Anyone heard of this?

[ewallace]

I was at the gym on Saturday and started talking to this guy who had recently got out of prison. I was doing some forearm curls and he asked me if I was trying to get really big forearms. He told me about how he used to do it (either in prison or before he went in, I'm not sure). He said to take a stick, attach some heavy-duty string to it, and tie the other end around a 10 pound plate for starters. The idea is to twist the stick so that the string wraps around it and pulls the weight up, then lower it back down reversing the movement. Kind of like giving someone an "Indian burn".

Anyone ever done this or have an opinion on it's effectiveness?

[Ford Prefect]

Very effective. Wrist rollers I think they're called. They sell pre-made ones at athletic equipment stores, but they're are quite easy to make.

[Kumkuat]

I seen that used for qinna training too as someone mentioned earlier. Also, rock climbers use that device. Actually, if you want to trash your forearms, try rock climbing.

[ewallace]

Oh yeah, it feels pretty **** effective. Here's what I did:

10lb plate from academy sports - $4.00

Oak dowel (sawed in half) from Home Depot - $3.00

Braided nylon rope from Home Depot - $1.89

The burning in my forearms...pr no, I won't say it.

Right now I have the nylon tied around the dowel and the plate. As soon as I get the chance I am going to drill a hole in the middle of the dowel so the rope doesn't slip around. From the feeling I have in my arms right now I'd recommend it. I get more of a burn from 10 pulls than I did from 50 wrist curls with three times the weight.

[ZhouJiaQuan]

very good training tool. make good strong forearms. so far ive made 2 of them.
the first one was a peice of bamboo with a heavy string tied around and then duct taped(to stay in place) then jsut tied to a 10lb wieght(now its 15lb actually)

the other i made was the same but i didnt have any wieghts around so i used a gallon of sand(yes a gallon of sand, hey i live near beach it was easy and free) dont know how much it wieghs though, i have real wieghts now but am to lazy to attach them.

you can do it both with the palms facing downward(my fav) and the palms facing up(this are hard and awkward for me, but i still do them sometimes im sure i woudl be stronger if if did these as much as the others). check out Analysis of Shaolin chin na by Dr yang jwing-min. you dont need to buy it(but it is a good book) but you can look at it at the book store(if they have it) and it tells you some other good excercises and explains the windlass as well.

peace