D is for Dumbbell

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

08 Jul 2007 07:13 AM

Dumbbells - the standard name for free weights. There are a lot of jokes that used to be made about dumbbells, but we're going to avoid those today. Typically, a dumbbell is a weight that features a short bar with a weighted disk at either end. Dumbbells can be adjusted by adding or removing weighted disks to increase or decrease the resistance that particular dumbbell offers.

Dumbbells typically come in pairs because in an ideal world, you only need one hand to hold each dumbbell. The word itself comes to us via Tudor England. The bell clapper was a device that was used to ring church bells. The young men who served as bell ringers were often powerfully built because of the workout they got by ringing the bells.

Upper class young men would install a device in their home that would allow them to pull on a weighted rope, similar to the bell clapper in order to build up their own strength. The ones installed in personal homes were often not attached to a bell - so they became known as 'dumb' bells because they were quiet.

The name has stuck.

Modern day dumbbells do not use a pulley system (though some weight training equipment in gyms use similar theories of pulleys to create resistance against weights). Not all modern dumbbells have adjustable weights, in fact, some of the cheaper versions (and I have these in my own home gym) consist of a solid metal weight, encapsulated in a foam covering and maintain one weight that you can use. (I.E. the 2 pound, 5 pound or 8 pound weight).

These types of dumbbells are great because the padding helps prevent raw calluses from forming on your hands. They are very popular in home gyms - but fair warning, mouthy dogs like to chew on the end of the foam insulation because they think they are bones. Or maybe that's just my dog.

Do you use dumbbells?

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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