Weight-lifting rod?

Could you tell me what this piece of sporting equipment is called?

?????? (??????) ? ?????????

It's a barbell.

The "rod" is called a bar and the weights that you add to the ends to change the total weight are called bells.

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Originally Posted by emsr2d2

the weights that you add to the ends to change the total weight are called bells.

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I did not know that. I would have called them just 'weights'.

I am not saying that you are wrong - I have no knowledge at all of the correct terminology for instruments of torture. I imagine that most couch potatoes share my ignorance.

:up: 'Barbell' sounds to me like the unadjustable thing the Victorian strong-men in leotards used to sport. I'd just have said 'weights', or - to make it more specific to freestanding weights rather than a machine for 'pumping iron' - 'lifting weights'.

b
PS I once heard Alistair Cooke suggest that 'couch potato' was based on a pun on 'tuber'. I haven't checked this anywhere, but it's an interesting idea.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by emsr2d2

It's a barbell.

The "rod" is called a bar and the weights that you add to the ends to change the total weight are called bells.

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This works for me, though I have never used one. ;-)

In my younger, more athletic days, I was a keen gymnast. Part of our training involved lifting weights, both dumbbells and barbells. I think it's tue that gyms call them "free weights" but those are usually the smaller ones which involve holding one in each hand and carrying out a variety of lifts and holds.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by emsr2d2

In my younger, more athletic days, I was a keen gymnast. Part of our training involved lifting weights, both dumbbells and barbells. I think it's tue that gyms call them "free weights" but those are usually the smaller ones which involve holding one in each hand and carrying out a variety of lifts and holds.

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Thank you, emsr2d2, I've just found it in the dictionary!
Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary

You could've saved yourself the trouble of asking here by simply clicking on the English definition (in the left sidebar labeled Languages) of the Wikipedia entry you provided in your first post. I do that sometimes with Czech Wikipedia entries and it usually works out just fine. Here:

Barbell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Originally Posted by CarloSsS

You could've saved yourself the trouble of asking here by simply clicking on the English definition (in the left sidebar labeled Languages) of the Wikipedia entry you provided in your first post.

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A very helpful tip. I don't make the mistake of assuming that everything I read in Wikipedia is automatically true (unless I happen to have written it ;-)) but I find it a very useful tool.

I have to confess that I hadn't spotted that sidebar. :oops:

All this talk about weightlifting has worn me out. I'm off to bed....