ForeArms

[madlilpimp]

Hey it is often said that Bruce Lee's forearms were as hard as stone. Does anyone know any training to strenthen forearms?

[Kinjit]

Stickwork.

[shaolin kungfu]

I like to slam my forearms into walls, metal pipes, and trees. Thats probably not a good way of conditioning, but I've gotten to a point where it doesn't hurt anymore, so i think it's working.

[Kinjit]

well, strengthening and conditioning are two different things it seems...

[yenhoi]

Use the search button. Search for forearms. :D

You can construct a wrist roller, its just a stick with a weight attached to it by rope. Hold the stick at arms length, and roll the weight up and down. You can also do forearm curls and reverse curls with barbell or dumbells. Invest in several of those gripper things. Get a tennis ball and squeeze. I like free weights from a scuba store, toss them around all day long. Any kind of weight training will get your forearms going if you grip hard, 'specially if your a beginner.

etc.

Any of John Little's books on Bruce Lee will contain all this in much more detail. The fastest one would be something like "Expressing the human body" or whatnot. There is a whole chapter in there about forearm strength.

:eek:

[Former castleva]

Weightlifting? etc.


Just a wild guess... ;)

[ewallace]

Take a stick or a dowel, tie some heavy duty string/rope around it, and tie the other end to a 10 lb plate. Then use your hands in a wrist-curl like motion to pull up the weight. Doing this standing is fine, off a balcony is better. There are a few different ways to pull the weight up.

[ewallace]

Nevermind what I said. I am obviously much more lazy than yenhoi when it comes to typing.

[Surferdude]

Bang your forearm bones agaisnt something, then do curls and stuff... It'll take a while but you'll have arms like me!!!!
I am Iron Arm Li!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D ;) :rolleyes:

[Losttrak]

Yeah what eWallace mentioned is a killer. Make it slightly shorter than the height of your shoulders to the ground. Hold arms our straight and get to wringing. It will make you very solid. Also you can do finger-flicks. Clench a fist then quickly flick your fingers out as far as you can go. Repeat at fast intervals in varying arm positions, such as: arms straight with palms down/ palms up, arms to the sides with palmsback/forwards, arms behind you, etc, etc. The changing of your arm positions affects the tension, effect, of the movement.

[Former castleva]

Extend your arm in front of you,keep the staff (or whatever) rigid and be sure to lift the heavy end with your wrist/forearm area only.

Right? Hehe- :rolleyes:

[Lowlynobody]

Hey it is often said that Bruce Lee's forearms were as hard as stone. Does anyone know any training to strenthen forearms?

While a lot of those exercises will strengthen your forearms and help you with cutting up the muscle on the forearm they will not necessarily make your forearms iron hard.

3 star or arm bashing is great for conditioning the area from the wrist to about half way to your elbow. Also there are similar conditioning drills that do the same to the muscles. While these things will condition the arm and allow you to take a lot more pain they still will not make you forearms iron hard.

Of course the above two types of exercise/conditioning will make your forearms harder but you're best bet is with hard qi gong / iron body training. I was recently taught Ying Ching Kuen and after just two months of doing this form my forearms are 5 times (or more) harder than they were after doing rollerbar, 3 star, 5 star, claw bag, rattan ring, etc.

Just my experience.

[Ether]

While all the above will improve both the strength and bone density of your forearms I would recommend extreme caution with regards to any method that includes striking your arms against objects.

Whilst this will make them solid and reduce the amount of pain it will have the side effect of reducing sensitivity in your arms and can cause bone problems in later life. Bear in mind that your arm only stops hurting because you have killed the nerve endings. Is this really what you want?

My personal suggestion would be to use the method ewallace suggests and also do wrist curls. In fact any exercise that requires a strong grip will do the job. I suggest rock climbing for that authentic popeye forearm look!

If you have a decent layer of muscle on your arms and your technique is good I really dont think the 'pain' of a clash against a strike or target is a problem. Whats a little pain against permanent disfigurement?

This is jsut my personal take on this and not a condemnation of any 'ironpalm' type conditioning methods. Each to their own.

[mantis-1]

Hitting hard objects to condition any part of the body is bad, as ether said you are not properly conditioning the limbs you are killing the nerves.... and in my training sensitivity is very important. The best type of conditioning is partner training where you strike the limbs together as there is give in the object you are striking, this type of training is conditioning from the outside in. If you combine it with hay gung training soft and hard you will gain the benefits of conditioning from the inside out. Most traditional systems have hay gung sets that are practised for these reasons.

respect

[David Jamieson]

1.Isometric and Isotonic exercises.

2.General conditioning through striking exercises EG: Three star blocking with a partner, jong work.

3. Using Metal weight rings while working basic punches, blocks and traps or while performing a set.

4.Blocking,trapping and striking drill with a partner.

Each of these will toughen up your foreamrs considerably over time. Train sensibly and don't get ahead of yourself becasue of impatience. You will be pleasantly surprised at what will come to you from correct methods.

cheers

[Shah]

hmm.. what are isometric and isotonic exercises?

[mantis-1]

Isometric:

the tensing and releasing of energy along certain lines whether in forms, hay gung or chong work.


respect