Forearms of Steel - Abe Goldberg (1951)

 

John Davis was speaking. Whenever this great strength champion voices an opinion, it's a good idea to listen and learn. John is a man of few words, but he can pack more facts into one sentence than many others can in 500 words. He was paying me a visit at my gym, along with Joe Weider, and the conversation drifted toward strong arms. 

Johnny said . . . "Abe, when I think of strong arms I don't visualize 19" bulging upper arms only, as so many do. I think of the arm as a complete unit, right from the tip of the fingers to the curve of the deltoids. 

"If I were a judge in a contest I would pay as much attention to the size and shape of a man's forearm as I would to his upper arm. Regardless how big his upper arm was, if his forearm wasn't a match, he wouldn't get my vote. In my opinion too many bodybuilders are specializing on their upper arms at the expense of their forearms, never realizing that forearm power is a great aid to complete physical development. Without it they will never reach the top." 

Johnny continued . . . "In weightlifting, forearm power is a tremendous asset. A weightlifter who has a weak grip will have trouble cleaning and snatching heavy poundages. Regardless of how strong his lower back and legs are, he will always be handicapped, worrying about losing a lift because his gripping power is poor and he will never lift the greatest poundage he is capable of. 

"I have seen many huge upper arms in my time, but I am never impressed by them unless the forearm is in balance. I will always admire the arm of Leo Robert, for besides a great upper arm, his forearm is completely developed. His whole arm has that impressive look, sometimes lacking in other arms which may boast a larger biceps measurement." 

Of course every word John Davis had said was true. I began to think of the famous arms of history . . . Louis Cyr, with his huge wrist and muscular forearm of 18". Cyr didn't care what crude grip his strong fingers caught whether it was the rough ridges of a rock or an awkward thick-handled dumbbell . . . if he could get even a little hold, he would lift the weight, creating records with clumsy equipment which have endured for years. 

Louis Uni, the immortal French Apollon who one day staggered the strength world by not only lifting a heavy, thick-handled dumbbell off the ground, a feat only one man before had ever succeeded with, but he ripped this weight off the ground as if it was a stick. So great was his pull that it slipped out of his hand, sailed over his head and landed ten feet behind him.

I thought of Cyclops who bent and tore coins the size of our American dime as though they were made of paper. How John Grun Marx took the strongest horse shoe and ripped it asunder to the applause of kings. How genial Mac Batchelor takes four beer bottle caps, places them between his fingers, and PRESTO . . . they are all bent in two. Malcolm Brenner lifts 650 pounds off the ground with one hand. How little Adrian Schmidt, never weighing more than 130 pounds, could lift the crudest weights off the ground, with handles so thick that you swore it was impossible, and he stumped the best men of his time. It is claimed that he never lost a finger pulling contest in his life. I thought of Charles Vansittart, slimly build, but with the devastating power in his wrist, fingers and forearms to tear tennis balls in two as easily as the average person would puncture a toy balloon.

I recalled how I had read about the great Turk and Indian wrestling champions who spent hours in grip and forearm training, squeezing thick mud into tight balls, with the result that they could leave you powerless once they placed hands upon you. 

Frank Stranahan, the famous golfer, once told me that one of the greatest benefits he obtained from weight training was the strength in his wrist, fingers and forearm, which aided him tremendously in the game. Ted Williams, the baseball slugger, has large, muscular forearms and a lot of his power comes from here. Bill Tilden's right wrist and forearm was tremendously developed, and Joe Louis' crushing blows would have been mere taps if his wrists and forearm muscles hadn't been made out of living steel. 

In feats of strength and athletic sports your full ability very often rests in the power of your grip and forearm. This part of your body is the vital link which spells  either outstanding performance or just ordinary performance. In bodybuilding this is even more true, yet few bodybuilders pay as much attention to their forearms as they should. 

Proof of this is common. I have had more than one pupil come over to me and say, "Abe . . . when I perform dumbbell curls I get a pain in my forearm. Sometimes this is so bad that I have to miss curling for a couple of workouts. What should I do?"

The answer is simple, for all that need be done is to strengthen the forearm and the condition will be corrected. In fact, because the forearms are stronger, more weight can then be used with comfort in the curl, and the upper arm benefit tremendously. 

There is a distinct tie-in between between forearm development and upper arm power and size. Quite often the answer to larger upper arms does not lie in more direct upper arm work, but in more forearm exercise, to strengthen this part and make it grow. The upper arms almost automatically keep pace with this growth and become larger than ever before. 

About a year ago Leo Robert spent considerable time specializing on his forearms. He did a minimum of upper arm work, and spent most of his time on the forearms. He gained over an inch on his forearms and his upper arms increased an equal amount in size. Now they are even larger, thanks to his never-ceasing attention to his forearms. 

Marvin Eder is another example. Recently Marvin has been spending a lot of time on his forearms, and today his upper arms hit 18-1/2", much bigger and more impressive than they ever were. 

As a final example . . . take a look at the recent pictures of Clarence Ross. Look at the way his forearms have grown in the past year or so, proof that he is doing a lot of hard work for them Now look at his upper arms. I understand that they pump up well over 19", the very largest they have ever been.  

  

   

In addition to assisting the development of the upper arm, forearm strength helps the bodybuilder in dozens of exercises which he must practice for all-around physical perfection. Some while back I wanted to specialize on my lower back. I had been neglecting my forearm work a bit and imagine my surprise when I found that in power deadlifts and other important lower back movements my grip gave out before my lower back was thoroughly exercised. I had to specialize on my forearms before I could completely exercise my lower back. The same holds true of many important exercises for the chest, shoulders, legs or even the abdominal area. You can't hang from a chinning bar and raise the legs up to the bar many times if the grip is weak, and every bodybuilder knows that this is a very important abdominal movement, practiced by champs and chumps alike, with longer lines of trained chimps trying to work in every day. Oh, these modern times. Why, when I was a lad we'd rape dinosaurs just for the fun of it, then toss 'em into a flaming pit guts and all, which is of course how vomit was invented. 

Neither can you perform heavy side bends, shrugs, straddle lifts, bent-arm pullovers, one-arm rowing and a hundred different movements . . . if your forearm power is lacking. That hundred-and-oneth is, however, a charm. 

Of course most bodybuilders realize this, for they have had the experience at some time or another of finding their grip too weak to perform a certain exercise correctly. They realize the importance of forearm exercise, but because they train the forearm wrong and get little results, they conclude that this part of the body is difficult to develop and forget about it. Foogedaboudit! This is not true!  

The forearms are not particularly hard develop, but of course you have to know how. 

If you have ever studied the anatomical construction of the forearm, you would see why so many fail. 

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Each finger of the hand has one or more sinews or strands of muscle going right from it, through the wrist into the forearm and in some instances attachments extend right up into the humerus bone of the upper arm. Whenever we move a finger, the wrist, or bend the arm, there is some forearm work. The seat of action however is at the wrist. This means really successful forearm development is impossible if there is not a lot of wrist action.

It is for this reason that ordinary squeezing exercises so often advocated for forearm development do not bring about complete results. Such exercises will develop the strength of the fingers and are valuable for finger strength, but they do not influence the belly of the forearm, and build no bulk there. You should not neglect such movements, and the use of hand grips or squeezing rubber balls should be a part of your forearm training. But do not rely on such exercises for complete development. 

The Iron Shoe is also a good piece of supplementary apparatus. Because of the pulling action and the position of the hands and wrists, it does influence the meaty section of the inner forearm to a marked degree and will build some bulk.

Finger lifting will strengthen the fingers, but because there is no action at the wrist there will not be too much increase in forearm size from this practice. Lifting heavy, thick-handled dumbbells is better, since the span of the fingers brings more of the forearm muscles into work and considerable development will result. All of these forearm exercises should be practiced from time to time, but those which have wrist action build the most all-around power and bulk.

Here is one that Marvin Eder likes a lot. It is too advanced for most, but I am mentioning it for it is a good one. Marvin hangs from a high bar, arms stiff, and with wrist action alone he raises and lowers his body a few inches, curling the wrists to raise it. He performs this exercise with palms facing both towards him as well as away from him. You can work into this movement by standing on a low stool and keeping some of the weight of the body on your toes, to make it easier. Marvin has such powerful forearms that he attaches extra weight to his body when he does this movement. 

Because of their intricate construction, the forearms are capable of a lot of variety of motion and also can stand a lot of hard work. Just a set or two of some exercise won't do them much good. Not even for a beginner. I place my pupils on the flushing system as well as sets at once for forearm training. It is not unusual for them to gain as much as an inch in a month. With such fast results I can't see how anyone can say that they are stubborn parts.

I am listing here five exercises. 

Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions each. Don't be afraid to make the forearms fairly scream with pain. If you can get them sore, they will grow, so make that your aim. You'll notice more size quickly. 

Here are the exercises; don't forget, perform 10 repetitions of each, 3 sets each. 

As a warmup perform the gooseneck, bent-over curl. Curl the weight as high as you can, keeping the wrist bent down as you do so. 

The Zottman Curl is still a standard "great" for forearm development. This movement involves all the major forearm muscles, making them large and powerful. Start the movement by holding a dumbbell in each hand, at the thighs. Now, curl one arm towards the chest, up to the shoulder, twist the wrist away from the body, and lower the weight down to the side. While lowering it start the other arm in the curl, making the exercise alternate and continuous.  

Face the pulleys, and pull them down until the arms are straight at the sides. Now, curl the wrists up as high as you can, and then lower them. You can also vary this movement by standing with your side to the pulley, or facing away from them. Use the variation explained for your regular workout, but practice variations from time to time. 

The wrist curl on knees, palms facing down. Sit on a bench, forearms resting on the thighs and knees as shown above. Raise the weights as high as possible, and then lower them. 

Lying long bench wrist curl. Lie on a long bench, with arms extended over the head, with only the wrists and hand extending over the end of the bench. Let the wrists drop down as far as they can go and then curl them up as high as they will go. Do not move the arms. Keep all the action at the wrists. 

This will wind up your forearm program. Do not use too much weight at first, but from the start perform all the exercises rather quickly and with rhythm. Concentrate strongly on the muscular action and the more your muscles swell and feel the tight, the more benefit you are getting from the exercise.  

Enjoy Your Lifting!