Strong forearms and grip can make or break your training. If your forearms
are weak, you won't
be able to lift as much weight and you won't be able to
hang onto bars or dumbbells as long. That means lower overall strength
and
muscle development.
Also, large, vascular forearms make you stand out in a crowd even while you've
got your shirt on! Powerful-looking
forearms simply jump out and make
people take notice.
The Forearm Bar, an innovative piece of equipment from the Monster Bar
Company,
has taken a very unique approach to forearm training: use leverage
to maximize the tension on the forearms. Is this approach
effective?
Read on...
In the words of the maker of the Forearm Bar:
"The Forearm Bar off-sets the weight at 35
degrees and sets the hands at a seven degree angle. This allows you to stand and directly flex the weight for optimal range of motion
resulting in substantially increased muscle concentration and forearm/wrist strength development. If you are currently using
the barbell method, rolling up a weighted rope, using a tension controlled device or dumbbells to develop your forearms and wrist
strength you're working with 50-60% efficiency."
So does the Forearm Bar live up to its claims?
Here are my experiences with
the bar:
1. The leverage mechanics of the bar definitely make the bar more effective
in placing tension directly on the muscles
of the forearms, even when in a
standing position. With the unique design of the bar, the weight is located
a few inches in
front of the bar itself, allowing for a direct line of pull
while in a standing position.
The benefit of this is dramatically increased
forearm muscle activation
without having to use as much weight, which means more muscle building for
the effort you put in with less
chance of injury!
2. The 7 degree angle of the handles is a more natural position for the
wrists than a simple straight bar.
One of the main problems with doing
straight-bar barbell curls too much is in the forced supination (the
position where your palms
are facing up), which places stress on the wrist
joints. Over time, this can lead to injury. The Forearm Bar, by angling
the handles, makes the wrist curl, reverse wrist curl and extensor wrist curl
movements much more natural, giving you better
results without wrist pain.
3. The high-density foam padding on the bar handles allows you to really dig in to activate
the muscles
of the forearms and wrist flexors. The position of the
weight out in front of the bar helps to put more tension on the these
targeted muscles.
You're fighting not only the weight itself but the pull of the weights trying to rotate down.
The benefit of this
tension and gripping requirement is more focused forearms and wrist
flexor muscle activation, increasing the efficiency
of your workout.
4. The construction is commercial-grade...very high quality and able to
take the toughest abuse. This
bar will last a lifetime. The weight post on
the bar sometimes did not rotate around to be directly in line with how I
was holding
the bar but I didn't find it affected the quality of the
exercise at all. It was more of a visual thing than anything that actually
affected the movements.
5. This bar allows for one of the best pre-exhaust supersets for forearms
that I've come across, allowing
a person to really push the forearms hard
for faster results in forearm strength and muscle-building.
First, you do the standing wrist
curl until you can't do anymore wrist
curls. Then you immediately switch to reverse forearm wrist curls doing regular
curls.
The forearms are worked extremely hard as they are already fatigued from the wrist curls!
While this superset works okay with a regular barbell, it really shines with the Forearm Bar
because of the unique demands placed on the forearms.
