Your back will absorb a lot of the stresses of moving the bells forward and backward. Other solutions, I find, are of more limited use. Some people will recommend always ringing the bass bells with two hands. This is fine, if you always have enough time to set the bell down and get the next bell with both hands, but most of the time you just don't have that luxury. Arrangement of the bells on the table is a matter of creativity in space-assignment.
Staggering bells is the first place to start.
Instead of putting all the bells in a straight line, set the accidentals up to the far side of the table, so the bells look something like a piano keyboard. In this option the bells you use the most are closest to you. And the handles of the accidentals take up less space between the castings of the diatonics, so horizontal space is freed up. Consider also making your lines curved. Bells are essentially wedge-shaped, wide at the outside and narrow at the inside.