Why Has Nothing Changed? Improper Wrist and Forearm Strength Training

Guest Post and Free Sample Workouts by Jedd Johnson of the Diesel Crew

If you’re a baseball player, you know that hand strength and forearm strength are very important to your game.

This is something that my coaches told me all the years that I pitched.

So, when I was 12, my parents got me this weird looking wrist-strengthening thing that you put your hand inside of and then performed wrist flexion.  It kind of looked like this thing (see picture below), only it had a resistance dial that you could turn to make it tighter:

After like 3 weeks of that, even if I had the dial turned up to the toughest levels, I could do endless repetitions while watching TV and riding a unicycle.

Well, maybe I wasn’t that strong at 12, but the machine was essentially a pointless device.

When I got to high school I was shown other forms of wrist training.  Dudes at the gym introduced me to wrist curls. They felt cool and made the veins in my forearms pop out like crazy, so I did them religiously.

When I got to college, I was shown the wrist roller.  It was a PVC handle with a rope tied to it and at the end of the rope was a 2.5-lb weight.  It was so light it was a joke. I remembered feeling a pinching in my shoulder every time I did it, but I never said anything and just kept on doing it because everybody else was doing it too.

Contrary to what you might be thinking, the purpose of this article isn’t to tell you my life story about wrist training.  Actually, I want to change your life story going forward about the way you train your grip and forearms, so you can take your game up to a higher level.

You see, I haven’t played baseball for 10 years, but in the meantime I have become a strength and conditioning coach and it amazes me that to this day, kids that are 12 years old are still training with the similar wrist flexion devices I was.

Kids in high school are telling me that their grip work still involves mostly wrist curls and maybe some tennis ball squeezes, and I talked to a guy I know that goes to college and he says they don’t do ANYTHING for their grip there, let alone the pinch-your-rotator-cuff front wrist roller.

So, I ask, “Why Has NOTHING Changed in the Last TEN Years?

It’s time to change the way we think about Grip and Forearm Training.  A steady diet of wrist curls, wrist roller and squeezing a tennis ball is BUSCH LEAGUE at BEST – it sucks.

Think about it this way…

Those three movements work mostly wrist and finger flexion.  That is only one movement pattern of the wrist and forearm.

You see, the wrist and forearm work together to move in 6 main ways:

• Flexion:  Moving the palm toward the front of the forearm
• Extension:  Moving the back of the hand toward the back of the forearm
• Radial Deviation:  Moving the thumb-side of the hand toward the radius bone of the forearm
• Ulnar Deviation:  Moving the pinky-side of the hand toward the ulna bone of the forearm
• Pronation:  Turning the palm down toward the floor
• Supination:  Turning the palm up to the sky

In order to be fully strong, you must work the wrist and forearm in all of these plains.  Also to avoid injury, all these plains must be exercised, because if there is an imbalance, it can cause pain and injury as well as limit strength gains in the future.

The fingers and thumb are the exact same way.  Working only flexion all the time is a recipe for disaster in the form of discomfort, strength limitations, soft tissue injury, etc.

If you capitalize on these six movement patterns of the wrist and forearm, you will be stronger than all of the other players who are just doing wrist curls.  You will notice that not just the flexors of the forearm start to grow, but you will also see that the extensors in the back of the forearm as well as the other synergistic muscles will be popping out of your forearm too.

This increase in strength will allow you to hit the ball farther because your bat speed is going to go up and you’ll be able to drive through the ball with more power.

If you are a pitcher, you are going to feel more “snap” at the end of your delivery as well as more endurance during the course of the game, as well as less pain and better recovery post-game.

And for all the players on the team, you will feel more stamina in the lower arms both during games and over the course of the season, as well as being more resilient against lower arm injuries from intense play in the field and on the base paths.

So now the question is, How do I begin?

Fortunately, I have the perfect resource for you – Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball. This manual is over 500 pages in total, and includes 300 pages of exercises.  It also shows you how to keep your lower arms in top shape using stretching and preventive protocols that most therapists don’t even know about.  It has 20+ fully designed workout templates, and 20 pieces of equipment you can use for grip training you can make yourself or buy at a hardware store.

This is the only resource of its kind.  It is your SECRET WEAPON for lower arm strength.  Make sure to pick it up now, before your opponents find out about it.

Find the product here Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball

Editor’s note: Jedd was kind enough to include a COMPLIMENTARY sample forearm training program for my readers.  You can download it here: Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball Sample Workout

This is a great start in how to incorporate forearm training to enhance your athletic skills, increase your performance and minimize injuries.  If you like it I encourage you to purchase his Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball Manual.

I had the privilege of reading the manual before he put it on sale and I must say it is quite good.  Jedd leaves no stone unturned in the 500 page manual, complete with the “hows and whys” along with exercises, do it yourself equipment instructions and tons of programs.

I make absolutely NO money off of you purchasing his product but I fully endorse it.

-Doug