Now yes, this does LOOK like a gimmick exercise because of the setup, but once you analyze it, you'll see how powerful it actually is for developing the forearms.
Your back will get some work, but because the load is necessarily lighter, your back is not the primary focus.
The wrist extensor muscles are going to take the brunt of the loading on this exercise. The forward-loaded bar wants to tilt your wrists down. The extensors have to fire hard to keep the wrists from collapsing down.
As well, the brachioradialis muscles are working stabilize the radius (forearm bone), reinforce the wrist extensors and work during elbow flexion in the row.
For setup, you'll need a couple of dumbbells and an empty bar. Depending on how strong your forearms are, you can use either an Olympic bar or an EZ curl bar.
I'm using a pair of 65 lb dumbbells here. Set them on the floor just outside shoulder width in a neutral position.
Set the bar on top of the dumbbell handles, as far as can put it towards the front.
Grip on the dumbbell handles BEHIND the bar (I did try it with the bar behind and it didn't work very well, FYI).
Now pick up the weight. Let the weight of the bar tilt the dumbbells forward and down.
Row up to the top, like a normal row.
As you come up, try and bring the dumbbell handles to horizontal. This will bring in the wrist extensors even more strongly.
Repeat until you approach (or get to) failure.
Aim for about 4-7 reps per set. We want to use a good amount weight for this to really challenge the forearms.
For more grip strength work, try Double Coan Holds
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