Dumbbells are a popular and effective tool for strength training and exercise. Versatile, easy to use, and available in a variety of weights and sizes, it’s suitable for people of all ages and fitness levels.
You can use the set of dumbbells for a full-body workout, or like me, you can use them as an accessory to your main barbell lift. I love the Arnold Shoulder Press and Bicep Curl with dumbbells.
But while doing some of those curls the other day, I wondered, “Why are dumbbells called dumbbells?”
It’s a strange name when you think about it.
I decided to find out.
Ur-Dumbbell: The Haltere of Ancient Greece
Not only did the ancient Greeks give us an ethic of democracy and virtue, but they also left us a forerunner of what would become the modern dumbbell. I trained with equipment. His one of these strength training tools is Hortale.
Hortale
Hortale Shapes varied throughout antiquity, but most commonly took the form of a perforated semicircle. The user puts a finger into the hole to grab this handheld exercise device.Harteles Usually made of stone and metal, they were made of wood and wax.Athletes add lead to these wood and wax halters to increase their weight.
Harteles They were used like modern dumbbells. Athletes hold weights while performing curls, lunges, and deadlifts.they also swing them Just like Indian clubs.
Ancient Greek athlete holding a halter while doing the long jump.
Harteles It was also used for long jump training.athlete holds weights With their hands, jump with them and build up the power and strength of their legs.they will also use halters jump further. When they jump, they swing the halter forward to build momentum, then swing the weight back and release just before landing.
The Romans imitated the Greeks and used the halter to train their athletes and warriors.
image from De Arte Gymnastics Aput Ancients It shows a cudgel like a modern dumbbell.
During the Renaissance, ancient Greek and Roman training methods were revived.Health books of the time conveyed Galen’s recommendations for the use of weighted equipment for exercise, and Horter returned to Western culture. of Mercurialis De Arte Gymnastics Aput Ancients. The book contains elaborate illustrations of Greeks and Romans lifting things, including clubs, along with training plans inspired by Hellenistic culture., to get stronger. However, Mercurial’s depiction of the cudgel looked different than the actual rectangular half-circle used by the Greeks and Romans. Instead, they appeared to be two cones joined at their heads, forming a stick that could be grabbed in the middle.
They looked like modern dumbbells.
dumbbells become dumbbells
thanks to mercurialis de arte gymnastics, By the 18th century, training with handheld weights had become a common and accepted form of physical exertion. But when was the Hortere called a dumbbell and why?
Jan ToddHe is a professor of exercise history.
However, what she reveals provides a clue as to how Hortere became a dumbbell.
In 1711, English poet and essayist Joseph Addison wrote in a popular magazine: audience:
When I was a few years younger than I am now, I threw myself into a much more arduous pastime…it’s called there…man’s own shadow battle. Grab it in each hand and brandish two short sticks filled with lead plugs at each end. This opens up your chest, tones your limbs, and gives you all the joy of boxing without striking.
Addison appears to have practiced shadowboxing using handheld weights similar to what we know as dumbbells. I have never.
However, in another essay in the same issue of the magazine, he uses the phrase “dumbbells” when describing another of his exercise routines.
I myself exercise for an hour every morning when I’m in town. dumbbell placed in the corner of the room, [it] I am even more satisfied because I do everything I need to do in the deepest silence. The proprietress and daughters know my exercise time well, so they won’t disturb my room while I’m on the phone.
Dumbbell exercise equipment used by the founding fathers. When Benjamin Franklin was 80 years old, a friend wrote to him asking the reason for his longevity. Old Ben replied:
When Addison said he was exercising with a “dumbbell,” he was probably referring to a device containing four arms with lead balls at the ends. The equipment was installed at a higher level than the one used. A rope attached to the device passed through the floor and extended to where the user was standing. He pulled the rope up and down, spinning the device’s weighted arm like a flywheel. This rope pulling motion was similar to ringing a large bell (like a church bell), but of course this “ringing” made no sound. Therefore, the device was called “dumbbell”, which means “do not make noise”, or “dumb”.
So why was the name “dumbbell” transferred from this 18th-century exercise device to a Hortere-esque handheld weight?
Probably because the arms of the dumbbell device resemble the dumbbells we know today.
Or maybe Addison’s magazine readers confused the two articles he wrote together and started to think the handheld weights he mentioned were also “dumbbells.”
The world may never know.
There is no clear answer as to when or why hand-held weights became known as dumbbells, but it is clear that by the end of the 18th century they were called dumbbells (the term “barbell” appeared did not do it). another century).
It’s also clear that dumbbells have a proven track record of improving health and strength, from ancient times to the present day.
Long may they continue to be lifted up.
