Man's World Issue 1

they came to measure over 18". Even today,
an 18" upper arm looks impressive, but in the
1960s an 18" forearm was something truly
special. At the time, few bodybuilders did
specific forearm work.
And Chuck's forearms weren't just for show.
It was his forearms, in particular, that he
credited with helping him develop the
massive strength he was also famous for. He
was the second man ever to be able to bench
press 600lb, after Pat Casey, who broke the
world record in 1967, with a raw 615lb lift.
Like his mentor Bill Pearl, Chuck would
regularly dress up in the manner of an oldtime
strongman and perform feats of
strength, such as crushing spike nails,
bending steel bars held in his teeth and
inflating and exploding hot-water bottles.
Central to Chuck's forearm training regime
was a simple variation of a traditional wrist
curl. The exercise is sometimes attributed to
Dave Draper, seen performing it in the
picture to the right, but Dave has stated on
the record that he was taught it by Chuck.
The starting position is the same as for a
standard wrist curl. The top of the forearm
rests along the top of the thigh, with the
hand and wrist hanging over the knee. Now
a simple change makes this a Sipes curl and
not a standard curl. Twist the torso on the
same side as the working arm so that the
shoulder comes closer to the wrist. Continue
leaning in that fashion until the upper part of
the working arm is more or less parallel with
the floor. Maintain this position as you
perform the curl, focusing closely on the
movement as you would a concentration
curl.
Chuck integrated this exercise into a variety
of different wrist routines, which included
seated wrist curls with a bar, reverse curls
and reverse cable curls, isometric squeezes
with a hard rubber ball, and heavy cheat
curls.
A simple way to integrate this into an arm
routine would be to follow Dave Draper's
basic arm routine, which he performed three
times a week. After working biceps and
triceps, perform five supersets of barbell
reverse curls and wrist curls, alternating
sides for the wrist curls. Aim for a serious
burn.
Three Lives of Golden Age Bodybuilders is
available in paperback and Kindle ebook
formats from Amazon. A free pdf version, as
well as free pdf versions of Raw Egg
Nationalist's two other books, is available via
linktr.ee/raweggnationalist
MAN'S WORLD
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