Regular strength training builds strong bones, muscles and connective tissue, and develops the strength and endurance you need for everything from hefting bags of groceries to participating in your favorite sport. Dumbbells are effective, space-efficient and versatile strength-training tools, but if you don't have access to dumbbells for the recommended twice-weekly lifting sessions, don't worry; you can use a variety of other equipment, or makeshift supplies, as a substitute.
Barbells
One of the big advantages of using dumbbells is that they allow each arm to move and stabilize independently. Barbells force both arms to move together, but otherwise provide all the stabilization benefits of lifting dumbbells and other free weights. Barbells also allow you to perform a few exercises you can't do with dumbbells, such as jammers, where you poke one end of the barbell into a corner and heft the other end.
Weight Plates
Normally, you slide weight plates onto dumbbells for extra resistance. But you can use the weight plates on their own to make some exercises more difficult, including squats, wood chops, hay balers and crunches. The biggest issue with lifting weight plates is that, lacking a dumbbell's handle, you must be very careful about your positioning and grip on the plate.
Kettlebells
Kettlebells are designed for swinging, ballistic movements, but the wide handle means they're also readily suited for many dumbbell-style exercises, including rows, deadlifts and leg exercises like squats and lunges. Because the kettlebell's handle is offset, the weight itself is unbalanced, and you may find it uncomfortable for exercises where the weight hangs down against your arm, such as chest presses.
Medicine Balls
Most medicine ball exercises involve dynamic, powerful motion, allowing the muscles involved to stretch and then rebound, returning the ball immediately. You also need both hands to grasp a medicine ball. But you can still adapt the medicine ball as an alternative for a few dumbbell standards, such as narrow-grip chest presses or weighted crunches.
Elastic Resistance Bands
Elastic resistance bands require more creativity than dumbbells, because you have to consider the direction of pull instead of just lifting against gravity. But if you apply yourself, you can use resistance bands to perform any dumbbell exercise, along with a few exercises you can't use dumbbells for, such as leg curls or leg extensions.
Home Gyms
If you have the money and space, a home gym offers you all the convenience of gym exercise machines in the privacy and convenience of your own home --- no more searching for the missing partner to that dumbbell. But keep in mind that home gyms don't offer the same versatility as free weights, so your choice of exercises may be relatively limited.
Body Weight
If you don't have access to dumbbells, you can still work all your major muscle groups with body-weight exercises, such as squats, lunges, pullups and pushups. As you get stronger, do more difficult variations instead of carrying dumbbells. For example, try doing pushups with one leg lifted slightly off the floor, or doing bike jumps instead of lunges.
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