For Whom the ’Bells Toll

CrossFit Founder Greg Glassman: “Nobody’s doin’ enough with dumbbells.”

It makes workouts both easier and harder, movements better and worse, and Fran times go down and up.

It is the dumbbell—the paradox of workout implements.

“(It’s) a different effect. There’s no wiggle room. You can’t be off balance. You gotta keep your head steady. You have to have pretty good form to do stuff with a dumbbell,” explained Jason David, owner of St. Clair Shores CrossFit, roughly 15 miles northeast of Detroit, Michigan.

Dumbbells are vastly underused in most CrossFit affiliates the world over, as recently noted by CrossFit Inc. Founder and CEO Greg Glassman.

“Nobody’s doin’ enough with dumbbells. They’re amazing, amazing tools,” he said in January.

They’re also “hyper friendly” for every CrossFit movement there is, Glassman noted, and yet have the power to make some exercises all the more horrible.