Introduction
On December 08, 2024, a common – encountered problem in unarmed fitness is the lack of grip strength. When engaging in tension – type movements like pull – ups, double – force arms, human flags, and one – handed pull – ups during our fitness practice, we often find ourselves hitting a bottleneck after following the tutorial exercises to a certain extent.
The root cause is usually weak grip strength. For instance, if you aim to achieve 20 pull – ups, a significant amount of grip – strengthening exercises are needed for a breakthrough. Take the human flag as another example. It has high demands on hand tension. If you can’t hold your arm with one hand for more than 30 seconds, practicing leg – swinging skills won’t be of much use.
For fitness connoisseurs, the measure of strength doesn’t lie in pectoral muscles or abs, but in the forearms. The forearm muscles are mainly attached to the ends of the hands, and in fitness, their most crucial role is to affect the magnitude of grip strength.
Three Ways to Strengthen Forearms with a Single Bar
Here, we will share three effective ways to enhance forearm strength using a single bar.
1. Straight Arm Suspension
Grip the single bar in a positive grip, lift your feet off the ground, and hold on for as long as you can. This single – bar suspension is an essential exercise for pull – ups. If you can’t hold the single – bar suspension for more than 1 minute, generally speaking, your pull – up strength won’t be very strong. The reason is straightforward: the weakest link in our body’s entire chain determines the final number of pull – ups we can do, and the forearm grip is the most critical area that requires strengthening.
2. Flexed Arm Suspension
With a positive grip, pull yourself to the highest point in the pull – up position and maintain the hold. As you hold on, the muscles will gradually fatigue, and the angle between the forearm and the upper arm will gradually increase until it becomes completely straight. Start timing from the bent – arm position until you can no longer support and your arms fully straighten. Try to hold on for as long as possible during this process.
3. Backhand Flexion Arm Suspension
This movement is similar to the second flexed arm suspension, but this time, use a reverse – grip position with the palm facing in the opposite direction. While practicing forearm grip strength, it also helps to strengthen the biceps. Start from the bent – arm position and hold on until the arms are straight. Adhere to this for as long as you can.
