If you want a stronger grip (and you should), this exercise is going to do it FAST.
This exercise combines two forms of resistance into one killer exercise. Just FYI, you will need to be strong in the chin-up and with your grip to do this one, but it's going to take your strength to a whole new level.
First, you're going to be mimicking a forearm roller, which is a rotary exercise done specifically for building forearm and grip strength.
The specific band-roller method I'm using here I learned from Josh Bryant of JailHouseStrong.
This is a GREAT technique on its own...now we're going to combine it with Fat Bar Chin-Ups.
Yes, you're going to be doing a wrist roller exercise WHILE you're doing a chin-up.
It's awful...you're going to love it.
How to Set Up Band-Barbell Forearm Roller Chin-Ups
To do this one, you'll need a few things...a band (I'm using a medium green one), a power rack, a bar and some weight. I like to use a bumper plate for this one, though you could use a regular steel plate or even a kettlebell or dumbbell.
Set the safety rails up to about forehead height. Set a regular bar on top of the rails and put a couple of 45 lb plates on the other end of the bar to counterbalance. I weigh about 200 lbs here and two plates was plenty for me, even with the weight on the band.
Put the band through the center hole of the plate. I'm using a 45 lb bumper plate here.
Now put one end of the band through the other, to create a simple bale hitch. It locks the band down onto itself and onto the plate.
Pull the hitch tight then lift it up and hang it on the end of the bar, in the middle of the fat end.
You're almost there...
Now, if you just leave it like that, the band will just slide over bar as it rotates...it won't catch.
You need to grab more of the band and loop it over the bar again, on top of itself.
This is what allows the band to "catch." It needs that bit of friction so that when you rotate the bar end, the weight gets pulled as the band loops around the barbell end.
Now the fun begins...
Take an underhand grip on the bar, rotate it a little until the band catches on itself. Now hang from the bar.
Do a chin-up, pulling yourself up. And as you do that, rotate the bar end (down and under so your wrist is rotating towards your face) one hand at a time, so the weight is being lifted by the band looping around the bar.
Do this "hand over hand" style as you keep trying to do a chin-up (it's tough to actually DO one here...I mostly ended up holding the 90 degree elbow position most of the time as I rotated the bar).
Once you've got the plate up about as high as you can (when it starts to hit your forearms), then you can more easily finish the chin-up.
Now set your feet on the ground and unroll the band manually and under control.
This is an "up-only" exercise...there's no need to do an eccentric on this because there's no real practical way.
Once you've unrolled the band, do another rep. Grip the bar and rotate it until the band catches on itself, then pull yourself up again.
This one is an absolute MONSTER on the forearms and grip...definitely not a beginner exercise.
It gets into the meat of the forearms like nothing else I've ever felt. The combination of supporting your bodyweight on a fat bar, as you do a loaded wrist roller exercise (which means one hand at a time it taking up most of that bodyweight load) is nothing short of evil.
Don't do this one before you need to do anything else that requires any grip strength (trust me).
To work the neutral hand position on grip and forearm training, try Two Barbell Hammer Curls.
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Want more unique and challenging exercises to work your entire body with simple equipment? All you need is just a barbell, dumbbells and a bench. Check out The Best Home Gym Exercises You've Never Heard Of!
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