Most of us spend most of our gym time dead-set on blasting our biceps and torching our triceps, but fail to place any focus on our forearms.
Sure, we may bang out a few sets of hammer curls every other workout and consider that a heavy-hitting forearm day. But aesthetics aren’t the only downside of skipping this prominent muscle—weak forearms can result in weaker performance in exercises that require grip strength, i.e. deadlifts and rows, which are important for all-around strength and size.
However, this simple exercise, called the long-lever forearm rotation, can easily place some much-needed focus on your forearms. Long-lever forearm rotations are great for building grip and forearm strength and can even help to address certain types of elbow aches, according to Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. An added bonus: Long-lever forearm rotations can be done virtually anywhere and with any type of long handle, such as a broomstick.
Heavy weight really isn’t needed for this exercise to be effective, either. You’ll just need a light bar that’ll be placed in one hand in an offset position, creating a challenging lever for your forearms to twist against.
How to Do the Long Lever Forearm Rotation
●Grip a bar in your hand. Hold it tight.
●Twist the bar back and forth, left to right, over and over.
●Repeat for three sets with each arm for about 40 seconds.
The movement is different than how most people train forearms; according to Samuel, most exercises tend to curl our wrists upward. With long-lever forearm rotations, we rotate at the elbow, forcing our forearms to work harder than normal to allow the rotation to happen—the long lever side is sneakily heavier than you would expect, you’ve been warned.
Do these rotations slowly, which will force your forearms to stay in control. You can increase or decrease the difficulty level simply by gripping the bar closer or farther to its center.
Jeff Tomko is a freelance fitness writer who has written for Muscle and Fitness, Men’s Fitness, and Men’s Health.
