Why you need to skip seated dumbbell exercises

Is skipping seated dumbbell movements smart? 

I rarely sit down to do seated curls, shoulder press, lateral raises or other dumbbell exercises.  I have performed these seated exercises many times in the past, but have chosen to pass on them over the past few years.  Why would I eliminate these seated exercises when they help remove any kind of momentum or cheating from the rep?  

The answer is simple; I have limited time so every rep I do has to be as effective for my body as possible.  I sit for a minimum of 40 hours a week at work, and it causes havoc on my hip flexors so I need to be standing as much as possible.  More than just the binary decision of sit versus stand, standing during these movements will put stress on your core stability muscles and give you essentially ‘free’ reps that you would have missed out on otherwise. While sitting down may be more productive for your bicep, you would be electing to not do core stabilization work that you could be doing at the very same time.  I wouldn’t go so far as to call the standing curl a compound movement, but it will certainly require more from your spine in terms of stabilization. 

 Standing during these exercises is also less disruptive to your workout because you won’t have to wait for a seated bench to open up; all you need is 2 dumbbells and a little bit of floor space. I’ll admit that I do like that seated curls can prevent terrible curl form, and force people to lift less weight so they can achieve a proper curl, but I’m going to trust that you will curl responsibly. Overall, we are all busy dads with a professional life and a family at home so our workouts have to be extremely efficient and effective; standing during these reps is just one small way we can make our time in the gym go a little further.