The barbell is a familiar implement to all gym goers; it's a long metal rod, usually about six feet long, loaded with weights at each end. This simple design, however, has undergone many permutations over the last couple of centuries. While weightlifting goes back to ancient times, the modern barbell is a relatively recent invention.
Early Lifting
Ancient Egyptians and Greeks wowed each other with their prowess in hefting heavy stones. In 11th century India, stone dumbbells called "nals" were a popular way to develop strength and improve health. Gyms thrived during these early years in India, and by the 16th century, lifting weights had become a popular pastime.Compared to modern bodybuilders, our ancestors were more interested in health and strength than in exhibiting their muscles publicly.
Hippolyte Triat
Professional strongman Hippolyte Triat was born in Saint-Chaptes, France, in 1813. At the age of 22, he measured 5'10 ½" tall and weighed 200 pounds, which was unusually large at that time. In 1849, Triat opened a 9,500 square foot gym in Paris with a two-tiered balcony for spectators. Illustrations of his gym feature some of the earliest barbells on record, including an entire wall covered in barbells. In advertising materials, Triat described these weights as "Barres A Spheres De 6 Kilos," (bars with spheres of six kilos). Triat used barbells for his group exercise classes, and also featured a beribboned barbell as his gym's logo.
Early Barbell Materials
In 1870s Germany, strongmen lifted iron barbells with heavy solid globes on each end. Later barbells were made with hollow globes, so they could be filled with different materials, such as sand or lead shot, to achieve different weights. Other materials incorporated into barbells included wood, stones and possibly old cannon balls, according to bodybuilder Dr. Ken Leistner. In the 1940s, the American military made makeshift barbells by filling soup cans with concrete and attaching them to lengths of pipe. Leistner remembers making his own barbells as a child by welding scraps of metal to pipes in his father's iron shop. These barbells with fixed weights are called permanent dumbbells.
Triumph of Today's Barbell
The modern barbell used in gyms today is called plate-loading, because metal plates of varying size can be screwed into place to vary the weight. Alan Calvert, owner of the Milo Barbell Company, made a case for the advantage of the shot-loaded barbell, in that you could add weight an ounce at a time. But most exercise entrepreneurs recognized plate-loading barbells as the new standard. Today in gyms full of complicated exercise machines, the relatively simple plate-loaded barbell is an enduring mainstay.
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