As seen below, pinch grip rows can be performed with concrete blocks identically as you would with a stone. Do not allow the block to touch the ground and challenge your pinch grip endurance with moderate to high reps.
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Clean and Press
Concrete blocks can also be used for a lighter weight clean and press. This exercise could be performed on its own or with two blocks as part of a circuit. In either case, you are not working with a considerable amount of weight. As a result, it is not difficult to make room for this type of movement within a routine. Pinch grip endurance will be taxed while the rest of the body is spared from too much difficulty.
Those who have never trained pinch grip seriously will likely struggle for even single reps. Fortunately, you can train pinch grip directly without significant loads.
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Farmer’s Walk
Concrete blocks can also be used for a lighter farmer’s walk. For instance, suppose you have performed a strenuous lifting session. The body is taxed from heavy barbell work such as deadlifting. It may not make sense to perform a heavy farmer’s walk. One worthwhile alternative would be to instead perform a lighter variation. Concrete blocks are one of many options. Pinch grip endurance will be taxed while the rest of the body performs minimal work. A few minutes will be all that is necessary.
Although a few minutes may seem insignificant, it is often these small additions that prove most valuable. For instance, when discussing brief finishers or mini-workouts, I often reference the following mathematical example.
Suppose you add a five minute finisher to your workout three days per week. The total addition to your weekly routine would be 15 minutes. Fifteen extra minutes each week is a blink of an eye when you consider how much total time is available. Each day consists of 1,440 minutes. Each week consists of 10,080 minutes. To add 15 minutes of work to a week that has 10,080 minutes isn’t difficult and may even seem pointless. You may even wonder how much can be accomplished in an extra 15 minutes. Surprisingly, the answer is plenty. Fifteen minutes each week is 780 minutes a year, which is 13 hours of work. Can you imagine 13 hours of non-stop lower arm training? That’s a lot of time. And if you bumped up the finisher to 10 minutes instead of 5, now you are looking at 26 hours of additional work each year. As you examine the math, it is not difficult to see how the small additions can accumulate into something much more significant.
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Sandbags
Sandbags are another tremendous odd object. An abbreviated definition of a sandbag is a bag filled with sand or another material such as wood pellets, pea gravel, or rubber mulch. Depending on the materials used, the inner contents are either dumped directly into a larger bag (often referred to as the outer shell) or added to filler bags which are placed inside the outer shell.
For example, sand is a fine material so if it were dumped directly into the outer shell, there is a good chance the small particles would eventually leak. Therefore, filler bags are used to house the sand. A common do-it-yourself option for filler bags involves using tire inner tubes. Tire inner tubes are quite durable and often easy to find.
As you can see to the left, the tire inner tubes are cut into smaller pieces. Start by securing one end with a zip-tie and duct tape before filling the tube with sand. Next, you would secure the opposing end with another zip-tie and more duct tape. These filler bags will then be placed within the outer shell.
If you do not wish to use filler bags, be sure to use a material that will not leak through the outer shell. Rubber mulch is one example. While not nearly as dense as sand or gravel, rubber mulch will last a lifetime and will not leak.
In the pictures that follow, the outer shell is a naval sea bag with seams that have been reinforced with an industrial strength seam sealant. The end of the bag is closed with a zip-tie which is then wrapped in duct tape.
As for the relevance to lower arm development, almost any sandbag lift that is executed without handles will challenge the hands. As you can see, my hands must grab the actual bag material. Doing so is much more difficult than grabbing a carefully constructed handle. Strong hands and fingers are required to lift and control the heavy, awkward object. Performing lifts with this grip is similar to grabbing an opponent’s jersey or gi. It is extremely challenging to maintain a proper grip when moving or controlling considerable weight.
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Clean and Press
As was the case with stones, cleaning and pressing a sandbag is a tremendous display of real world strength. Not only must you fight the shifting inner contents within the bag, you must also maintain a solid grip on an object that is not intended for gripping. When grabbing the bag’s material from the top, the hands will be challenged considerably during the initial pull. It is from there that you will release and then catch the bag in a more favorable position to allow for an overhead press.
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An easier way to clean the bag would be by cupping the hands underneath. By starting from such a position, hand strength will not be challenged as considerably during the initial pull. If you wish to develop the hands, grab the bag from the top or side. Initially, it may feel awkward or even painful to the fingers. With consistent practice, the lower arms will adapt to the challenge however. Just be sure that the finger nails are trimmed short before attempting this variation.