Build Popeye Forearms To Grow Bodybuilding Biceps
Popeye and Bodybuilding
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeBiceps like Popeye's Forearms
I am sure all of you are well aware that Popeye, the sailor man, had
forearms that measured a massive 22 inches in diameter. This, along
with his dietary habits of including plenty of greens into his meals on
a daily basis, lent him the strength to best the overly confident Bluto
in an almost endless number of competitions of strength and brawn. Now
Popeye's biceps didn't provoke nearly as much envy as one would have
expected with the grip strength that he must have possessed, but then
again, he was only a cartoon.
Grip and forearm strength is
necessary and often a limiting factor for a large variety of exercises
and a majority for pulling movements in particular. That means that
all of your favorite exercises that happen to work your biceps may be
limited by the amount of Popeye you've got in your workouts.
Neuromuscular Inhibition and You
The
reason that you should give a bit more focus to your grip strength is
due to a phenomena known as neuromuscular inhibition. Essentially,
your brain will shut off the link to a certain muscle group if the
weight is too much. This is a protection mechanism that your brain
employs to keep your body from injuring itself. Now if that weakest
link is your forearms, then you will only be able to do as much as your
grip can handle. If that weakest link is your biceps, however, then
you will literally be working them as hard as you possibly can, which
means they will have to grow to catch up. If your forearms are the
weakest links, then you will not be giving your biceps as much as they
can handle, which will lead to less impressive gains then you are
otherwise capable of. So if you want some big bodybuilding biceps, you
need to work those forearms by themselves.
Big Forearms Get you More Attention
Besides
helping you lift more weight and giving your biceps more stimulation,
forearms really do help your physique. Big muscular forearms look
intimidating and really help with vascularity, besides cartoons, how
many guys have you ever seen that work out for looks with huge forearms
and small biceps? If you really want to make your arms look good and
symmetric, make sure to do some grip work.
Forearm Exercises for Bodybuilding Biceps
Here
are a few exercises that you definitely want to throw in the mix at the
end of your back and bicep days and never the day before a workout that
will really demand your grip.
Fat Bar Pull-ups and Chin-ups
If you are lucky enough to have a fat bar at your gym make sure to take
advantage of it and at least do negatives if you cant do full chin-ups.
Fat Bar Curls
If you have access to a fat barbell as well, then you are in for a real
forearm destroying treat, fat bar curls and fat bar reverse curls
especially are really great for forearm development. if you don't have
access to a fat bar of any kind, you should definitely check out Fat
Gripz because they can turn almost any barbell, dumbbell, or cable
exercise into a massive forearm builder and grip tester.
Rope Pull-ups
The
fatter the rope you can get the better, try to go for double the
standard rope cable attachment and see how this changes your
exercises. Watch your arms explode in size after doing some rope pull
ups and vertical rope pulls
Towel Pull-ups
If you don't want
to go get any other equipment, you can use a towel to do a lot of grip
work too. You can do a set of towel pull ups, or use your towel with
the cable machines to set up any number of grip challenges.
Wrist Roller
If
you have access to a wrist roller then you should make sure to do a few
sets with as much weight as you can stand. Roll both ways to work your
often neglected extensors too.
Standing Forearm Curls
grip a barbell behind your body and curl your wrists skyward.
Extended Finger Bicep Curls
Using
a cable curl or straight bar attachment, curl as much weight as you can
with your fingers extended as much as possible. let your wrist extend
to get your forearms working as much as possible
Wrist Extensor Bands
Also
known as "rubber bands" wrap the band(s) around your straightened
fingers and thumb and separate your fingers as much as possible for 1
rep
Newspaper Crusher
Grab one full sheet of newspaper by the
corner and using only your fingers crumple the entire sheet into as
small a ball as you can. Next use 2 sheets, and then 3. see how many
sheets you can get to before your grip is fried.
Bucket-O-Sand
Fill a bucket with sand, and submerge your hand. open and close your fist as many times and as fast as you can.
Once
you have started to throw these exercises into your workouts you will
really see how massive your bodybuilding biceps can get.
Till next time, stay educated and dedicated.