Utter importance of Barbell Curls

[whale]

Hi Rip,

You are probably annoyed already so I will keep it short. Someone might find this amusing but this is serious business. So a quick story and a quick analysis.

The other day I had to carry a heavy ass stove. All I could do is bend at the elbows and shrug the stove. Afterwards I felt pain in my wrists which went away but it felt like tendons/ligaments.

So, the next time life asks me to carry weird heavy objects I wanna have strong wrists. Now, many would say just do your pulls and chins but those movements are done with almost vertical forearms and the movements don't require you to actively fight against wrist extension. So there is no significant moment arm on the wrist. We also avoid that moment arm on presses.

Since this is a Q&A board, is there any exercise that builds strong wrists except heavy Barbell Curls?

[Mark Rippetoe]

All exercises that involve holding a heavy bar build strong wrists, if the weight is heavy enough.

[FatButWeak]

I know what this guy is talking about. I can feel my ulna and radius wiggling around a bit in my wrist and elbow when I carry something heavy and my forearms are parallell-ish to the floor. I've got pretty weak, lax joints. I do barbell curls as recommended by Rip - straight bar curls. I believe that they, more than other exercises, have made a difference.

[BenBoskovski]

You can always Chrome dumbell wrist extensions on a bosu ball

[Maties Hofstede]

Is it the wrist or higher up your fore arm?

Whenever I do curls, the moment I rack the bar its like someone stabs a knife halfway the wrist/elbow. When I was still a “bro” and did curls regularly it would get so bad i couldnt spot a bench, or carry any heavy object with parallel forearms.

I can spot and carry anything, as long as I DONT do the curlss... just food for thought i guess.

[whale]

Is it the wrist or higher up your fore arm?

Just the wrist.

Rip has a point. I foolishly used analogy like: you can't build strong back with shrugs since there's no significant moment arm on the hip. But you can't really train a shrug like you can train a deadlift so the analogy is flawed. Later on, if it's not causing troubles there's no reason not to curl, right?

Thankfully I'll not move the stove in a few years. Just enough time to pull 500.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Have you read the book? Barbell curls are in the book. Have you seen the barbell curl videos we have done? Look them up.

[whale]

Yeah, and the part I remember the most is: "Since you're going to do them anyway...". Guess I was under impression they were not important at all in any context.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You are under the wrong impression. They can be important, but they are usually a major diversion from actual training.

[m_sporkboy]

You are under the wrong impression. They can be important, but they are usually a major diversion from actual training.

That is basically SS code for nobody has any business doing them before they’ve completed LP, right?