If some guy ever points a gun at my head and says make me laugh or I shoot you dead, I know exactly what I’ll do.

I will not say a word. I will grab a piece of paper and pen and write down one sentence, and one sentence only.

Then I’ll pray that the guy with the gun not only has a good sense of humor, but also a good knowledge of commas. For the sentence really is funny if you don’t insert two of them at the proper spots.

“Your momma takes great joy in cooking her family and her dog.”

Is this scenario as unlikely as it gets when it comes to designing strategies to help you extend your life? You bet. I created this one tongue in cheek, however, because it’s good to be lighthearted (and avoid getting shot at point-blank range) when offering advice to others about any situation that could compromise their health.

Like what I say every year at about this time to a friend of mine who stops going to the gym and goes outside for all of her exercise.

“Don’t be a dumbbell. Lift them.”

Then I make my case for why she should lift dumbbells — at least once or twice a week, albeit briefly — before or after she goes outdoors to exercise. Here’s why you should, too.

Unless your preferred form of exercise is rock climbing, boat rowing, or kayak paddling (and it probably isn’t), doing all exercise outdoors means you’re forsaking the muscle-building element inherent in any well-constructed indoor routine. And one of your health and fitness goals should always be (unless you’re looking to run faster for long distances, or planning to compete in ultra-endurance sports) to maintain your current amount of muscle.

So keep that in mind, keep a couple pairs of dumbbells in your bedroom, basement, or garage, and keep lifting weights — albeit briefly — even when the weather’s nice.

How brief can it be? If you create a sensible routine, devoting 15 minutes to lifting dumbbells twice a week will maintain the muscle you have.

But what’s sensible for you may not be sensible for me, my aforementioned friend, or any of yours, so it makes little sense to create two 15-minute workouts and list specific exercises and numbers of reps and sets for all to follow. What makes more sense is to cite some of the good that comes from lifting the piece of weightlifting equipment I don’t want my friend to become.

The greatest good, quite possibly, is the strength you maintain or gain by lifting dumbbells can be, if done correctly, more than “gym strength.” It can have real-world application, as well as reduce the incidence of real-world and exercise-induced injuries.

If you’ve spent any time in a health club, I’m sure you’ve seen gym goers who struggle to keep the bar level during the upward phase of the barbell bench press. That’s because virtually all of us to some degree have an arm-strength discrepancy.

Keep bench pressing this way and the difference in both the strength and size between the arms (and to some degree both sides of the upper body) will continue to grow.

But if you do your bench pressing with dumbbells, significantly lessen the weight, and make your number-one goal that the dumbbells and the workload stay level, there’s a good chance you’ll rectify the muscle imbalance. And even if you don’t do so totally, you’ll certainly lessen it, thereby lessening your chance of injury when you’re out of the gym and living life and lifting and moving stuff.

Another real-world reason to do your lifting with dumbbells is your posture. If yours is poor, don’t be surprised if you feel beat by the end of the day.

The muscle weakness that leads to this is usually not found in the bigger prime-moving muscles, though, but the smaller stabilizers, like the ones found in your neck and lower back.

But who goes to the gym to work the stabilizing muscles? Instead, you’re far more likely to go to the gym and use a lat pulldown machine to work the latissimus dorsi, aka the lats, the biggest muscle in the body in terms of surface area.

Do just that, and the aforementioned stabilizing muscles receive little stimulus. Perform similar back exercises to work the lats, like the row and the deadlift with a barbell, however, and the stabilizers are activated.

No, the use of “barbell” is not a typo, and yes, this is an article about the benefits of lifting dumbbells. Which is exactly why using barbells to do these two rather effective yet potentially dangerous compound movements is mentioned.

The degree of danger goes down when these same motions are done with dumbbells, something that’s just as true for the most effective compound movement for working your legs, the squat.