Workout of the Week: Climbing the bell tower
If you are not ready to become a paid subscriber, you can support my work with a one time pledge of support at a monetary value of your choice:
This “Workout of the Week” is a traditional pyramid style routine (see: “Workout of the Week, Vol.1”); but in an attempt at being allegorical, I’ve called it “climbing the bell tower,” because we’re performing an ascending and descending number of repetitions of exercises, using a set of dumbbells and a kettlebell.
Why do various weights, such as kettlebells, dumbbells and barbells, have the suffix “bell”? The use of the bell term in fitness equipment likely comes from an eighteenth century strength training device that mimicked the weight and motion of ringing a church bell (Okrent, 2015). This artificial church bell set-up used for fitness was called a dumb-bell (not to be confused with today’s portable version).
The “dumb bell” was defined in the 1711 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, which provides somewhat of an illustrative description of how it might have looked and functioned (Hodgson, 2009). The participant would yank on a rope to pull a heavy bell towards them, thereby contracting their muscles in the process. The prefix “dumb” in this apparatus refers to the fact that these bells were inaudible due to the clappers being removed.
The name “dumb bell” was used by English poet and essayist Joseph Addison in a 1711 essay published in The Spectator, in which he notes: “For my own part, when I am in town, I exercise myself an hour every morning upon a dumb bell that is placed in a corner of my room, and [it] pleases me the more because it does everything I require of it in most profound silence. My landlady and her daughters are so well acquainted with my hours of exercise, that they never come into my room to disturb me whilst I am ringing” (quoted in McKay and McKay, 2023).
It’s a bit unclear when the word dumbbell was used to describe the portable strength training object we are familiar with. We do know that the modern version of dumbbells and kettlebells dates back to antiquity (both are close relatives to Ancient Greek halteres). Fitness blogger Jan Libourel explains that, “Eventually, the term "dumbbell" came to be used for almost any sort of hand-held exercise weight” (Libourel, 2023).
This concludes today’s history lesson, now it’s time for physical education class and the “Workout of the Week.”
This week’s workout takes its name from the physicality of the weighted bell, as well as the arduous task of church bell-ringers making the bells ring. The ringing of the bell is not the only laborious task these bell-ringers endured. Anyone who’s visited a grand old cathedral, is likely familiar with the process of walking up many flights of stairs to reach the bell tower. This can be a very taxing experience, but often well worth it due to the vista at the top.
The same can arguably be said about this workout. It’s grueling, but well worth it due to the endorphin boost you’ll get afterwards.
The pyramid scheme:
What goes up must come down, therefore, we’ll be performing this exercise in both an ascending and descending format.
It’s easy to grasp, and I’ve provided the script below, as well as a video clip of me going from three reps down to one.
As far as pacing goes, I go through rounds one to ten without stopping, then I rest for one or two minutes before starting the descent. However, since this is a very challenging workout, feel free to take rests in between rounds, every other round or whenever you feel like you need a break.
Round one: one devils press + one kettlebell swing
Round two: two devils press + two kettlebell swings
Round three: three devils press + three kettlebell swings
Round four: four devils press + four kettlebell swings
Round five: five devils press + five kettlebell swings
Round six: six devils press + six kettlebell swings
Round seven: seven devils press + seven kettlebell swings
Round eight: eight devils press + eight kettlebell swings
Round nine: nine devils press + nine kettlebell swings
Round ten: ten devils press + ten kettlebell swings
Rest.
Round eleven: ten devils press + ten kettlebell swings
Round twelve: nine devils press + nine kettlebell swings
Round thirteen: eight devils press + eight kettlebell swings
Round fourteen: seven devils press + seven kettlebell swings
Round fifteen: six devils press + six kettlebell swings
Round sixteen: five devils press + five kettlebell swings
Round seventeen: four devils press + four kettlebell swings
Round eighteen: three devils press + three kettlebell swings
Round nineteen: two devils press + two kettlebell swings
Round twenty: one devils press + one kettlebell swing
Modification and/or finisher:
If the devils press seems a bit too devilish, there’s a bodyweight alternative that you can do: one pump burpees.
You can also choose to tack on this series as a finisher, if you still have some fuel in the tank after the first pyramid progression.
You’ll follow the same format as the last series. Start with an ascending set of one burpee and one kettlebell swing, then tack on an additional rep each time until you reach ten burpees and kettlebell swings. Rest, and then do it all again, descending from ten reps of each exercise down to just one.
This concludes another “Workout of the Week” for your exercise enjoyment!
If you choose to do this routine, please let me know about your experience. And if you have any specific questions about this workout or general fitness inquiries, please reach out to me. I am always eager to hear from you!
Additionally, I am offering a personalized fitness consultancy to my paid subscribers! If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your subscription to Artfully Exercising, now’s a great time to do it!
Last but not least, I really value your feedback, so if you found this post to be intriguing, please remember to like it and consider leaving a comment below. I'd also be grateful if you shared Artfully Exercising with your friends, family and social network.
References, Notes, Suggested Reading:
Hodgson, Charles. “Dumbbell – Podictionary Word of the Day,” OUPBlog, 29 January 2009. https://blog.oup.com/2009/01/dumbbell/
Libourel, Jan. “Fitness Miscellany: A Brief History of "Old-School" Exercise Equipment, Set for Set, 27 February 2023. https://www.setforset.com/blogs/news/fitness-miscellany-a-brief-history-of-exercise-equipment-like-kettlebells-dumbbells
McKay, Brett and Kate McKay. “Why Are Dumbbells Called Dumbbells?” The Art of Manliness, 10 September 2023. https://www.artofmanliness.com/health-fitness/fitness/why-are-dumbbells-called-dumbbells/
Okrent, Arika. “Dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells: Why do we call weights 'bells'?” The Week, 8 January 2015. https://theweek.com/articles/442753/dumbbells-barbells-kettlebells-why-call-weights-bells
Since dumb actually means silent, it could also mean intelligent. Sometimes those who stay "dumb" are smarter?