Building Powerful Forearms Using Isometrics

Our lower arms and hands have built the tallest structures, crafted the most most beautiful yet devastating weapons, created some of the coolest cars on the planet and have also been a lifesaver whether it's holding onto somebody, made the difference in a fight, won or lost a game or literally saving someone from danger. We at times take our hands for granted and not realize that what can create, can also destroy in the blink of an eye.

One of my favorite sports has been Arm Wrestling and when I get an opportunity, I don't hesitate to take someone on. Maybe it's that thing about testosterone us guys have and an urge to test our strength. I have arm wrestled some pretty strong guys; took on three generations of men in my wife's family (two of them were loggers for many years and both are bigger than me), my friend and brother in strength Logan Christopher, big man named Travis who's 6'3 and around 250-260 at the time, and a friend of my dad's who's a practicing buddhist and weightlifter. It took me a lot of years to build the strength I have and a large part of it was due to Isometrics.

Although I have swung heavy hammers, torn phonebooks, bent short and long lengths of steel; Isometrics were a major key component to keep myself injury proof and strengthened my muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones. One of my favorite exercises that I haven't done in a while is Isometric Arm Wrestling and hitting angles that gave me incredible strength. In No Gi Grappling, it was hard for guys to armbar me and the extreme few that did, learned the sweet spot to get me but it was interesting the way they tried.

On a more serious note, it does take quite a bit of work to build the lower arms and strengthening the hand and wrists. Some solid movements are great especially if you're into things like Arm Wrestling but hitting different angles in an Isometric fashion can give you a incredible advantage where if you get caught up in a fight and you need that punching power or be able to squeeze your opponent in a choke hold and have that vice-like grip, that shit can save your life. If you're a member of law enforcement, the military or a firefighter, grip strength is an essential ingredient of being able to save someone's life or apprehending a suspect.

Using a thick handle for various exercises can build serious forearm and hand strength. I use to love doing pull-ups with the fat gripz or wrapping a thick towel around the bar, those were brutal. One exercise that really gave me the strength to rip thick phonebooks was actually trying to rip a phonebook that was completely wrapped in duct tape, I still have that book and was given to me by Logan Christopher. Because Isometrics were such a key asset to my training, they've helped me tackle weights I rarely ever touch but can still do like 60 lb db curls, 130 lb one arm db rows, picking up a 335 lb deadlift in the rack and still able to bench around 300.

It's amazing how some blue collar guys, old time farmers, arm wrestlers, football players and wrestlers have phenomenal grip strength even in their later years. One of the most fascinating to me is old time pro wrestler Danny Hodge whom had grip power that broke pliers, turned apples into mush by squeezing them and made opponents his bitch just by getting his hands on them. The best modern day grippers or men of hand strength are guys like Dennis Rogers, Bud Jeffries, Mark Henry, Chris Rider, Jedd Johnson and others. If you want to build stupid strong hands and steel cord like forearms, go with Isometrics.

Remember, what you can create, can also bring destruction, so train with intent and use that strength to help others when an opportunity arises.