Dumbbells are among the most flexible pieces of exercise equipment that you can have in your gym. They allow you to have a lot of variety in your exercise routines. A lot of people use them in combination with other exercises. For instance, some people carry a pair of two to five pound dumbbells in their hands while jogging, walking, or doing calisthenics.

You can also make use of them in conjunction with lunging exercises to help in building up your thigh and calf muscles. And, of course, they are unmatched when you want to target your forearms, upper arms, and biceps for a bit of toning. For a lot of people, especially when you are able to combine dumbbells with a bench, they are the only piece of fitness equipment that they need. But what are the most common features that you should be aware of?

Safety and ease of use are the two features that often end up at the top of most people wish list for exercise equipment.

Some of the older style dumbbells were made cheaply. As a result, the safety latch was not always secure in being able to hold the weights on the bar. So at inconvenient times, the latch would sometimes slip off the bar. The weight would then slip off as well, often causing an injury of some sort. This is why you always want latches or clasps that cling securely to the bar once they are locked.

But, if you are like most consumers, you also want weights that are easy to change. If they are not, you probably won't change them. And this will, in effect, limit your workout's effectiveness.

One of the more popular features that have come to the forefront in the last decade or so is the use of color coded dumbbells. These make it so much easier to pick out balancing weights when changing the weights on the dumbbell bar. Especially for those whose eyesight is not that good without glasses ro those who have trouble reading the engraved pound inscriptions on the weight. This is also a recognition of the fact that more women are using dumbbells today than ever before and that they often want more color in their exercise equipment than men do.

Producers of exercise equipment today also make weights in a great deal more sizes, specifically in smaller sizes. They have recognized the reality that women often use dumbbells not as their main piece of exercise equipment, but in conjunction with other types of exercise equipment.

There is another feature that a lot of women are fond of as well. And that is the cushioned hand grips that some manufacturers add to the hand held portion of the dumbbell. These limit the chafing of the palms and fingers to a minimum and helps to provide you with a more comfortable workout. The best ones are ergonomically designed for even easier use.

In the marketplace, you will find that dumbbell weights mainly come in two common shapes. Most of us are primarily familiar with the circular or round shapes. But you can find square and hex shaped ones as well. When it comes to selecting a style, mostly it will come down to a matter of personal preference. The square or block shaped dumbbells have an advantage in that they are easier to store because they usually stackable. When not being used they may take up more vertical space than the rounder dumbbells, but they don't take up nearly as much floor space. For the majority of people, however, this is not a big enough issue on which to base a buying decision.