Bowflex SelectTech 552 Adjustable Dumbbells
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*Updated on 12/11/2020*
Between all the beachbody programs & now #75hard…
bottom line - i lift weights a lot!
My apartment floor in Michigan was littered with weights because I needed weights that went anywhere from 5-50lbs for the range of exercises that I was doing. I had my great barbell and plates from Beachbody that I bought on-sale when I was going to start Les Mills Pump. But I also had my array of dumbbells from target and my absolutely shitty adjustable dumbbells that I got cheap at Walmart.
It was time for an investment. And this was it.
Bowflex selectTech had been on my radar for a long time...
In fact I'd had them saved on my Amazon Wish List probably since I started an Amazon Wish List.
So when I got my Amazon Prime Card and the $70 gift card that came with it, I went to check out these Bowflex adjustable weights. Just to see. Maybe I could afford them this time?
And they were about $70 off of what they usually cost.
"Holy shit!" I thought. "With my gift card...that's almost half price!" I did the math, and caught myself just staring at the result.
What would typically cost me almost $300 was almost half price with a huge markdown and my $70 Amazon gift card. I was looking at being able to get these babies for about $170 after the additional shipping costs.
So I went for it, and I haven't looked back since.
6 months later, and I am still obsessed with my dumbbells...
I use them almost every single day!
They're such an efficient and convenient piece of equipment. I can't even begin to describe it. So instead I'll leave you with a quick list of pros and cons!
What I Love...
Easy to dial between weights. Before I used to have take off my little weight collars, remove plates, add the right weight on, and then put the weight collars back on. Needless to say it was a process JUST to switch weight between exercises. That kind of defeats the purpose of getting a quick workout in and keeping your heart rate up when you're spending just as much time changing weight as you are exercising! These weights fix ALL of that!
Huge weight range! When I first got these, I kind of wondered if these would go low enough for some of the high rep, low weight shoulder work and high enough for when I'm deadlifting. No question. They definitely do.
Small footprint. What I love about these are how compact they are. With my old weights, I had 5 sets of dumbbells, a big set if adjustable dumbbells with plates and then a squat bar with even more weights. Needless to say, it took up a lot of room. These fit into a much smaller space.
You can set the weight unevenly on either side. As mentioned in the disadvantages section, these weights are long. For certain exercises, like bicep curls, the weight periodically will hit my arm. But if I'm trying to curl 15lb, I can circumvent this issue by setting one side lighter than the other so that the weights don't bump my arm. Though I don't have to do this often, just having the option is GREAT!
The grip. I love the rubberized grip! Though I still wear gloves most of the time, the grip on the dumbbells is really awesome!
They're easy to transport. Okay, yes they're 50lb a piece so they're heavy AF to lift. But, how much easier is it to move two pieces of equipment instead of having to carry 15+ individual dumbbell pairs, plates, squat bars, etc.? Just sayin'.
What I do not Love...
Honestly, there is very little about these that I don't like. However, I will be honest about a couple things:
They're Expensive AF. I won't even sugar coat that. I only got them because of the aforementioned reasons. But ya, they're expensive. But honestly, if you consider that it costs about $20 for a pair of dumbbells, is it really that much more expensive?
They do occasionally get stuck. If you don't line up the dial with the little indicator line, the dumbbells won't come out. That's a safety precaution, but you do periodically have to wiggle the dial into place so that you can lift out the dumbbell.
The weights are long individually - much longer than regular dumbbells. Because of their design, the 5lb dumbbell is the same length as the 50lb dumbbell. That occasionally is irritating and problematic, but it really hasn't been that big of an issue for me.
