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 and the bicep curl movement much more
natural, giving you better results without wrist pain.
3.
When doing bicep curls with the Forearm Bar, you are forced to grip VERY
strongly onto the bar to keep the bar from rotating in your
hand. The
high-density foam padding on the bar handles allows you to really dig in and
activate not only the biceps but the
forearms as well. The position of the
weight out in front of the bar helps to put more tension on the biceps than
a standard
curl. 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 bicep
activation, increasing the efficiency of your workout. It also put a very
different
type of tension on the biceps - if your bicep training is stale,
this bar will give it a good kick to get past a plateau.
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 begin doing regular curls. The forearms are
employed with gripping in the curl
movement and are worked extremely hard as
they are already fatigued from the wrist curls! The same technique can be
used with
reverse 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 during a bicep curl movement.
6. The Forearm Bar, by working with leverage, allows you to use
less weight
than with regular barbells and still get greater tension on the forearm
muscles. This means less joint stress and
more muscle-building tension.
Conclusion:
If you're interested in a very effective and versatile piece of training
equipment that can
be used for forearm and bicep training, the Forearm Bar
is definitely something to add to your equipment roster. The Forearm
Bar
gives you a very strong pump in the forearms and the unique angles of the
handles allows a more natural feel during the forearm
exercises, making your
hard forearm work more productive.
