Does
this uniquely designed piece of equipment have the
potential to quickly pack muscle and strength onto your
forearms? Find out here.
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 this link to
see pictures and videos of the Forearm Bar in action:
http://www.monsterbars.com/forearm_bar_006.htm
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.
To
learn more about The Forearm Bar and to get one for yourself,
please click here.
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