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Building a
Thick Dumbbell Handle Tom Black I have been thinking a long time about getting some thick handled dumbbells made, however, I knew of few places that could custom make such a device, and I really didn't know exactly how to tell the machinists how I wanted to have the device made. Having seen Kazmaier's dumbbell at the York Strength Spectacular 2000, I was inspired to make one of my own. Last year I had made pinch grip blocks of varying sizes using 3/4-inch pine glued together. I then screwed in a 1/4-inch eye hook and used Ironmind's pin and carbine system to hold the weights. I had some substantial weight hanging off of the 3-inch block (75 pounds or so) and knew that pine was strong enough for heavy weight. I planned to build up the pine around the steel handle of my dumbbells with the method described below. I also assumed that most of the weight would be supported by the steel dumbbell handle that I would build the wood around. What follows is the procedure I used to make the dumbbell, some random thoughts on training with thick handled dumbbells and some theory on how much one can lift on a dumbbell based on previous lifts with different sized handles. I used 3/4 pine to build the handle. This is what I had around the house. I admit that if I had bought new wood to make the handle, my first choice would be ash, for this is what they use to make sledgehammers and axes from. If there is any doubt in your mind about the strength of the wood used, or if your sure you will be doing 1 handed snatches with 173 pounds with a 2.47-inch handle (the dimensions of an Inch Dumbbell replica, the original being 2.38") then you should definitely use ash. My next choice would probably be maple, but I'm not really an expert on wood so be your own guide. Buy 3/4 inch by 3 inch wood whose length is at least 4 times the width of your dumbbell handle from collar to collar.
For the gluing procedure, I recommend if you're using Olympic handles to actually glue the steel handle to the wood if it is a revolving handle. Regarding standard, non-revolving, handles it is probably best not to glue the handle to the wood, just make sure as the glue is setting that the handle still turns, because the excess glue will seep onto the steel handle. Also, if you are using just a straight steel bar without collars, you can make the handle removable, and make different sized handles to fit. I used Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Glue (Aliphatic Resin) which is probably stronger than the wood itself. Place the glue generously on both surfaces of the wood and clamp the first 2 pieces to the handle. I recommend at least 2 clamps, but three or four clamps would be even better. Make sure the clamps are wide enough to fit around the thickness of all 4 boards glued together. Let the first 2 boards set for at least 30 minutes and then place the other two boards on either side of the first 2 boards and glue them all together. Don't try to glue all 4 boards at once, because they slide around too much and it is hard to line them up.
If you used the router in the step above, I don't know
how to tell you how to avoid the manual labor of the
gouge and rasp in this step. Knock off the square
edges with the gouge or a wood chisel and begin to file
down the handle with the rasp. For your first
attempt I would stop at a 3 inch handle, you can always
make the handle smaller if you feel it is too big.
It is fairly easy to make the handle surprisingly
round. In fact, if you use an Olympic handle with
large collars you can stop with the wood flush with the
collar (See picture). Go straight across with
the rasp all the way around and it should be perfectly
round. Use rough sandpaper to finish. You
could also sand it smooth to make it even harder to lift
or finish with varnish, but I have not done this on my
handles, so I don't know what you will end up with.
To get the size right, there are two techniques.
Make a template out of thick cardboard by cutting a
square with one end cut open so it can be slipped over
the dumbbell as you rasp it down. As you get closer
to the final measurement you can also use a tape measure
to find the circumference. Take the circumference
and divide it by pi (3.14) to get the diameter of the
handle. I believe this is the best way to
accurately determine the diameter of the handle. If you
want to approximate the feel of the Thomas Inch Dumbbell,
it has a handle circumference of 7.75-inches, and the
length of the handle between the spheres is
4-inches. In the photographs the top picture is a
3-inch handle on a standard bar with 92-pounds
loaded. The middle picture shows a 2.5-inch handle
on an Olympic bar. The wood is slightly below the
level of the collar and the bar is loaded with about
125-pounds. The bottom picture shows a 2.75-inch
handle on an Olympic bar. The wood is basically
flush with the collars. Training with Thick Handled Dumbbells Once you've created your monster handle, lets get into lifting it. I write down everything that I lift for future reference and I use the following to record my thick handled dumbbell lifts: - Size of handle (I've made a 3-inch, 2.75 inch and
2.5 inch) I must say that these handles are a lot of fun. I have brought mine to the gym and have actually had small crowds around them. They are so much fun, however, that I am completely over trained on thick dumbbell lifting. I've lifted them during my grip workouts and once during the week at the gym. This was too much, and when I bring them to the gym, it is usually for others to try their hand at it. So far I've had people try the 2.75 inch handle and I've already discovered something very obvious in hindsight, that people with longer fingers and palms do better on the thick handles. One of my training partners is of average strength and had just completed a 305-pound dead lift, but could not budge 70-pounds on the 2.75 inch handle. Someone walked up who trains sort of "light" and lifted 90 fairly easily, when we compared hands, his were about 3/4 inches longer than mine. With sore forearms from my workout 4 days before I succeeded with 110-pounds on this dumbbell. One week later I made a 2.5 inch handle (the "Inch" dumbbell is 2.47 inches) and did 123-pounds on it, but I still don't think it was my best effort. To give you a feel about what you can do on this type of dumbbell before you make it, I can do about 6 reps on Ironmind's number 2 gripper and about 25 reps on the number 1 (although I haven't tried this lately). I also can bend 60-penny nails behind my back, so I know that I'm stronger than normal in the grip department, but my hands are probably average length for someone who is 5'10". The owner of my gym, who is a former national caliber power lifter and national masters champion bodybuilder, could not budge 111-pounds off the floor with the 2.75 inch handle. His hands are about the same size as mine. Without specific grip training, a man with average sized hands would be doing well with anything over 100 pounds. Keep in mind that the 173 pound dumbbell used by Thomas Inch probably has been lifted clear of the ground by only a dozen or so people, hence 120-pounds is a pretty formidable training weight with a 2.5 inch handle. Even looking at the handles is rather awesome, they really pack a punch. One thing that is interesting about bringing the dumbbells to the gym is snatching or cleaning a weight that someone just failed to budge off the floor. Someone who had just benched 300-pounds in my gym failed to lift 70 pounds off the floor and I turned around and snatched the weight. This certainly makes someone appreciate the results of heavy grip training. As far as cleaning the weight, I made the statement above that anything you can clean you can probably jerk, and maybe even press assuming you have basic balanced development. Once the weight is in your hand at the shoulder keep in mind that it is supported mostly by your thumb and general bone structure of your hand, and not with your grip. Accordingly, the difficult part of the lift is to get the dumbbell to the shoulder. Someone recently gave me a picture of the Inch dumbbell and short letter in the Sept. 2000 MuscleMag. The letter mentions that Chris James jerk-pressed the weight overhead, but used 2 hands to clean the weight. Now I'm not going to trifle with anyone who can clean and jerk a 173 pound dumbbell, but I'm sure Thomas Inch would say that the dumbbell was not lifted in the proper manner. Also, in the recent York Strength Spectacular 2000, I watched a young boy (maybe 12 years old and skinny) clear Kazmaier's 176-pound dumbbell off the ground with 2 hands. While I am impressed by the Chris James lift, it simply doesn't compare with Thomas Inch's lifting of the dumbbell or of Bill Kazmaier's clean and press of an Inch dumbbell replica with one hand over his head in 1991. Besides the lifts noted above, here are some more that
you will want to try. I lift the dumbbell mostly
with the palm toward the body, but you can also lift it
as though you are going to curl the weight. With
lighter weights you can do curls, with heavier weights
you can do a partial curl with your elbow against your
thigh (like a concentration curl). You can do
hammer curls with the dumbbell, or perform a dumbbell
swing. This can be particularly brutal, even with
as little as 60 pounds. The swinging motion will
make the dumbbell feel heavier due to centrifugal
force. Make sure there is nothing breakable in
front of you (including people) when you do the dumbbell
swings. Handle size to weight lifted After making 3 different handles and training on the Ironmind's Rolling
Thunder, it occurred to me that there must be some way to
predict someone's ability on a thick handled dumbbell
compared to another size. I graphed my best attempt
on the Rolling Thunder 2 and 3/8" handle with my
best attempt on the 3-inch handle, putting weight on the
vertical axis and handle diameter on the horizontal axis
with 1/8 inch between data points. I then was able
to predict what I could lift with a 2.75 inch handle
within 5 pounds. I'm still experimenting with this
so-- I'll probably write another article, but my goal is
to be able to tell people how much they could expect to
lift based on the Ironmind's Rolling Thunder as a
baseline. One theory I have is that the
relationship is linear, but depending on peoples hand
sizes the slope of the line would be different. My
preliminary findings are that for every 1/8 inch you
knock off on the diameter you can lift 15 pounds
more. Conclusion One final thought. One thing I didn't expect is
my deep feeling of connection to strongmen of the the
past when lifting the dumbbell. I kept thinking
about the Inch dumbbell, which is now over 100 years old,
and how my dumbbell handle basically was the same thing.
This reminds me when I bought a rare 100 year old banjo a
couple of years ago. After I fixed the banjo and
added strings, I began to play. I noticed that when
playing bar chords up the neck of the banjo, I seemed to
be hitting the correct frets better than ever. I
was dismayed when I looked at the neck of the banjo and
noticed wear marks on the back of the neck precisely
where your thumb should go if you are playing
properly. It was as if an invisible hand were
guided my playing, and I had an eerie feeling come over
me at the time. Strongly, I think I have the same
feeling here. I felt the same way when I touched
the handle of the Cry dumbbell in the York Barbell Museum.
I predict that everyone who makes one of these dumbbell
handles will feel this connection to the strongmen of the
past. Copyright July 2000, Tom Black
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The first step is to measure the
length of your dumbbell handle between the collars.
You'll want to get the measurement accurate so that the
handle fits tightly. If you use Olympic handles the
inside will spin so the collar will wear the wood
slightly over time, making it tight will ensure long
life. Next, cut four piece of wood the same length.
Draw a line down the exact center of two of the boards
and then carefully measure the thickness of your current
dumbbell handle and divide by 2. Place two lines
down of both sides of the center line. When done place
the handle over the board and check to see that they are
the same width apart as the diameter of the handle.
Next, gouge out a half round cut between the two lines
(see Figure 1). If you have a router you can use
that, however, I personally like using hand tools.
If you choose to gouge out the hole, do both pieces and
leave a little wood at the bottom. Then use a half
round rasp to finish off the hole and make it smooth,
constantly checking to see how closely the wood fits the
handle. You'll want to make it a tight fit, but
make sure the pieces touch each other snugly when wrapped
around the steel handle. 
I recommend letting the whole
block implement dry overnight, but if you are anxious to
get lifting probably 4 hours should be enough dry
time. The interesting thing here is that you should
have a square block around the steel handle of the
dumbbell. You could stop here and have a pretty
good pinch grip block, but since I have some of those
made up already, I decided to round off the square block
of wood.