Forearm working more than the bicep

tommi · Post by **tommi** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:20 am

Question time again, i hope i don't get too annoying

Right after shovelgloving i feel that my forearm muscles are sore (expecially the brachio-radial muscle - called m. brachio radiale in this picture: http://www.vivailfitness.it/mu_avamb.htm) while my bicep doesn't feel like it has worked as much. My triceps and shoulder muscles are a bit sore btw.

I believe that the reason for this is that i am doing exercises in a wrong way, paying more attention to how my muscles behave while i am going back to the starting position, right?

Do your biceps feel sore after working out?

Post by **reinhard** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:33 am

I'm very satisfied with my biceps, and this is the only exercise I do.

Are the forearms worked disproportionately? Compared to most other forms of exercise, maybe. But not compared to how we've historically used our muscles, I think.

Forearms are really, really useful. And shovelglove, which mimics useful movements, works them hard. Do the biceps get worked also? Absolutely. As hard as the forearms? Probably not. But unless you're a bodybuilder or a model, I don't see any compelling reason to care.

Reinhard

tommi · Post by **tommi** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:13 pm

reinhard wrote:I'm very satisfied with my biceps, and this is the only exercise I do.

Same here, i actually believe it's the first time in my life i have seen them

reinhard wrote:Forearms are really, really useful. And shovelglove, which mimics useful movements, works them hard. Do the biceps get worked also? Absolutely. As hard as the forearms? Probably not. But unless you're a bodybuilder or a model, I don't see any compelling reason to care.

The reason why i asked this has nothing to do with looks, i was worried i was doing something wrong (thus possibly harmful). Looks like it's normal, fine, thank you

fungus · Post by **fungus** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:13 pm

tommi wrote: The reason why i asked this has nothing to do with looks, i was worried i was doing something wrong (thus possibly harmful). Looks like it's normal, fine, thank you

Excercise like this will work the weakest part. It's normal, and it's a good thing. You're developing actual strength, not some randomly chosen muscle.

sgtrock · Post by **sgtrock** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 4:15 am

Tommi, about a decade ago I spent two years studying jujutsu. With all of the physical effort involved, my forearms got huge and my biceps --- while definitely increasing moderately in size --- were really not much bigger. In fact, mostly my forearms increased to approximately the same diameter as my upper arms, and I was lifting 150-200lb guys up in the air.

I think that is how our bodies are supposed to look. Bodybuilders have huge biceps. I think truly strong people have more symmetrically muscular arms.

Nexquietus · Post by **Nexquietus** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 7:08 pm

I'd guess it's all about grip strength. If you think about it, most of the things with handles that we use everyday have handles half the diameter of what we are using. Plus we are using dynamic motion to workout, swinging a generally greater weight than we are used to, and not wanting it to fly through the flatscreen. That's all grip strength. I am looking forward to my gains in strength for Judo.

jim