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14 best dumbbells for every type of home workout, tested by a fitness writer

These weights can help you build muscle and achieve your fitness goals

Contrary to their name, dumbbells are a smart investment if you want to build fitness at home. These versatile free weights allow you to train for strength, endurance and mobility by opening the door to myriad exercises, and you only need one or two to get started.

You might already have a pair gathering dust in the garage, in which case this is your sign to blow away the cobwebs and get lifting. However, given you’ve clicked on this article, you’re probably in the market for a new pair – a mission I can lend a hand with.

Dumbbells have been my primary training tool for well over a decade, and in that time I’ve had the chance to sample a wide range of them. From this, I know what options are on the market, and what makes a good one.

Deciding on the best dumbbell for you will depend on your goals, preferred type of training and budget. Below, I’ve tried and tested options to suit all comers, and attempted to provide all the information necessary to help you find a dumbbell that fits your needs.

How we tested

There’s only one way to test the best dumbbells: lift them. I used the products below for every workout they were suitable for, and even some they weren’t, to test their robustness and functionality. This meant using the adjustable and selectorised sets for at-home strength training workouts, as well as some lighter prehab exercises. Then I subjected the fixed weight sets to a bit of everything, from CrossFit WODs and HIIT classes to good old fashioned bodybuilding.

The best dumbbells for 2025 are:

Best overall – Wolverson rubber hex dumbbell pairs 2.5kg to 32.5kg: £34.99, Wolverson-fitness.co.uk

Best budget fixed weight option – JTX fitness dumbbells, 10kg: £55, Jtxfitness.com

Best budget adjustable option – Amazon basics adjustable dumbbells set 17.2kg: £60.56, Amazon.co.uk

Best selectorised option – BowFlex selecttech 552i dumbbells 2-24kg: £399, Amazon.co.uk

Best adjustable option – Mirafit cast iron adjustable dumbbells: £99.95, Mirafit.co.uk

Wolverson rubber hex dumbbell pairs

I’ve owned this dumbbell for a year, and it still looks like I bought it yesterday. The rubber coating encases the heads and handle, making it feel bombproof while also acting as a shock absorber if you happen to drop it – good news for both the dumbbell and your floor.

The compact shape never has never felt cumbersome during dynamic HIIT and CrossFit workouts, and the rubber-coated central bar is lightly textured for a grippy yet comfortable feel. I also love the hex design, which means the dumbbell can double up as a press-up platform for exercises like renegade rows and man-makers.

It’s not the cheapest option on the market, and you may need to invest in more than one set to suit a wide range of exercises. But beyond this, I struggled to find any faults.

JTX fitness dumbbells, 2kg

In my eyes, this dumbbell does pretty much everything right. The hexagonal heads provide a good stable base for performing exercises like renegade rows, it feels incredibly robust, and the knurled metal handles provide a nice balance between being grooved for grip without having so much texture they scratched at my hands. It’s quite reasonably priced compared to rivals too.

These attributes mean you can use it for pretty much anything, whether that’s an energetic HIIT workout where you’re powerfully pressing the weights overhead, a Pilates class or a spot of bodybuilding. The only downsides are the limited weight range (2kg to 20kg, which will still suit most people) and the fact that you might need to buy a second pair when your strength improves.

Amazon basics adjustable dumbbells set 17.2kg

I’m a big believer that the basics will never let you down when it comes to exercise, and this adjustable dumbbell is about as basic as they come. But it’s effective, and it’s more affordable than most, so it earns a place on this list.

In each 17.2kg set you get two bars, four 1.1kg weight plates, four 2.3kg weight plates and four spinlock collars. This means you can load them up for a pair of dumbbells just shy of 9kg each, or lob more weights on one handle to get the total up to roughly 15kg – a good fit for one-dumbbell moves like goblet squats.

These weights may not be enough to challenge experienced lifters, but those new to strength training will have everything they need to get started. The collars hold the weights securely in place, and the semi-gloss finish doesn’t look too shabby either, while also boosting the dumbbell’s resistance to rust.

Mercedes-Benz E-Class E450 Review: Is It A Sleeper?

With as much output as the Ferrari Testarossa, the E450 has a powerful engine under the hood and is a luxury fitting for a fat cat sitting at the back. But is it a driver’s car?

Highlights

0-100kmph in 4.5 seconds

375bhp and 500Nm from 3.0-litre straight-six

Costs Rs 92.50 lakh (ex-showroom)

What is a Sleeper?

In car guys’ terms, a ‘sleeper’ means a ‘car with a big powerful engine under the hood, packing in a lot of horsepower’. But that’s any performance car, right? Well, the Sleeper tag comes in if the external appearance of the said car doesn’t give you the slightest hint of just how much power is lurking underneath. But you must be wondering if the car you see in the pictures here is your regular new-generation E-Class. And we had already driven the new E-Class some five months ago when the sixth-generation E-Class landed on our shores. That one was the E200. It had a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine under the hood, which makes just over 200bhp and 320Nm. It’s rear-wheel-drive and can do 0-100kmph in just over eight seconds. You can also have the E-Class with a similar output diesel in the E220d guise. 

But what you see here is not your regular E-Class. This isn’t the E63 AMG either; don’t get too excited yet. I wouldn’t have been able to hold my giggles if it was an E63. But this one, it’s the range-topper. Costing over 17 lakh rupees more than the E200 (with a sticker price of Rs 92.5 lakh ex-showroom), this one wears a 450 badge. But does it qualify as a ‘sleeper’?

Under the long bonnet of the E450 sits a straight-six. The 3.0-litre straight-six makes 387bhp and 500Nm. That’s good enough to clock the acceleration time from 0-100kmph in just 4.5 seconds. To give you a perspective, the output is almost 170bhp more than the E200, and the acceleration time is as good as the erstwhile Nissan 370Z or the Porsche 718 Cayman. Want to know some more cars this can keep up with – the Alpine A110S, the Jaguar F-Type RWD or even some American muscle cars? And these are some serious driver’s cars. But the question is – is this E450 a driver’s car?

Well, it is fast, for the starters. The single-scroll turbocharger is ready at boost as soon as you plant your right foot on the accelerator, and the acceleration time of sub-5 seconds is apparent, and all that 500Nm is felt the moment you wring it. The squat position just before the take-off also proves just how intense the horsepower is under the hood. But there’s no hiding the fact that this is a large, heavy sedan.

It will be bought by the fat cat sitting at the back to be chauffeured from one meeting to another. They won’t care about the AWD setup, which reduces the understeer and enhances the grip when tackling a corner. They won’t even bother when say at the traffic light GP this one can smoke almost anything standing next to it. This is a fat, hefty sedan that can crunch the minions the same way the owner sitting at the back does in their respective field. 

Sadly, no, this is not the driver’s car you’d want it to be.

It doesn’t feel as eager and as light on its feet as the C-Class does. We have driven the C300, and it feels like a proper sprinter compared to this one. This one has matured a lot to assume the S-Class’s place after all. Similar to that middle-aged uncle we all know who tries to wear a hip t-shirt and sneakers to look and feel young, but he simply cannot escape the fact that with age (and dimension), comes maturity. The E-Class is now more mature. The bigger engine here is to make the commutes swifter rather than thrilling. It can easily sit at triple-digit speeds and can overtake at will. But it’s not there to give an adrenaline rush to the driver.

Apart from the engine, which is smooth, refined, vibration-free at any speed and quite responsive, too, the overall hardware largely remains unchanged. I still wish the E-Class came with a better set of tyres that were a tad grippier and a bit more silent. The steering feels light and easy at slow speeds. But I wish they were a bit more communicative. The ride isn’t too bad, either. It absorbs most irregularities without a bother. The gearbox, too, is smooth, quick-shifting and free from any lags or jerks.