Every person that has ever seen the inside of a weight room, fitness center, or garage gym knows what an EZ curl bar is. They have been used since the 1940s as a way to alleviate wrist and elbow pain, yet still allowing for the kind of muscular arm development that makes Hercules envious. But did you know that it was invented right here in Williamsport?

In 1948 an engineer by the name of Lewis George Dymeck applied for a patent for the Dymeck Curling Bar. A Williamsport resident and engineer by trade, Lewis was an avid weight trainer but didn’t like the way straight bar curls bothered his wrists when training his biceps. So, like any good engineer, he began tinkering. His idea would later revolutionize the fitness industry and would become one of the most recognizable pieces of fitness equipment in the world.

The idea was to take a short, one-inch bar and place several bends in it to ease joint strain while exercising. A simple, but ingenious, idea.
In the early days of his invention, Dymek would manufacture the bar himself and package it in his kitchen, selling his bar through Iron Man Magazine. The ad read:

“This new curling bar will give you the biggest arms you have ever dreamed of – quicker than any other system in the world!

The scientific construction of this new curling bar provides such a natural manner of gripping that it entirely eliminates all curling difficulties…This new bar makes curling so effective that you can use 20 to 30 pounds more than with a straight bar…Because the exercise value with this bar is so greatly improved it will unquestionably result in faster development and will add more bulk to the upper arm.”

Dymek later moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico to work with Andy Jackson, of the Jackson Barbell Company. Eventually, in 1964, Dymek sold his patent rights to famed barbell icon, Bob Hoffman, of York Barbell and from then on it was known as the EZ curl bar.

See the original patent application below found online by Conor Heffernan, Assistant Professor of Physical Culture and Sport Studies at the University of Texas at Austin:

“As therefore proposed, the straight bar bell device is one that is used for the standard exercises to effect the development of the arms and biceps. In these exercises, the instructions are always the same and recite that the exercise must be done with strength of arms alone, while keeping the elbows close to the user’s sides, without swinging the body.

“However, very few persons can do such exercises correctly, since it is not natural or comfortable to do such exercise with a straight bar bell.

“It has been found that by providing the bar of the bar bell with a pair of tortuous portions in proper spaced relation intermediate its ends so as to form hand grips, a bar bell is produced which overcomes the disadvantages of the conventional straight bar bell.

“Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a bar bell for exercising purposes which will permit the exercises to be done correctly without body movement or strain.

“Another object of the invention is to provide a bar bell which is simple in construction, rugged in design and highly efficient in action.”