Wrist Roller??

Recently, I put together a wrist roller. $8, some plates and a trip to Walmart was all it took.
I’ve been using it regularly, and although my forearms don’t seem any larger, I feel they are growing dense.
I don’t include them as part of my gym routine. Instead, I do it periodicly throughout the day, most days. CW and his frequency articles inspired this train of thought. Instead of counting reps, I go for time, adding five seconds every few days, adding more weight as needed. I start at thirty seconds, and shoot for sixty before I add weight.
How do others utilize this tool? Do you think I am on the right track? Any advice on how to get more from it?

CM,

i like the wrist roller, but never used it with much consistency, since i could never really figure out my progress (what’s a rep??)…however, i don’t think anything really will smoke your forearms better than that…

A rep would be an up and down.

I used a wrist roller years ago and it hurt like hell, but for forearm training it’s hard to beat heavy deadlifts, heavy rows, heavy farmers walks (I sense a theme developing) and chins.

Hanging from a chin bar at the end of your workout for 30-45 seconds is also valuable (you could even add some leg raises).

If you have your elbows at 90 degrees you can give biceps and back an extra bit of work, too (and I know everybody hates training biceps!)

[quote]combatmedic wrote:
How do others utilize this tool? Do you think I am on the right track? Any advice on how to get more from it?
[/quote]

in my “research for a better grip” i worked a lot with that kind of tool.

i use to work with it on a tempo base.
ie i dont count reps… just do 3 series to failure every odd day.

i find it really worthy for wrist empowering. i mean no better grip, but more stability and a stronger wrist (really usefull when dealing with heavy dumbells in military press -like excercize…)

for forearms i realy think that the better choice are:
-heavy deadlift
-plates pinching
-wide grip chin ups on “square” bar (you can use your dumb, so only the other finger take you “on”…)

an other really usefull exercize for better forearms is performed with a “tennis ball”… just tightening it , pause, redo…

in USA it is also easy to find usefull tools for “hand” training

Most wrist rollers I’ve seen use a very thin bar, which I assume is the case with the one you purchased?

Anyway, the only wrist rollers that I have felt really improved my forearm and grip strength were ones I used at PSU, which used thick, hollow pipes instead of the thin bar. A wrist roll is hard enough on its own, but doing it at arms length while holding onto a pipe that is 6-8" in diameter is a whole other story. I’ve never seen them anywhere else than the football weight room, but I’m sure one could construct them using PVC Pipe, a rope and a hook…

This is the wrist roller I’ve got. Not sure if it’s as thick as some would want it to be, but it works for me. (Please don’t use this last sentence out of context.)

I’ve found it to be very useful for forearm strength. I’ve spent the better part of 2 months without training the back due to shoulder a injury, so I’ve been doing a lot of rolling. When I did deadlifts the other day I found my grip strength had actually increased during my hiatus, so the roller’s working. Not much by way of size, but if strength is increased, who cares?

18" of ABS or PVC pipe works great. Use varying diameters. Anywhere from 1" to 4". If you’re an animal, try 6" diameter. The best one was a video of a guy doing pull-ups by gripping a softball. Just drill a 1/4" hole through the ball and insert an eye bolt and hang from a chain. To build up to it, hang weights from a chain and attach to the eye bolt and carry.
Just squeeze with the fingures.

TNT

I use a 4" wooden dowl, and a piece of rope through a hole that I drilled through the middle. I’ve been doing them a couple weeks, and have noticible difference in my forearm size and strength (using 10 lbs.). They are very prevalent among baseball players I hear, as far as strengthening the forearms for swinging a bat. I love’em. But maybe you should use a thicker bar (or dowl).

[quote]Bauer97 wrote:
Most wrist rollers I’ve seen use a very thin bar, which I assume is the case with the one you purchased?

Anyway, the only wrist rollers that I have felt really improved my forearm and grip strength were ones I used at PSU, which used thick, hollow pipes instead of the thin bar. A wrist roll is hard enough on its own, but doing it at arms length while holding onto a pipe that is 6-8" in diameter is a whole other story. I’ve never seen them anywhere else than the football weight room, but I’m sure one could construct them using PVC Pipe, a rope and a hook…[/quote]

The IronMind wrist roller is like this, only it’s a heavily knurled thick metal tube.

We like this one for the varied hand positions;

http://wristripper.com/

Jim

I used to just take a 2x4, put on some gloves, take a screw driver and put in some screws in the damn thing. I did that 3x/week with different kinds of screws. My damn forearms got HUGE in about 9 weeks. Now big warning - do not come even close to failure. As soon as you’re pumped and feel your forearms are dense as concrete - STOP! You need your grip for just about every exercise out there so you cannot afford letting these muscles get weaker on you. You do this ex and maybe sometimes a forearm curl(for the “bicep” of the forearm) and you’re in for some serious growth. I mean I had to stop because my lower arms began looking way more developed than my upper arms! Specialization of a small musclegroup works all too well.

wow, screwdriver is great idea, just sitting here did the motion and it made so much sence, thanx w2097!

No prob. don’t forget gloves, because your palms will get busted out of the blue and it’s pretty nasty.

If you steer from failure it’s the best. You build up for three weeks(1-2 sets 5-3x/week, just getting pumped and calling it a day) then take a week off and begin building up again. On that off-week your forearms will feel extremely strong and you can do bicep work at a whole new level. Good luck.

[quote]cycobushmaster wrote:
CM,

i like the wrist roller, but never used it with much consistency, since i could never really figure out my progress (what’s a rep??)…however, i don’t think anything really will smoke your forearms better than that…[/quote]

I was thinking about this recently, too. I remember that Chad Waterbury has stated in several articles how the size of mechanics forearms made an impression on him. Well they most likely don’t use wrist rollers. Other than lifting heavy weights (which we already do), the key difference is that they tighten and loosen nuts; lots of them; some really big, high-torque nuts 'n bolts; “high and low rep” (long and short).

I intend to wander down to Lowes one fine day and buy some metal, rubber, wood etc. to make something that will compress, but only with tremendous force, then tighten and loosen nuts and bolts through it accordingly.

(Or I suppose I could go round the Wal Mart Parking Lot and take peoples wheels off their cars. Do you think the police will be sympathetic when I say “but I was only trying to get bigger guns, officer?”).

Has anyone else considered, or even tried this approach (no, not the Wal Mart thing…)?

WiZ