What makes unbound dumbbells the best
Morning 👋, I’m back at my Sunday blogging station (ft. unbound dumbbells under the table).
My 2-year-old is out playing football, and I have some delightful peace and quiet, so I wanted to take the opportunity to talk a little bit more about our dumbbells. We have spent the past year perfecting them, so I think they deserve their time in the spotlight.
The first thing to say, is that of course we are all perfectly capable of using the dumbbells that are out there. The unbound story isn’t about women needing something special, but it IS about women wanting something that’s fully designed for us. I won’t go on (another) feminist rant about all the products that are designed for “people”, where “people” = men, but there are a lot, including dumbbells. I will quickly recommend one of the most important books of recent years though, Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez.1
Back to dumbbells. The more I lifted, the more I found that my grip strength was letting me down. The thick steel handles of the dumbbells in the gym were hard to get a solid grasp of, especially as I started increasing the weight I was lifting (humble brag). I was getting quite bad calluses and sore hands, and the big bulky ends were making things like snatches or more dynamic movements a bit awkward.
As well as these functional issues, when it came to wanting to buy some dumbbells to workout at home, they were hideous. I couldn’t bring myself to be excited about anything on the market being in my house.
When we decided to design our own unbound dumbbells, we wanted to fix all of this without going crazy and ending up with some mad invention to correct some quite simple issues. So, what did we do…
To create the perfect grip, we coated the steel handle with rubber to make it easier to hold and less abrasive for your hands ✅
Women’s hands are on average 11% smaller than men’s, so we created a design with a slightly thinner handle ✅
Now, onto the ends. The hex… it’s there for a reason; to stop them rolling away and to give stability when you use them for planks, for example. Some dumbbells we tested, removed the sloped edges of the hex and even a small tweak like that made them worse to use. The sloped edges help you to rest them comfortably on your shoulders when you’re racking up. So, we kept the hex and made it as compact as possible for dynamic moves ✅
Finally, the look. We’ve worked with mega brands in beauty for years, so we know it’s important to make things look great. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, fashion meets function ✌️. We took a lot of time building our beautiful brand and creating sleek, premium dumbbells that you won’t want to hide away in a cupboard ✅
We hope you love them as much as we do. We’re keen to hear how you’re finding them to train with and if you wanted to share any pictures of them in your home we would love that. Drop us an email hello@unboundwomen.co.uk or tag us on Instagram @_unboundwomen_
Have a great week!
Anita 💪