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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 dumbells 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."
To
better understand the details of this review,
click here to see pictures and videos of the Forearm
Bar in action:
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 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.
Click
here to learn more
about the Forearm Bar
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