Homemade Forearm Exerciser

Forearm and grip strength are essential to being able to train hard and heavy.

You need to develop the forearms right from the very beginning of your training.

One mistake bodybuilders make with forearm training is that they don't use enough weight. Forearms are somewhat like calves in that they are accustomed to continual use and stress. So you need to use a fairly heavy weight in order to stimulate them.

Dumbbell and barbell wrist curls are good exercises, but I like to mix things up in order to keep my workouts different, so I went searching for an alternative.

I found an interesting way to make a homemade forearm exerciser but instead of using the materials that writer suggested, I found a slightly cheaper way.

I had all of this just lying around the house: old nylon dog leash, leftover 1 1/2" PVC thick wall tubing, one radiator worm gear clamp and some double sided electrical tape.

Take the PVC tubing and cut one piece 25 inches long (this measurement is for a powertec power rack, and your rack may measure differently).

Sand the ends so they're smooth. Slide the PVC pipe over the saber spotter in the power rack and set at about shoulder height. I thought maybe the 1 1/2 inch PVC sliding over a one inch saber spotter bar might be to sloppy of a fit, but the weight holds it down nicely. The PVC acts like a bushing, making everything slide smoothly.

Take the dog leash and with a razor blade cut the hand loop loose.

Fit the worm gear clamp to the PVC loosely and thread the dog leash between the clamp and the PVC. Tighten down the worm gear clamp.

Wrap the PVC with double sided electrical tape so you can get a good grip.

Take the leash and put it through an Olympic plate and attach the leash to itself.

Instead of running the leash through the olympic plate, if you made my plate holder you can use that instead.

Using the forearm exerciser

Set the forearm exerciser at about shoulder level.

Place both hands on the forearm exerciser and hoist the weight up.

When you reach the top don't let go! Slowly lower the weight back to the starting position.

This is one rep, repeat for nineteen more.

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