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i've been lifting and just vaulted for the first time in a few months tonight. my lifting program is good but i need something good for my forearms. also are there any really good exercises for pole vaulters? thanks

thanks for all the stuff guys... one question... what are monkey bars????

all i know are hammer curls

Ive been weak in the forearms as well, and when i do some rope drills and workouts i cant hold on as well. Take a comfortable weight and put your hand hanging over a table, preferably a weight bench. Just curl your wrist with the weight, and do the other hand/ forearm. Strive for at least 5 sets of 10. It should feel easy the first 5 or 6 reps then tough last 4. It will burn the next day, but thats what you need to do. Pull ups and monkey bars are great for vaulters as well. If you have any jungle gym type setup, just do pull ups or monkey bars as much as you can. That will stimulate a ton of muscles you need for vaulting.

How about:
grab a pull up bar with one hand and keep hanging until you fall off. Just a thought. Seems pretty related to the vault because it is grip strength as opposed to curling strength.

I realize that most people won't have access to this, but I would say that climbing a rockwall every so often will not only build your forearms to look like Popeye, but it's a lot of fun too! Supporting your body weight by your fingers is a lot harder than it looks! If you can't do that, I used to hold a curling bar behind my butt with straight arms and just flex my wrists upward...I didn't do any weight, but I'd do at least 100 reps in a set, and my forearms would be killing me afterward!

fingertip pushups

instead of resting your palm on the ground when doing pushups, use only your fingertips. Yeah, it's hard at first, but it really works your forearms and your grip as well.

Take a relay baton, or a stubby about a foot long, put a hole through the middle of it, and tie a rope about 4 to 5 feet long to it. Tie a 10 pound weight to the other end. Hold the baton out in front of you with your arms straight and parallel to the ground, and start rolling the baton to "winch" the weight up. Change winding direction.

Great for forearms.

As anyone can see, anything stimulating your forearms... will build forearm strength!! The most important thing is to be sure you are mixing it up every day, and working your forearms in different ways. And all these ways can be fun too, rock climbing, monkey bars, etc.

I'm not sure I can imagine anyone not strong enough in the forearms to pole vault. My son has been strong enough to do it since he was four.

Barto wrote:I'm not sure I can imagine anyone not strong enough in the forearms to pole vault. My son has been strong enough to do it since he was four.

My thoughts exactly. If you can hang onto a high bar to do pull ups, bubka's, or anything else, or hang onto a weight bar to do cleans, deadlifts, or snatches, your forearms should be overqualified to hang onto a pole.

Its not lacking strength to vault for me, at least. I could hold myself up with one hand with a 50 Ib wieght on my legs, just not for very long. This is why when i do a rope workout with tons of sets, i just dont have the endurance to hold on for a long time. Holding onto and pulling up on a rope for 30-40 seconds, 10 times in a row.... is different from vaulting and holding on for what.... 1-2.5 seconds?

Here's a simple, homemade exercise product that will provide a forearm workout. Take a short piece (abut 18" works well) of dowel or plastic pipe. Secure a piece of 1/8" diameter rope, or some heavy twine to the center of the dowel or pipe in a manner that does not allow it to slip. Drilling a hole and tieing through the hole works well. On the other end of the rope or twine, tie a "weight". A plastic bottle like an empty sport drink bottle filled with water or sand or both to attain a weight that is to your liking works well. The distance between the pipe and the bottle should be such that when you stand, with your elbows at your sides and your forearms horizontal with the pipe between your hands, the bottle is just at ground level.

The exercise consists of lifting and lowering the bottle by rolling up the rope on the pipe by holding the pipe with one hand and flexing that wrist letting the pipe turn in the other hand. Now do the same with the other hand. Repeat until the rope is wound on the pipe and has lifted the bottle to the pipe. Now lower the bottle by reversing the action. When you get to the bottom, continue moving your hands in the same direction which will lift the bottle again, but with the reversed hand motion. Once at the top, reverse the hand motion and lower then raise the bottle. Repeat as you desire.

I don't have an opinion about whether it would be better to do fewer reps with more weight or more reps with lesser weight. You decide. Have fun, but be ready for some sore forearms.

- master