What's up guys, this is Michael Kamalu aka Dr Gains, and this is part two of my three-part
forearm series. In part one, we did an overview of the posterior compartment of the forearm, which
houses the extensors, and then honed in, and did a deep dive on the Brachioradialis. Specifically,
in this part two, we're going to go over all the rest of the extensors, and as I said in
the previous video, the extensors can be thought of as the ones that make up that fan on the back
of your forearm. We're going to go over the ones that are below that Brachioradialis on top. I'll
start by giving you an exercise I developed that will allow you to hit all the forearm
extensors the way that you want to. Then, we will go into the anatomy of the forearms to understand
why that exercise and that technique is effective, including why. If the only thing you're doing to
work your forearm extensors are rollers or some other form of static extension of the wrists.
You are leaving a lot of gains on the table, and the anatomy and biomechanics behind all of it is
really cool, and really important for weight lifters to understand so make sure you watch
through to the end even if it means you have to come back later and review parts that you missed.
Remember, you can always use the key time stamps that I put in the video description
to skip right to specific parts of the video. But enough of that, let's get to the workout for
this exercise. You'll start by standing a few feet behind, and to the side of the cable. Then, while
keeping your elbow locked, you'll grip the handle in an overhand position, and begin alternating
between relaxing your fingers, and letting the weight drop down to the ends of your fingertips.
Then hyperextending your wrist back while simultaneously extending your fingers back,
bringing the weight back and up. Imagine trying to bring the weight up so that it's sitting on
the back of your wrist, and while you're doing the finger and wrist extensions, you'll simultaneously
be walking slowly back, and forth starting from that position, where the origination of the
cable is. In front of you, walking forward until the cable is directly to your side,
and then walking forward even more until the cable is coming from behind you as you do the
wrist extensions, and then continue doing the extensions as you walk back. You want to walk
slowly enough that you're getting at least five reps of the hyperextensions while walking forward.
And five, as you walk back when your body is behind the cable, you want to emphasize
the abduction of the wrist that will naturally happen as a result of the angle of resistance.
And when your body is in front of the cable, you'll emphasize the natural adduction of the
wrist that will happen at that position. Both of which I will explain in more detail here shortly.
Now, there is a free weight alternative to this technique for those of you who may not
have access to a cable machine. It's just a lot harder to do because it's more difficult
to manipulate angles of resistance with free weights. I haven't had time to record it yet
but it's on my to-do list to record, and share a video of in the future so make sure you're
subscribed, and turn on those post notifications so that you don't miss it in the meantime. If
you don't have access to a cable machine, this technique does work well with resistance bands,
and I will put a link to the specific resistance bands that I would recommend in the video
description if you're in that position. Now, let's do a deep dive into the why behind the workout I
mentioned at the beginning of this video that, if all you're doing are wrist extensions, and static
wrist extensions to work the forearm extensors, then you're leaving a lot of gains on the table.
And by static I mean along a single plane with the same resistance angles, and the reason for that
is that the forearm extensors are responsible for a lot more than just extension and hyperextension
of the wrist. In fact, of the 12 muscles there's not a single one that only does wrist extension
and hyperextension. Many of them don't do wrist extension. Let's start by taking a
look at the anatomy of the two extensor muscles that are at the top of that fan right below the
Brachioradialis and that is the Extensor Carpi Radialis Longus and Extensor Carpi Radialis
Brevis. Both of those muscles like most of the extensors originate here on the lateral aspect
of the Distal Humerus it's called the Lateral Epicondyle, and then they travel down and cross
the wrist bones to insert at the base of what are called the Metacarpals. Those are the bones
that go through the middle of your hand so they insert right at the bottom the base of your hand
just across the wrist so, when they contract, they do pull that back of the hand back and do wrist
extension and hyperextension. If you're confused by that extension is bringing your hand to neutral
hyperextension is bringing your wrist even further but, if you look at those muscles, they don't go
straight down do. They will curve out and then you can really see it at the bottom. They curve
back in before they insert on the back of the hand so, because they are already originating
on the lateral side of the forearm, and then curve in before they insert on the hand. They
are pulling this way they're pulling laterally and that is called wrist abduction. That is why, in
this technique that I showed you, you start behind the cable. Because, when you're in that position,
when you are extending hyperextending your wrist, you're also naturally abducting your wrist. Just a
matter of your position, and the angle between you and the cable when you pull up, you're also going
to be abducting your wrist. The further back behind the cable you go, the more that will be
pronounced and you can go further back than I demonstrate in the video. But, when you're at
that position, behind the cable in this exercise. Try to emphasize that abduction aspect as you are
extending, and hyperextending your wrist, and you will nail the Extensor Carpi Radialis Brevis
and Longus along with the other forearm extensors that are also located on that lateral side of the
Posterior forearm, which includes the Abductor Pollicis Longus, the Extensor Pollicis Longus,
and the Extensor Pollicis Brevis. Those three deal with extension and abduction of the thumb,
which again, the natural position of you being behind that cable will force you to do,
and you can emphasize it even more by focusing on that when you're in that position of the exercise.
Now, let's take a look at the Extensor Digitorum which is generally the second largest of
the forearm muscles in the Posterior compartment. It also originates up on that Lateral Epicondyle,
and then travels down and it also does have one insertion point on a metacarpal. So, it
does pull the wrist back and is involved in wrist extension and hyperextension, but that's obviously
not all that it does. Right? You can see that it expands and then it has insertion points on
the middle and Distal Phalanges of all four fingers minus your thumb, so it's inserting
in the middle and farthest most section of your fingers. So, when it's contracting it
is extending those fingers back and that is why, in this technique I mentioned, it's important that
you let the handle drop down to the edges of your fingers. Then, when you are extending your wrist,
you're also extending your fingers back and this is an important distinction. You're not
just curling your fingers in, that would work the anterior compartment, the flexors and that's not
what we want to do now. We'll get that in part three. You're not just curling your fingers in,
you're actually extending them backwards as you hyperextend your wrist. That action
of having the weight at the end of your fingers and focusing on extending your fingers backward.
That is what is going to really nail the extensor digitorum. This is another reason why it's harder
to replicate this exercise with free weights, because if you were to try and hold a free weight
with the edges of your fingers, it would just fall, right? Because, with the cable, you're
able to get it coming at an angle. You're able to get that in the edges of your fingertips and get
that extension without the weight falling out of your hands. This technique of using the edges of
your fingers and extending your fingers back. It's also going to ensure that you're hitting
two of the other extensor forearm muscles. That is the Extensor Digity mini-me and the extensor
indices those two are responsible for extension of the pinky and the index finger respectively, and
they do not have any insertion points on the Metacarpals. They go straight to the middle,
and distal sections of each one of those fingers. So, they are not involved in wrist extension
at all. They are only focused on the extension of those fingers, which again, is why if you're only
doing those forearm rollers or static extensions of the wrist. You're not even hitting those two
at all and only very little on the extension digitorum. Finally, let's look at the medial
side of the forearm extensors, which would be at the bottom of that forearm fan, and there we have
the Extensor Carpi Ulnaris, and by the way, with all of these muscles, you can tell what they're
going to do by their names. Right, so we had the Extensor Carpi Radialis Longus. So, extensor it
extends and carpi carpet is because carpus refers to these bones on your wrist. Carpi means wrist so
extensor, carpi extends, the wrist radialis. It runs along the radius and longus. It's a long
muscle okay? So, on the other side, we have the Extensor Carpi Ulnaris, so it extends the wrist
and it runs along the ulna. The important thing to note here is that, although it is involved in
extension and hyperextension of the wrist that is definitely not traveling straight down. In fact,
if you take a look at that insertion point, it is completely out on the farthest side as possible
on that Metacarpal bone. It is as far medial as you can get, so when it's pulling it's not pulling
straight back, it is pulling in, and that pulling in is called adduction of the wrist. That's why,
in this technique, you're walking out until the cable is coming from behind you, because
when you're in that position, and you extend your wrist you're naturally going to have an aspect of
adduction to that motion. The angle of the cable at that point is actually going to provide
resistance against adduction. Just like when you're behind it, there is actually resistance
against that abduction movement. When you're in front of it, there is resistance against that
adduction, and so again you can improve that by just focusing on adding that aspect of
adduction to what you're already going to naturally get in that position and nail Extensor
Carpi Ulnaris. Since the forearm extensors are so complex, and there are so many different angles
going on. It's not exact right and that's why we don't only work them from those three different
positions. From behind to the side, and in front but you are doing those wrist motions throughout
the whole time as you're walking back and forth, making sure you're hitting those extensors in as
many different angles as possible. Making sure you're getting a full complete workout on all
of those forearm extensors. Guys, if you thought this video was valuable i'd appreciate you hitting
that like button and leaving me a comment as those things will help youtube recommend my content to
others, and if you haven't yet be sure to add your name to the Beta tester waitlist for my
Maximum Gain Series Forearm Program that is in development. I will leave the link to that in
the top right of the screen, and just for adding your name to that list you will get 50% off when
it's available to Beta test. As always, if you have any specific content requests or feedback,
you can find that link in the video description below. Mahalo my friends, until next time.