Dumbbell Weight for Xiaopengs

Hello, I'm currently using 15 lb dumbbells for this mobility. How does one determine if the weight is too light or too heavy? Thanks for your advice. 

This is a mobility exercise, so if you struggle to move the weight smoothly through the range of motion, or your muscles fatigue through the rep count, it's probably too heavy.

Personally, I use a 5-pound barbell plate (5'4", 150# girl) and that seems sufficient. If my shoulder is a bit wonky, I'll use the 2.5 pounder with this exercise to loosen up the stiffness.

Hey @Darwin Jose, while I'm not an expert on this in any way, I've seen this question asked before, and answered that you should aim for about 5 lbs. My understanding is that a higher weight is not required for mastery as the main point is the mobility. You just need some basic resistance to keep you honest.

At the same time, if you can do more, it will probably benefit you in the long run, and continuing to do these exercises even after moving on to the next progression (while gradually increasing weight) was sometimes recommended. Even then, if I'm not mistaken the higher weights mentioned were not beyond ~10 Kg.

I believe @Alessandro Mainente and @Everett Carroll referred to this point and can correct me, and @Benjamin Nutt suggested the interesting idea of a body weight based target (meaning, determining your target as a percentage of BW, in this case if I'm not mistaken 10%).

Dan's answer is on point. This thread is going to answer all of your Xiaopeng questions: 

4 hours ago, Jennifer Marie said:

This is a mobility exercise, so if you struggle to move the weight smoothly through the range of motion, or your muscles fatigue through the rep count, it's probably too heavy.

Personally, I use a 5-pound barbell plate (5'4", 150# girl) and that seems sufficient. If my shoulder is a bit wonky, I'll use the 2.5 pounder with this exercise to loosen up the stiffness.

Thanks Jennifer, The weight I'm using it's def too much as I struggle in the last set to make big smooth circles. I think it is also fatiguing to the point that it is hard to complete my last set. Much appreciated!

4 hours ago, Dan Schreter said:

Hey @Darwin Jose, while I'm not an expert on this in any way, I've seen this question asked before, and answered that you should aim for about 5 lbs. My understanding is that a higher weight is not required for mastery as the main point is the mobility. You just need some basic resistance to keep you honest.

At the same time, if you can do more, it will probably benefit you in the long run, and continuing to do these exercises even after moving on to the next progression (while gradually increasing weight) was sometimes recommended. Even then, if I'm not mistaken the higher weights mentioned were not beyond ~10 Kg.

I believe @Alessandro Mainente and @Everett Carroll referred to this point and can correct me, and @Benjamin Nutt suggested the interesting idea of a body weight based target (meaning, determining your target as a percentage of BW, in this case if I'm not mistaken 10%).

Thanks Dan! I will adjust.