A strong hand, or rather, high strength indicators of the forearm muscles, is the hallmark of a professional armwrestler. How to pump up your forearms? Strong brush.
The strength of a chain is determined by the strength of the weakest link. In armwrestling, this weak link is the hand. A strong hand, or rather, high strength indicators of the forearm muscles, is the hallmark of a professional armwrestler.
In the spring of 1994, I first came to armwrestling training, having behind me numerous victories over my college friends and gym mates. I have always managed to fight with non-professionals and I considered myself very well prepared. But at the very first training session, a very unpleasant surprise awaited me. Young guys, lighter than me by 20 or even 30 kg, “broke” my hand without any problems, and I could not do anything, although I felt that I was physically much stronger than them. It was then that I realized that "winning" a brush is practically winning a fight.
Later, being a witness of improvised fights of arm wrestlers with wrestlers, bodybuilders and powerlifters, I always noted the advantage of arm wrestlers in "winning" the wrist. The question arises: why does an athlete, whose training necessarily includes strength exercises on the muscles of the forearm, so unconditionally "lose" the hand?
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| Superficial muscles of the forearm. |
First, no other strength sport devotes so much attention to specialized strength training for these muscle groups. And secondly, armwrestlers train such a specific movement as pronation of the forearm. It is with this movement that the hand “wins” the overwhelming majority of armwrestlers against less prepared opponents.
A very strong movement involving almost all the muscles of the anterior forearm. The basic exercise is a barbell wrist curl.
Take the barbell with a bottom grip. Sit on the bench and rest your forearms on it with your wrists and hands hanging over the edge. Squeeze your elbows with your knees for stability. The exercise is performed at a slow pace, especially in the negative phase, with fixation in the extreme upper position. The exercise must be done with a partner who delivers the barbell and accepts it after completing the approach. With training, when the barbell weight approaches 100 kg, the range of motion in the lower part of the range decreases, since full extension with heavy weights causes unwanted overloads in the wrist joint, which can lead to injuries.
This movement is provided by the radial flexors and extensors of the wrist, as well as the muscles that extend and abduct the thumb. The strength of these muscles is tested in the well-known one-leg lift of a heavy chair. Directly, in wrestling, this muscle group works in isometric mode, but dynamic exercises must also be included in training.
Abduction of the hand with a one-sided dumbbell in a standing position. Stand up. The arm with a one-sided dumbbell is lowered along the body, the palm is inward, the end of the bar with the weight is turned forward - down. Keeping the arm straight (in the elbow joint), abduct the hand, lifting the weights upward with the obligatory fixation in the extreme upper position.
Hammer curls with a weight held by a belt thrown over the fingers. This exercise trains the flexor muscles of the forearm in a dynamic mode, and abductors of the hand in a static mode. The burden is held by a belt, which is thrown over the proximal (closest to the palm) phalanx of the index finger. The exercise is performed in front of the bench, onto which the weight is lowered for each repetition of the set. The extension angle in the elbow joint should not exceed 120 degrees. The exercise is considered completed if the brush maintains a fixed position during the entire execution - it does not fall through. Otherwise, it is necessary to reduce the weight, no matter how easily bending is performed directly.
And now general recommendations for training the muscles of the forearm. The specificity of arm wrestling is such that all these exercises must be done in a strength mode, that is, with a lot of weight and the number of repetitions in the approach no more than 6-7 times (this applies to trained athletes). You also need to pay special attention to the warm-up. In all exercises, at least two warm-up approaches must be performed, and in bending the arms at the wrists with a barbell, their number can reach five. Between sets, you should perform various exercises for flexibility in the wrist joint - both active and passive (with the help of the other hand).
Follow all the recommendations and you will feel how much force your forearms will begin to fill, how they will expand in volume - for armwrestlers - heavyweights, the circumference of a tense forearm often exceeds 40 cm. And in wrestling, you will be able to clearly control the position of the opponent's hand. That, as you already know, is a guarantee of success.
