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
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.
To
learn more about The Forearm Bar and
to get one for yourself, please click
here.
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