain exercises people with smaller frames may need to modify their range of motion, their body positioning, or both. These modifications, though not necessarily harmful, can affect which muscles are engaged and, potentially, the quality of the workout.

Finally, we looked for any safety or durability concerns. We noted the ratio of plastic to metal components and how secure the weights felt in terms of any rattle or movement of the plates, which many models produce to some degree. Most plated adjustable dumbbells run the risk of unselected plates sticking during load selection and potentially falling.

We also considered long-term testing feedback from people who’ve owned sets of adjustable dumbbells, including our picks, for years.

The Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbell Set, our pick for four years running, continues to stand out from the competition with a fast and almost seamless workout experience.

They’re easy to adjust. Each dumbbell can be set to the desired weight—between 5 and 50 pounds—in seconds, even simultaneously, with a simple twist of the handles. For the other models we tested, adjustments took anywhere from four to 25 seconds per dumbbell.

They have a shorter length. Fully loaded, these dumbbells are a manageable 14.5 inches long, shorter than nearly all others we tested. When the weight is reduced, so is the dumbbell’s overall length (some models maintain the same bar length no matter how much weight you load them with). Shorter dumbbells mean that people with smaller frames don’t have to modify their range of motion or movement angles in order to avoid colliding the weights together in, say, an overhead military press (video).

They have a comfortable rubber grip. Of all the sets we’ve tried, this one most closely resembles a rack at the gym. A lot of individual dumbbells have metal knurled grips (think thousands of tiny bumps), which provide a more stable grip but can also cause calluses without the use of gloves and sometimes give off a metallic smell. The Core Home Fitness dumbbells have a composite rubber grip, which feels smooth and comfortable.

The weight plates are made of steel and are covered in a composite rubber. The cradle is aluminum and sturdy enough. Using the set three times a week, Seth (who is 5-foot-7) found these dumbbells were the easiest to use, and they contorted well for a variety of exercises that target different muscle groups, whether he was standing, sitting, or lying on a bench.

The company backs its weights with a two-year, parts-only warranty, standard for this category, and the price includes shipping.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

While the Core Home Fitness dumbbells are durable and easy to use, the fact that the cradles tend to stick to the outside of the weights as you pick them up with the more weight you lift is an annoyance. This sometimes happens with weights set to 35 pounds and always happens at the maximum of 50 pounds. Keeping a toe on the cradle or picking the dumbbells up one at a time so you can hold the cradle with your other hand solves the problem.

The weight increments are fixed at 5 pounds. For some people (or certain exercises), a 5-pound jump can be a lot. If you prefer dumbbells that you can adjust in 2.5-pound increments, consider our runner-up or also-great pick.

The Core Home Fitness dumbbells, like most other models we tested, also have to be aligned carefully for you to rerack them. As is the case for all the adjustable dumbbells we tested, you can’t drop these as you might do with regular free weights: You must put these down with a bit of care.

The MX Select MX55 Rapid Change Adjustable Dumbbells offer variety and may be particularly appealing to more-serious lifters. Each handle comes preloaded at 10 pounds. You can technically lift in 2.5 pound increments, but not in an ideal method for beginners. For example, you can set a dial on one end of the handle to 25 pounds, while the other dial is at 20 pounds. You are then technically lifting 22.5 pounds, but with one end heavier than the other, which can be a bit unwieldy. However, experienced lifters might enjoy stacking one end with 5 to 10 pounds more weight to specifically train certain muscles using uneven loads.

The plates are made of steel and coated with polyamide nylon, which an MX Select representative said lowers noise and prevents rusting. The cradle, made of powder-coated formed steel, is sturdier than any other set we tested. (The company also sells a dumbbell stand for about $170.) The contoured handle provides a good grip.

Using these dumbbells at least three times a week, Seth noticed the bar felt sturdy and the weight adjustment system was easy to handle, even though it took a few more seconds than the Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbell Set. One minor flaw he noticed was that sometimes when switching between weights on the dial, it got stuck between two numbers (for example, 15 and 20) but it’s easy to readjust, and that only adds a second or two on the process.

You want to make sure the weights stacked in the cradle don’t have any gaps—they should be touching each other to create the maximum snugness when pulling the handle in and out (think of the compactness like placing books on a bookshelf). Like all adjustable dumbbell sets, you don’t want to slam these back into the cradle. And the MX55 dumbbells take more precision than others to set down.

When you order from the company website, free shipping is included to the contiguous states.

These dumbbells come with a two-year limited warranty.

The Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells accept adjustments in increments of 2.5 pounds for the first 25 pounds, and 5 pounds after that until you reach 52.5 pounds. You select loads by turning a dial at each end of the dumbbell—we liked that it made a sound, not unlike a bicycle bell, to indicate each new weight level. Doing so takes only six or seven seconds, but that’s more than twice as much time as on our top pick from Core Home Fitness.

Regardless of how much weight you load, the bars remain nearly 16 inches long—longer than our other picks. For testers who are under 5-foot-5 and narrow-shouldered, the length of the Bowflex weights sometimes felt unwieldy and affected body positioning and ranges of motion in some exercises.

As with most adjustable dumbbell sets, the racking cradle can stick when you’re lifting a full load, and you need to have the weights aligned carefully to rerack them. Unlike other models, non-consecutive plates are left in the cradle with certain weight levels (for example, the second, third, and sixth plate), making precision in reinsertion even more important).

Like our top pick, these weights come with a two-year, parts-only warranty. The company also offers extended, parts-only policies and free shipping.

If you’d prefer dumbbells with steel plates and a minimalist style: You might like the Smrtft Nüobell 50-pound set, which has the feel of traditional dumbbells—steel plates (with plastic components), knurled metal handles—and a sleek look. Each dumbbell adjusts in 5-pound increments with a twist of the handle. But these dumbbells typically cost about $200 more than our picks from Core Home Fitness and MX Select.

We did not test the All in Motion Adjustable Dumbbells because their maximum weight (25 pounds per dumbbell) is half the capacity of the other models we tested.

We didn’t test the Bowflex SelectTech 1090 Dumbbells, which range from 10 to 90 pounds each in 5-pound increments (and typically go for about $800). At a whopping 17.5 inches long—nearly 2 inches longer than the Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells—they’d likely affect almost anyone’s range of motion.

The Centr Smart Stack 50 Adjustable Dumbbells are a good steel-plated option if the cradle of our pick is a major concern. Like the Core Home Fitness dumbbells, the Centr weights adjust with a simple twist of a handle. The numbers for weights are clearly displayed with each turn and are also listed in kilograms. Like our pick, these adjust in 5-pound increments, but have a better cradle with a magnetic base, which prevents the weights from getting stuck (you hear a click against the magnets when the weights are successfully placed back into the cradle). However, unlike our pick, the weights that remain in the base when selecting less than 50 pounds, sometimes wobble and make it a little more difficult to line up the dumbbell to return it into the base. The dumbbells are sold separately ($250 each). At 15 inches, they are a half-inch longer than our pick, but unlike the Core Home Fitness dumbbells, they are always at full-length, even at lighter weights. (The Core Home Fitness weights only use the inner plates on lower weights, before expanding to the fuller set as you go up in weight.) This can make exercises for beginners feel a bit cramped due to the length of the dumbbell. And although the Centr weight plates felt secure, we noticed some jostling when performing curls—not the case with our pick.

The Flybird Adjustable Dumbbells have a sleek, carbon steel-coated design. Like our top pick, the weights are adjusted with the twist of a handle, but we chose not to test this model because weights start at 15 pounds and only go up in 10-pound increments (25, 35, 45, 55 pounds).

We didn’t try the Hammer Strength Pro 100 Adjustable Dumbbells because they present the same ergonomic challenges of other boxy dumbbells, like PowerBlocks.

You can adjust the Merax Deluxe 55 Pounds Adjustable Dumbbells similarly to our top pick: by twisting their handles. But the set goes from 15 pounds to 55 pounds in significant 10-pound increments (our top pick progresses by 5-pound jumps), so we decided not to test it.

We chose not to test the Matrix DB50 Adjustable Dumbbells, which have a list price of $800—more than twice the typical price of our top pick. They have a similar handle twist system to adjust weights in five-pound increments, and have a knurled metal handle. The weights max out at 50 pounds, and are currently only available for in-store pickup at Johnson Fitness & Wellness locations.

The Mtn Gearsmith Adjustable Dumbbells, with their traditional collar-and-weight-plate design, are very similar to the Yes4All Adjustable Cast Iron Dumbbells we tested but typically cost more. We chose not to retest them.

The NordicTrack 55 lb. Select-A-Weight Dumbbells have a unique weight adjustment system, allowing you to change from 10 to 55 pounds, with some 2.5 pound increments. A lever on the innermost plate can be switched to three positions (left, middle, right), which adds 0, 2.5, or 5 pounds to a dumbbell. Then another lever can be pulled and dragged in between the remaining plates to select your overall weight in 10 pound increments. The dumbbells have a grippy, knurled handle and measure at just over 16 inches when fully loaded. The adjustment system takes some time getting used to, and in our testing, the lever to adjust weights occasionally became stuck such that it had to be wiggled loose to be placed in the correct alignment. The dumbbells come with a 30-day trial to iFit, where you can stream dumbbell-centric workouts via an app or browser.

PowerBlock adjustable dumbbells are a solid choice, but some people may be deterred by their boxy shape, which past testers described as like “reaching into a toaster.” We’ve tested three different sets of PowerBlock weights over the years, including, most recently, the PowerBlock Elite USA 5-50 Stage 1 Set, which goes from 5 to 50 pounds in increments of 5 pounds, with the ability to increase by 2.5 pounds with a pair of supplemental cylindrical adder weights. You can adjust this set with a two-pronged selector pin attached to an elastic cord. Loads are color coded; the corresponding weights are printed on the top of each dumbbell. The process isn’t difficult, but it can be finicky and is a touch more labor-intensive and time-consuming than a handle-twist or dial mechanism. These dumbbells are more compact than other models, and PowerBlocks are known for their durability. The Elite USA 5-50 Stage 1 Set has a five-year limited warranty—three years longer than those of Core Home Fitness and MX Select. (The company makes it clear that its warranty covers only PowerBlock sets purchased from PowerBlock or an authorized retailer.)

We tested the 60-pound version of the Rep Fitness Quickdraw Adjustable Dumbbell (which is also available in 30, 40, and 50 pound pairings). You adjust these weights by lifting levers on the plates to a locked or unlocked position, like turning on a light switch—when locked, the weight remains in the cradle. At full length, these dumbbells measure just under 16 inches. They have knurled handles that we found were best used with gloves. The numbers for weights are etched in black against a black background, which makes them hard to see (which should be less and less of an issue as you become used to the set). Although they felt secure, the Rep Fitness dumbbells’ plates clanged more than on other models we’ve tested.

Tempo Core combines traditional adjustable dumbbells with connected workouts. Sets start at about $245 and include 50 pounds of adjustable weights (a variety of stainless steel plates and collars can be purchased separately). The dumbbells can be used for any activity but are intended for use with Tempo’s interactive exercises, which can be accessed for a monthly subscription of about $39. We did not test the Tempo dumbbells.

If you don’t mind taking a longer rest between exercises, consider the $150 Yes4All Adjustable Cast Iron Dumbbells: traditional adjustable dumbbells that use a bar, weight plates, and threaded collars to hold everything together. They do, however, take forever to adjust, since you must remove the collars, load or remove plates, and rescrew the collars, all while doing weight-plate math. The fastest we managed a weight change for one dumbbell was about 25 seconds; this means you’re looking at about a minute of rest between exercises, and you have to resist the very strong temptation to just do your next move using the same amount of weight, which could mean either not enough challenge or a serious struggle. Another quirk is that these bars and the corresponding holes on the weight plates measure 1.15 inches in diameter, making them incompatible with a more-standard 1-inch bar and plates, so you can’t increase the load by using plates from another set.

Amy Roberts contributed to reporting. This article was edited by Tracy Vence and Kalee Thompson.