Introduction to Forearm Training with Bison-1

Undisputed forearm equipment on the market! Best forearm and wrist functional strength training exerciser! – these are some loud statements that we make on our site.  We also have World and Olympic Champions using and recommending this new forearm exercise equipment for over 20 types of sports and rehabilitation. We say that Bison-1 is five to seven types more effective for functional strength training than any other piece of equipment in its class and so forth…but why? In this article we will break down why this new piece of equipment is so efficient. We will describe the concept about the forearm muscle, wrist, and grip strength, endurance, and flexibility training.

Before you go any further we recommend you to first read the Isometric Training Exercises Exposed and Functional Strength Training Reference articles in order to comprehend what we will be talking about here (yes, even if you are completely sure you know everything about those topics, check just to make sure, especially the article on isometric training).

First, let’s get out of the way what Bison-1 will and will not do for you.

Bison-1 WILL:

• Dramatically Increase the functional strength of the wrist
• Dramatically Increase the grip strength: pinch, crush, and support
• Dramatically Increase the linear wrist strength
• Help recover from forearm, wrist, and finger bone, tendon, and muscle injuries
• Enhance the motor skills of the wrist and fingers
• Help your forearm muscle growth, as well as increase its definition
• Allow you to isolate certain forearm muscles to work on
• Allow to train all 20 muscles of the forearm, and up to 30 muscles of the upper body total in a single exercise
• Help you get rid of multiple bone, joint, muscle, and tendon issues, including carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis and more
• Help develop cardio vascular system

Bison-1 WILL NOT:

• Make your forearms bodybuilder-like huge

We can now see that Bison-1 delivers performance enhancement, not looks. With that in mind we will look at how Bison-1 increases strength, endurance, and flexibility separately.

Note: even bodybuilders will be able to benefit from using Bison-1, statistically, European bodybuilders get rid of wrist straps within one to two months of using Bison-1. Increased forearm and wrist strength allows to perform more lifts and focus more on the target muscles, instead of dropping the weight due to not being able to hold it anymore.

Forearm Strength Training with Bison-1

Bison-1 Forearm Equipment

The efficiency and effectiveness of Bison-1 for forearm training is in the evolutionary combination of isometric and isotonic, or static and dynamic exercises due to its all-directional freedom of movement. As we now know, after reading the previous articles on the Bison blog, isometric training is focused mainly on developing tendon strength through extended time of maximum amount of tension applied to the muscles and tendons. Dynamic on the other hand is mainly focused on the muscle growth. The biggest reason for the success of Bison-1, is the combination of exercises targeted on both – muscle and tendon growth. From the Isometric training Exposed article we know that tendon strength is very important for a considerable strength increase, in fact tendon strength training exercises are essential for functional strength training. Functional strength training as we know from the Functional Strength training article gives us ability to enhance performance during a wide range, or a focused number of activities, depending on the purpose.  From the Rules of Strength Training, we also know that flexibility is a major factor in strength training, which not only decreases joint and muscle injuries, but also lets muscles work up to their full potential allowed by the tendons. Due to a constant application pressure during any exercise with Bison-1, we are also looking at bone strengthening, allowing us to lift larger amounts of weight.

It is exactly this combination in this exact order of priority that makes Bison-1 unique and undisputed in the world of forearm, wrist, and grip strength training:

1. Static/isometric training
2. Dynamic/isotonic training
3. Muscle and tendon stretching
4. Bone hardening

It is important to remember that functional strength training’s purpose is increasing performance during certain activities, or combinations of moves, not a single isolated move or muscle. As we all know, even if we are involved in any activity involving repetitive movement, each time we perform the movement, it is still somewhat different from the previous one, as we are not robots.  Let’s look at the baseball batting. Although from the side hitting the balls seems to involve the same muscles and body movement over and over, however, it is not the case. Every hit involves muscles differently some more then others, the muscles and joints will be involved in the activity at slightly different angles and levels, as well as deal with more or less impact. We see that in order to truly train the baseball batting movement from the forearm perspective, we must do it at different angles, planes, and resistance levels! There is truly no other equipment on the market that allows to do that, besides Bison-1. Whether it’s hitting a baseball, doing an arm-lock, holding a gun, or even recovering from an injury, multidimensional and multidirectional exercising of the wrist is very important.

Now let’s take it to the next level! With Bison-1 you are not only able to train a certain wrist movement in any direction or from any angle, you can also train transfers. Let’s say we are back at the baseball field, and we are swinging at the flying towards us ball. In the middle of the swing we realize that we need to correct a little, so this is where this movement transfer training becomes very important! A large number of injuries in sports occur exactly during such unprepared for and rapid movement direction changes. Bison-1 let’s you practice such wrist movement direction transfers, and since the load is caused by friction and not weight or momentum, it is easy to adjust it for the weakest links, such as unusual, uncomfortable, and untrained wrist movements (this is the reason for Bison-1’s success in physical rehabilitation).

So let’s take a look at some exercises closer to see how exactly static and dynamic exercises are integrated together to produce such rapid results in the forearm strength increase:

Front Arm Bicycle

The exercise is very self-explanatory; the video below shows its execution. This exercise is a perfect example of isometric training of the grip and wrist strength, combined with dynamics of the upper body.  Since we are trying to keep the equipments handles parallel to each other during the exercise, and the wrists in line with the rest of the forearm, we are receiving static pressure on our flexor and extensor muscles and tendons responsible for moving our wrists up and down (wrist curls), throughout the whole path around the circle of the movement. At the same time we are gripping the Bison-1 handles as hard as possible, in order to avoid their twisting inside the palms.

Note: The handles have been purposely engineered allowing easy twisting inside the hand to allow for betted grip training, with dented-in rings preventing them from slipping out of the hand on the side during certain exercises.

Now the question arises – Why is this forearm equipment so much more efficient and you get such a burn from just after 20-25 full rotations vs. squeezing a rock for your grip or pushing the open palm against a wall isometrics? The key here is in multidirectional tension application – multidirectional isometrics are being implemented in one exercise!

Figure 1. Bison-1 Arm Bicycle - Backward Rotation - Grip Isometrics

Figure 2. Bison-1 Arm Bicycle - Forward Rotation - Grip Isometrics

Figure3. Bison-1 Arm Bicycle - Forward Rotation - Forearm and Grip Effect

Figure 4. Bison-1 Arm Bicycle - Backward Rotation - Forearm and Grip Effect

Figures 1 and 2 show how the pressure direction changes as the athlete’s wrists move in a circular trajectory during the arm bicycle exercise. In the figures, arrows represent the directions in which the maximum amounts of pressure are applied. The red arrows represent the direction in which the pressure is applied to turn the handles, the blue arrows represent the opposite direction in which the Bison-1 handles put the maximum pressure on the wrist. This way we are applying maximum pressure of isometric hold and squeeze at different angles and are influenced by the isometric tension from different directions; switching from pinch to crush –type grip training. Figures 3 and 4 demonstrate how the Arm Bicycle exercise stresses the flexors and extensors of the wrist, as well as grip strength via the isometrics. During the Front Arm Bicycle the red stripe represents the range of the stress on the wrist flexor muscles, and the blue – on the extensor. The gray stripe represents the approximate range of the isometric tension training the grip strength. Figure 4 represents the same effect during the Reverse Front Arm Bicycle exercise with Bison-1.

Also, as easy as the exercise seems to be performed, many athletes that use Bison-1 for the first time find out that their forearm balancers and coordination skills make it first very awkward to perform this workout. It is very important to remember to implement the exercises properly! Remember, in strength training quality is much more important than quantity! The proper way of implementing training with Bison-1 includes going around the full range of motion: if it is a rotational exercise – have the rotating handle walk the rim of the locking ring, if it is a push-type exercise – try to get the handle hit the rim on the in and out movement every time. If you are not able to do a full range of the movement, release the load on Bison-1 and focus more on the stretching. After a few tries, the wrist motor apparatus and coordination skills will advance.

These few exercises showed exactly how isometric/static training was combined with dynamic/isotonic to produce multidimensional and multi-directional training. On top of this all, let’s add the ability to perform the same exercises in different starting positions (in front, behind the back, above the head…etc.) , therefore, giving the ability to train the same muscles and tendons from new angles. The advantage of Bison-1 is that it involves even the deeper and more neglected muscles during the wrist training, since we are loading them from different angles. This strategy will create an overall tension feeling and a rock-hard forearm muscle after training with Bison-1. This is the deadly combination delivering five to seven times more effective results for forearm, wrist, and grip forearm strength training.

Wrist Flexibility Training with Bison-1

As we have mentioned, flexibility is vital for linear or functional strength training: not only it decreases injuries by making muscles and tendons stretch more and at different angles, thus decreasing amount of injuries, yet also making muscles perform better.

Many of exercises with Bison-1 involve and require a full range of wrist motion. Going back to the Front Wrist Push exercise – when we push out, we flex the outside forearm muscles and tendons, and stretch the inside ones; vice versa when we pull the exerciser’s body back in. The athlete is required to push the exerciser body out and pull it in as far as possible, pushing the wrists further at those angles and stretching them.

It is a well known fact that the best joint or muscle stretching occurs following their intense activity, while they are awake, tense, and warmed up. Bison-1 combines such stretching with flexion, enhancing wrist flexibility.

The best exercises for wrist flexibility include the ones with dynamic wrist involvement: pushes, pulls, and rotations. Since you can do the same exercise in different starting positions (in front, behind the back, above the head…etc.) you are able to stretch the same muscles and tendons from different angles.

Forearm Endurance Training with Bison-1

Endurance in strength training is defined as the ability to perform a given activity with maximum intensity, and is measured by time.  Bison-1 allows you to easily and precisely adjust the amount of resistance, giving you a choice of doing more or less repetitions during each set, therefore, alternating between strength and endurance focus.

The wrist dynamic training, by involving all the forearm muscles simultaneously pushes your muscles to the maximum, creating a skin tearing feeling of pressure building up during high intensity workouts. This type is of intense training is in itself presents the core of endurance, where we are undergoing a maximum intensity workout for an extended period of time.

On top of this, isometric concept behind most of the grip strength training exercises already involve the element of grip endurance training by squeezing the equipment’s handles as hard as possible to prevent then from twisting inside the hand or sliding out, while doing such static squeeze for as long as it takes to complete a chosen number of repetitions.  This type of grip strength and endurance training via isometrics, allows for a strong support grip training, which is the most important and widely used subtype of grip hold.

Bison-1 Muscle Confusion

Figure 5. Muscle Confusion.

Muscle confusion has been a very hot topic recently in many types and directions of resistance training. It is however most extensively used in functional strength training. Bodybuilders are usually most familiar with the concept of reaching the strength plateau. Once an athlete includes a new exercise in the workout, the performance, strength, and muscle growth usually has a quick jump during the first few workouts, then it gets into a linear increase, however, after a certain period of time you hit a plateau – no considerable effect from that exercise. At this point it is advised to switch exercises for that certain muscle group. While bodybuilders try to do it before they reach that plateau of no performance increase, functional strength training athletes do it a lot more frequently by training the same muscles from different angles, stimulating new tendon and muscles growth!

Bison-1 due to its all-directional freedom of movement, allows over 100,000 exercise variation, which a perfect piece of equipment for a muscle confusion strategy. Bison-1 allows you to use multiple grip types, and implementing the same exercise at different starting positions and planes. Such large number of exercise variations, with the ability to change the load amount from none to almost a static lock, make it virtually impossible for anyone to ever reach the performance increase plateau while training with Bison-1. At this point you may argue that, you can also implement muscle confusion wrist training with dumbbells as well, since they are free weights and your exercises are not restricted by anything.  – Wrong! Although you can trying doing wrist curls at different angles, you would always need additional support for your arms to implement the same curls in front of the body, above the head, behind the back…etc. The problem is that the dumbbell concept is based on their weight, however, the forearms and wrists are generally much stronger than other muscles of the upper body, and have a higher level of endurance. What this means is that nobody will be able to do the same wrist curls they do using a bench or a leg to support the lower arm while sitting down, in front or behind the back, simply because the shoulders will give up long before the forearms will get fully engaged.

Conclusion

There is a good reason, in fact, many reasons, why Bison-1 is the best forearm exercise equipment available on the market at this point. Many world-class coaches and physical therapists recommend Bison-1 for rehabilitation and any sport where arm and forearm strength is important. These are trainers and coaches that trained multiple world Champions, they have years of leading training experience behind their backs! While you could say that athletes advertise anything nowadays, we urge you to check out the Awards page, along with the government testing report on the Testimonies page. Bison-1 has revolutionized the world of forearm, wrist, and grip training.  Its all-directional movement freedom allows for multidirectional and multidimensional, static and dynamic, multi-positional forearm, wrist, and grip strength, endurance functional training with grip variations and virtually endless muscle confusion strategy.