The Buffed Historian

  Laverie Vallee (stage name: Charmion), pioneer strongwoman and trapeze artist I've always been attracted to strong women. I was six years old when I first saw Conan the Barbarian (the classic original starring Arnold, not the crappy remake). When I saw Sandahl Bergman fighting alongside Arnold as Valeria the Valkyrie, I was immediately enthralled. Despite being years away from finding the opposite sex interesting, seeing an athletic, genuinely strong woman was as enthralling as Arnold's massive chest and biceps. It was the same when, a year later, I gazed upon Virginia Hey in The Road Warrior ... and before you ask, yes, my parents let us watch pretty much anything growing up. A few years later, when I was eleven, Aliens became one of my favourite films. Sigourney Weaver was a bad-ass, though I was immediately drawn to Jenette Goldstein as Marine PFC Jenette Vasquez. The moment she started doing behind-the-neck pullups, I was enraptured. There are other examples, such as Li...

Pumping Iron, pounding steel, lifting heavy things and then putting them down, whatever you call it, I love weight lifting. Road cycling is my preferred form of cardio, but there is just something so satisfying about chasing "the pump". While machines and bars are fantastic, I do prefer using dumbbells for the majority of working out. During the pandemic, I built up a fairly respectable collection, ranging from 10 to 70 pounds (4.5 to 32 kg). Between those and an adjustable bench, I didn't really need anything else. The only issue was when it came to squats. Dumbbells are not practical when it comes to performing squats with any sort of weight. Thankfully, I already had a strong foundation from years of training. Plus, have you ever seen the legs on most cyclists? 'Ridiculous' is a term I've heard used more than once. But where did dumbbells come from? Moreover, why the a silly name? It sounds like a term of derision used on the childhood playground. To answer...