A strong forearm is not only good for opening an air-tight jar. It has many more benefits. It enhances your grip and can also help in preventing injuries. Just like many other parts of your body, your forearms can also only grow to a certain level until it has achieved its maximum state. Forearms should be given the same importance as the rest of your arm.
It helps in providing a good grip. A good grip is used in many daily activities right from opening doors, carrying your grocery bags, and so on. Apart from personal effects, a good grip can have in your life, when taken into a professional context, a firm handshake with a grip displays confidence and personality. You can make a good first impression just by starting your meeting with a strong handshake.
Benefits of having strong forearms in our everyday life
When you are about to fall, the first impulse is to reach out to something that can balance your fall and avoid it. When your grip is strong then you can prevent injuries as such. Tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, and so on are some chronic repetitive injuries that you can prevent when you have a strong forearm and grip.
When you strengthen your forearms, it has a direct impact on your fingers, thumbs, and wrists. Men and women have different arm circumferences. By using this guide from Critical Body you can condition the mobility of the forearm along with working on its strength and endurance. When your forearms are weak, then your grip strength is low and it can cause many difficult situations in your daily lives. It can also dampen your daily workout routines as even lifting weights like dumbbells will be harder.
Here are some very common benefits you can gain from a strong forearm in your everyday life and improve its strength.
Helps you create a good first impression
Making a good first impression is important in your personal and professional life. A handshake that lacks grips gives an idea of low self-esteem. A good grip during a handshake, on the other hand, exudes confidence and lets the other person know that you are someone who knows their value. No, we are not talking about gripping the life out of someone’s hand. A firm handshake can set the tone of the meeting and even help you close deals better.
Preventing injuries
This is definitely an important benefit to be able to have an easy lifestyle. Injuries can be serious or mild but they can have an effect on your lifestyle. When you are constantly falling or getting injured, then you will spend too much time recovering and will not be able to improve the quality of your life. Without a strong grip, even the most normal house chores can result in small to serious discomfort. When your forearm muscles are stronger, the connective tissues help in preventing injury. To make sure both the muscle strength and connective tissue are in their best state, you must condition and work on making them stronger on a regular basis. When the two are weak, it affects the arm’s mobility, strength, and endurance and can lead to severe conditions in the future. Workers and athletes face these common injuries on a regular basis when their forearms are not strong enough to bear the load they need to carry.
Helps in better parenting
When you have little toddlers in your house, you will need to have a good grip when you carry them, shower them or play with them. If your grip is weak, the child too can suffer injury in case they slip out of your grip during any such event. Sometimes a fussy child will need to be carried around or soothed for a long time and in such cases, you will need to have the forearms conditioned to carry its weight for such long periods.
Playing sports
When you play sports that include the use of your arms more like badminton, tennis, basketball, etc you will need your forearms to be stronger. Playing sports is a great way to get in shape and recreational activity to destress as well. The more fit you are the more fun you can have when playing a sports activity. Also, you will not suffer from sore arms after playing it for a while. If you are a professional sportsperson then it is all the more important that you keep your forearms strong.
How to improve your forearm strength
Now that you know how a strong forearm can help enhance many aspects of your life, we can follow it up with the steps you can take to strengthen it.
Start slow
When you use wrist straps and other grip aids, it dampens the natural process of developing a good grip. Don’t force yourself to improve your forearm strength by using way more weight than your body can handle. By using grip aids you are making your body rely on them and that may actually make your forearms weaker. Start with lesser weights than your body can hold without any help and slowly increase the weights.
Train regularly and increase consistently
You should train on your forearm and grip on a regular basis. When you are in the gym pulling or lifting weights then it is a good opportunity for you to strengthen your grip. Therefore, try to incorporate exercises in your daily routine that requires you to pull and lift weights. When the stress is repeated, it will increase grip strength and develop your forearms. Push your limits slowly by increasing the intensity of the exercises. For example, when you add more weights while using rack deadlifts, you can focus on developing both your arm and grip. This will further allow you to balance more weight on the bar.
By following a good diet, working out continuously, and taking supplements if needed, you too can achieve a strong forearm and grip. This will not only make you feel better about yourself and your appearances but will help you through many situations wherein such strength is needed. And of course, you will always be the first one people come to when they want a jar of pickles to be opened.
Tommy Williamson did his degree in psychology at the University of Edinburgh. He is interested in mental health and well-being.
