Forearm Rotation

[ianders1]

As I've been working on my humble little grip table, I've been troubled by one function and exercise in particular: Forearm Rotation and Sledge Hammer Rotations/Twists.

They are a decent exercise, but because of gravity and leverage are very inefficient. With the hammer parallel to the ground, they put a great deal of stress on the wrist and forearms, but as the hammer is brought perpendicular to the ground that load tapers down to virtually zero.

I've been trying to think of another way to strenghten this area of the wrist/forearm, and here's what I've come up with:

Gripboard Gallery Image

I'm sure someone else has already thought of this (probably a arm wrestler), but it's just something I sketched out real quick. You would sit down at the table to work one side, then sit on the opposite side to work the other direction, then repeat with the other arm.

Of course my intention was to ask you guys if there are any existing exercises that work this, not to come up with some stupid machine

Thanks

Edited March 17, 2004 by ianders1

[cjcocn]

http:www.pinarm.com/Armwrestling/Exercises/04humerusadduction/humerusadductionex.htm

http://www.pinarm.com/Armwrestling/Exercis...drotationex.htm

is this what you were thinking of? That's the link to Pinarm, one of the better armwrestling sites out there in terms of technique, exercises, etc., and the second link sounds like the one.

About the sledgehammer twists ..... if you do them with your arm bent at 45* (ie. forearm parallel to the floor) then you should not feel a lessening in load if you:

-start with the sledge head straight up only at the beginning of a set;

- rotate the sledge head towards the floor (until the sledge has travelled 180* or as close as your flexibility will allow); and

- only bring the sledge back up to parallel with (or a bit past) the floor during each rep.

You can change the direction of travel (ie. palms up or down) for a different feel. Or do them by creating a (almost) full circle going clockwise one way as far as possible and then counter-clockwise as far as possible.

... am I clear as mud on this one?

[Monte Cristo2]

Below is something similar to your idea:

http://dynamitearms.com/equipment.html

[Davekline]

Nautilus used to make a device called the "Sportsmate" that allowed the user to provide resistance for pronation and supination movements. You might do a web search on this item to see if you can find out more.

[young'un]

have you considered using a variation of the loadable sledge idea a la tom black, but instead of adding a straight loading pin to the top of the sledge, add an eye loop. you could attach chains to the top of the sledge, and then as you rotate, the weight would increase maintaining constant torque. it'd take a bit of calculating to figure just how to add the chains to keep torque constant, but probably not more than just a couple of sines and cosines to get a pretty good idea.

the chains would hit your hand at the top of the leverage also, but that wouldn't be too much hinderance unless you were levering at a very high pace (ie- rapidly swinging chains + hands = bruises)

good luck!

jeff

[foggymountainmuscle]

You could do partial reps with a gigantic sledge.

[ianders1]

have you considered using a variation of the loadable sledge idea a la tom black, but instead of adding a straight loading pin to the top of the sledge, add an eye loop. you could attach chains to the top of the sledge, and then as you rotate, the weight would increase maintaining constant torque. it'd take a bit of calculating to figure just how to add the chains to keep torque constant, but probably not more than just a couple of sines and cosines to get a pretty good idea.

the chains would hit your hand at the top of the leverage also, but that wouldn't be too much hinderance unless you were levering at a very high pace (ie- rapidly swinging chains + hands = bruises)

good luck!

jeff

That's a good idea - I guess I need to read through Tom's site more thoroughly. I think next time I'm at Home Depot, I'll pick up some stuff to do that

[Monte Cristo2]

I uploaded a drawing of an idea I had for discussion.

http://www.cyberpump.com/gripboard/index.p...&cmd=si&img=309

This is a crude drawing of a Forearm Machine idea I have. Basically a wheel

with a handle in the center is turned in the pronation supination motion moving a line around the rim leading to a loading pin and weight. This is sort

of like rotating a sledge with the forearm parallel to the floor.

The advantage would be the adjustable resistance on the loading pin and not

as sudden a change in torque as with a sledge. Also no dead spot in restistance at the top.

The machine could be mounted on a power rack, or the side of a work bench

for example. The wheel would have to be large enough and so mounted to

allow for clearance of the weights to whatever supporting structure used.