Ali deadlifting the fat-bar at the Turkey Challenge
The fat-bar is back for the second day in a row. If you missed yesterday's WOD, be sure to get in today to get your hands on a fat-bar. Here is some great info about fat-bar training courtesy of the CrossFit Journal.
How and Why Thick-Bar Training Works
Understandably, many people have trouble seeing how something as simple as switching to a thick bar can create major strength gains, not just in the hands and forearms but throughout the body.
There are several reasons why thick bars work well:
1. Irradiation and Harder Muscle Contractions
Thicker handles stimulate far more muscle activation in the hands and forearms and in the upper arms and entire upper body. It works by the principle of irradiation.
When you contract a muscle hard, the muscles around it contract as well. Therefore, to get a maximal contraction in your biceps, for example, you need to get your forearms contracting maximally, too.
Because thick bars make your hands and forearms work harder, the contractions in other muscles that include the biceps and triceps, and even the muscles in the shoulders, back and chest, will contract much harder. That means more strength and more muscle.
In thick-bar training, you have no choice but to grip the bar hard because it’s difficult to hold onto. If you use a weak grip, you won’t be able to hold on. When you do pressing movements, you will be able to generate a better squeeze and more tension on the bar compared to a thin bar. This will allow you to use the irradiation principle to the max. You will be able to lift more in the military press, bench press, etc.
2. Weak links—and Neural Inhibition—Eliminated
Your body is highly sophisticated. It has protective mechanisms built in to minimize the risk of imbalance and injury. Therefore, it will hold back the strength and size of some muscles if it detects that other muscles around it are too weak. This is known as neural inhibition.
This is one reason successful powerlifters work hard to build huge, powerful back muscles—to improve their bench press. It sounds counterintuitive at first. But training your back “pulling” muscles gets you stronger on your front “pushing” muscles. They do this because they know their body needs that balance and stability to get stronger. Thick bars make your hands, fingers and forearms so much stronger that your body can finally stop holding back the strength gains in your upper arms, back and chest. This point cannot be emphasized enough. Your hands, wrists and forearms are almost certainly your weakest link, and once you strengthen them, your upper-body strength will go through the roof.
3. Training at all Angles Automatically
Thick-bar training automatically trains your hands, fingers and forearms at all angles. If you are bench pressing, the thick bar will train your hands and forearms in a completely different way than if you are doing chin-ups on a thick bar.
4. Concentration/Focus
Because thick bars are harder to handle, you need to concentrate a lot harder to lift the weight. Some credit this alone with making them significantly stronger.
Thick bars are more difficult to control. Compared to an Olympic barbell, a bar with a 2-inch or 3-inch diameter seems like a truck axle. Imagine bench pressing, military pressing and deadlifting a truck axle! That’s what it feels like when you use a thick bar.
Click here to read this artical in its entirety in the CrossFit Journal.
RT @crossfitjournal: Single-speed bikes debut at the @CrossFitGames tomorrow. Read what Coach Glassman has to say about them: http://t.c ...
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