Too much work in my forearms

[Deana]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON May-16-02 AT 03:33PM (Est)[/font][p]Hi Cathe,
I have been doing a small amount of The Firm's weights, your Circuit Max, and I just ordered the CTX series. The problem is that lately I have been feeling it so much more in my forearms than where I am supposed to. On one of my videos they talk about having the proper "wrist fluction?". I do not understand what that means and have been varying the angles at which I hold my weights. I am getting frustrated and needed some pointers on the proper form when using free weights.
I was also wondering about which weight tapes would be best for me. I am happy with my body size, I just want my muscles to be much more cut and defined. I only have your Circuit Max and the shipping CTX for weights. Is there another one that might be a great addition for better results? My 53 year old mother has been working out with me, using your tapes and DVD's and Weight Watchers. She has lost 55 pounds in 6 months and went from a size 16 to a size 6!! She never thought that she would ever be able to do your workouts and now she is as addicted as I am, and in the best shape of her life. Thank you so much!!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Deana

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Deana! Great to hear that you and your mother are so committed to your workouts and well being. How wonderful of you to have motivated her so positively. Please tell her that I am proud of her impressive accomplishments too.

As for your forearms, these muscles are especially used during bicep exercises. Be sure that when you are doing bicep exercises (or any exercise that stresses your forearms for that matter) that you are not taking on too heavy of a weight too soon. Ease into lifting a heavier weight over a period of time (as to strengthen and condition the forearm muscles)or it is likely that your forearm muscles will fatigue early and keep you from being able to continue the exercise and/or do the exericise with good form. Also, you should do specific forearm exercises to assist in the strengthening and conditioning of them too.

As for wrist flexion, I try to encourage the participant to keep their wrist in a fixed and straight position rather than allowing their hand to bend downward or upward (depending on the exercise)as to discourage fatigued forearms or unecessary wrist stress(which can distract from the effectiveness of a given exercise).

Some strength training tapes that will go into more detail on proper form would be the Slow and Heavy series. You can use this series with a moderate weight vs a heavier weight if you do not want to gain a lot of muscle. And for more of a muscular endurance workout, you can do Power Hour.

Good luck and keep up the great work!

 

[Katerchen]

I am getting a burn in my forearms, too since I increased my weights for chest press. I don't think, I'll ever get a burn in my chest because of my weak forearms. But the forearm is where I have good muscle definition, you can see every muscle strand. So far, I am working through the burn.