Seated Forearm Stone Curl
Curling cement stones from the Pendulum Grip Cart in a seated position is a tremendous forearm developer. The elbow joint is the link between the shoulder and wrist and provides exceptional stability and motion. Movement of the wrist and forearm rotation contribute to upper extremity mobility.
The forearm’s muscle brachioradialis along with the upper arm’s biceps and brachialis are the main elbow flexors. The brachioradialis contributes the most to elbow flexion when the forearm is in a neutral or what is said to be a ‘thumbs up’ position.
As the hand becomes pronated (hand palm down) the bicep is at a biomechanical disadvantage to flex the elbow. Due to the limitations of the lever arm in this pronated hand position the biomechanically advantaged brachioradialis takes over with a higher contribution of flexing the elbow. When the hand is supinated the bicep can contribute much more to movement.
Training the forearm with stone flexion has some unique advantages when in the appropriate position. Grasp with the hands placed in the center of the stone with all fingers making contact during the exercise. This assures that the forearm’s brachioradialis and biceps contribution to the movement does not change.
In a seated position leaning forward, allow the elbows to have contact with the legs it will feel somewhat like training on a preacher curling bench.
The coaching points require: that the athlete does adjust hand placement once the exercise begins, that the thumb always remains in contact with the stone and the joint space between fingers does not change to gain a leverage advantage.
The tendency during the exercise is to adjust the grip in order to slightly supinate the hand to involve more biceps. There is no change in the contribution of brachioradialis in elbow flexion depending on hand position. Inclusion of more biceps is just the athlete trying to make the lift easier.
Do as many reps as possible to Get Strong. To make the exercise more difficult train with a different Pendulum Grip Cart implement each workout before the Seated Forearm Stone Curl.
The Pendulum Grip Cart