History Manga / HowHeavyAreTheDumbbellsYouLift

** Like her sister, Akemi has a thing for heavily muscled men.

* ItRunsInTheFamily: [[spoiler:Hibiki and Ibuki are both noted by the rest of the characters to be complete idiots, though it takes slightly [[TheDitz different forms]] in [[{{Chuunibyou}} both of them]]]].

* TheBusCameBack: The Miss Meat Island contest introduced another Russian NamedAfterSomebodyFamous person named Krystal Gerson, who wound up accidentally stealing Gina Boyd's Russian bodybuilder gimmick. She initially seemed like just a one-off gag, but when the gang decides to visit Russia she shows up again.
* ButterFace: Invoked and played with in the form of Machio, a rare male example, who has a normal-looking face and the body of a professional body-builder. Lots of girls regard him as this trope, since he lacks the expected "rugged" facial type. Hibiki sees him as an inversion; to her, Machio's face is handsome, but his overly muscular body is unappealing. Akemi sees him as a subversion; to her, his combination of muscles and a handsome face is straight-up fetish fuel.

* ContinuityCameo: There's a lot of cast turnover in ''Kengan'' to this series. Protagonists Ohma and Kazuo (particularly the latter) also pop in from time to time.
* {{Crossover}}: For one of the volume releases of both ''Manga/KenganAshura'' and ''Dumbells'', both series had an extra chapter covering an eating contest where ''Kengan'''s Ohma and our Hibiki out ate the competition and each other.

* DoItYourselfThemeTune: The opening theme is sung by Ai Fairouz (Hibiki) and Creator/KaitoIshikawa (Machio) while the ending theme is sung by Ishikawa.

* BarelyThereSwimwear: Ayaka wears this to the Miss Meat Islan contest, reasoning that SexSells and this will give her an advantage in the contest. The outfit in question is ''so'' barely-there that it's never actually shown, as Ayaka is covered by {{Pixellation}} when wearing it. This ultimately backfires, as Ayaka is [[RealityEnsues disqualified]] because of her swimsuit.

* BarelyThereSwimwear: Ayaka wears this to the Miss Nikumoshima contest, reasoning that SexSells and this will give her an advantage in the contest. The outfit in question is ''so'' barely-there that it's never actually shown, as Ayaka is covered by {{Pixellation}} when wearing it. This ultimately backfires, as Ayaka is [[RealityEnsues disqualified]] because of her swimsuit.

* TheBusCameBack: The Miss Meat Island Contest introduced another Russian NamedAfterSomebodyFamous person named Krystal Gerson, who wound up accidentally stealing Gina Boyd's Russian bodybuilder gimmick. She initially seemed like just a one-off gag, but when the gang decides to visit Russia she shows up again.

* TheBusCameBack: The Miss Meat Island Contest introduced another Russian NamedAfterSomebodyFamous person named Krystal Gerson, who wound up accidentally stealing Gina Boyd's Russian bodybuilder gimmick. She initially seemed like just a one-off gag, but when the gang decide to visit Russia she shows up again.

See also ''Manga/KenganAshura'', which is written by the same author but with a different illustrator, and tonally darker and action-packed than this series.

* YouAreFat: All the girls are pretty supportive of each other, but Ayaka likes to tease Hibiki about her chub and her eating habits whenever Hibiki moans about her goals not being met. It helps that they're best friends.

** Hibiki and Ayaka watch a movie starring [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Harnold Dogegenchonegger]]. The movie is an obvious parody of ''Film/{{Commando}}''. The rest of his filmography isn't much better, featuring goofy mashups such as "[[Film/LastActionHero Last Action]] Film/{{Predator}}", "[[Film/ConanTheBarbarian Conan the]] [[Film/RedHeat Red Bull]]", or "Film/{{Twins}} [[Film/KindergartenCop Cop]]".

** Hibiki and Ayaka watch a movie starring [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Harnold Dogegenchonegger]]. The movie is an obvious parody of ''Film/{{Commando}}''.

* MythologyGag: An example from the anime to the manga: Machio's lesson-of-the-day segments get a one time reference in a manga chapter that released after the anime went off the air.

* MythologyGag: An example from the anime to the manga: Michio's lesson-of-the-day segments get a one time reference in a manga chapter that released after the anime went off the air.

** Hibiki and (...) decide to cheat in a shogi match by [[Manga/HikaruNoGo having him advise Hibiki through the matches]].

* BarelyThereSwimwear: Ayaka wears this to the Miss Nikumoshima contest, reasoning that SexSells and this will give her an advantage in the contest. The outfit in question is SO barely-there that we never actually see it, as Ayaka is covered by {{Pixellation}} when wearing it. This ultimately backfires, as Ayaka is [[RealityEnsues disqualified]] because of her swimsuit.

''How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?'', also known as ''Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru?'' in Japanese, is a manga series written by Yabako Sandrovich and illustrated by [=MAAM=]. The series is seralized on the ''Ura Sunday'' website and the ''[=MangaONE=]'' app. The series currently has eight volumes.

* {{Bishonen}}: Played completely straight with [[spoiler:Hibiki's brother Ibuki, who fits the mold completely. He's so handsome that the older women in the group start fighting over marrying him [[{{Chuunibyou}} despite how damn weird he is.]]]]

* {{Chuunibyou}}: [[spoiler:Ibuki. He's so into it that he doesn't seem to be able to talk normally and wears a black robe with demon horns in public. He's also way too old to still be acting that way, which makes the girls think stupidity must be a Sakura family trait. Despite the older single women in the group being freaked out and turned off by it, he's still so absurdly hot that they end up fighting over him.]]

* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Hibiki becomes curious when sees Machio hanging out with another woman. When Ayaka's sister Nana shows up at the gym, it's revealed that she's the woman who Hibiki saw. It's also revealed that the reason why they were seen together was that they were attending their middle school reunion. [[spoiler:Later on, it's revealed that they went to high school with Ibuki as well.]]

* ExpositionAlreadyCovered: In Chapter 42, "Burn Machine", when Hibiki, Akemi, and Satomi find a burn machine in the gym and questions what it is, Jason Sgatham is about to explain it to them but Hibiki ignores him and asks Machio about it. Jason gives him a DeathGlare with a creepy smile.

* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: During the amusement park trip in Chapter 26, Satomi, after being separated from the group because of a nausea, goes off on her own in her ''{{joshikousei}}'' cosplay, musing that she'd better not run into someone she knows, lest they learn about her hobby. Unfortunately, she runs into Rumika, who's ''also'' cosplaying as a ''joshikousei'', and the two freeze in shock. They agree afterwards to pretend like nothing ever happened.

** Hibiki and Ayaka watch a movie starring [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Barnold Shortsinator]]. The movie is an obvious parody of ''Film/{{Commando}}''.

An anime adaptation aired from July 3, 2019 to September 18, 2019. The anime was produced by Creator/{{Dogakobo}} and licensed in North America by Creator/{{Funimation}}.

On July 3, 2019, an anime adaptation began airing. The anime is produced by Creator/{{Dogakobo}} and licensed in North America by Creator/{{Funimation}}.

** The manga has panels dedicated to describing the particular workout being done, and it's cited by Fitness Professionals to be pretty accurate to each one.

* ShownTheirWork: It actually is true that static stretches actually do more harm than good when done at the very beginning of a workout routine, akin to the "cold elastic" principle. For the record, static stretches are more suitable for the "cool down" period in a workout whereas the dynamic stretches Akemi recommends are what you use to "warm up". The manga even handily cites the study as a reference.