The Best Adjustable Dumbbells

Lifting weights is not always easy, but the Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbell Set provides a lot of simplicity and can go from 5 to 50 pounds with just a twist of a handle. The weights are also a manageable length, and they get shorter—and therefore more ergonomic to handle—as you reduce the load.

Our complaints about these dumbbells are minor: The weight increments are 5 pounds (rather than the 2.5 pounds found on some others). And like most adjustable dumbbells we tested, the weights require careful alignment to rerack them. The racks sometimes stick when you pick up these weights fully loaded, but the Core Home Fitness model still offers the best, easiest-to-use experience in its price range, making it a great choice for most home gyms.

Runner-up

With a unique adjustment system, these dumbbells offer a solid experience, but they take slightly longer to lock in than our top pick.

The MX Select MX55 Rapid Change Adjustable Dumbbells come with two handles affixed with two permanent plates, starting you off at 10 pounds. Nine additional plates are stored on each side of a cradle, and weight is added to the handles through a distinct process. You press a release button on each side of the handle, which allows you to turn a separate knob on the top of the handle. Choose your desired weight, press down the knob, and lift up the dumbbell for use.

Although this is done fairly quickly, it’s not as fast as adjusting the Core Home Fitness set. But just like with the Core Home Fitness dumbbells, you have to carefully align the handles back into their cradles—the plates have a ridged design that connects like a puzzle piece into the next plate in line.

Also great

These sturdy dumbbells allow subtler load adjustments, but their length can make some exercises more difficult, and the weights don’t feel as sturdy as our top pick.

The Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells adjust smoothly from 5 to 52.5 pounds when you turn dials at either end of each weight. With 2.5-pound increments for the first 25 pounds (and 5 pounds thereafter until you get to 52.5 pounds), these Bowflex weights allow for more nuance in training progressions than our top pick. (A 5-pound increase can feel significant, particularly at lower loads, which could be challenging for novice lifters.) However, the 15.75-inch-long bars don’t get shorter as you change weights, making this set a bit harder to handle, especially for smaller-framed people. The long bars also make some exercises difficult.