Will Weighted Hangs Make Your Forearms Bigger?
Table of Contents
Introduction
Being able to hang for time is very useful in real life and can even save your life in certain circumstances. I have always been a big proponent of grip strength and believe that more people should incorporate activities into their training to improve their grip.
In this article I will explore weighted hangs in more detail and share my own thoughts regarding this topic.
Will Weighted Hangs Make Your Forearms Bigger?
The key as with any other exercise is progression. If you make progress with your weighted hangs by being able to add more weight and time to your holds, your grip will get stronger.
As a consequence your forearms will also grow indirectly. It is also important that you are consuming sufficient calories. If you are in a big caloric deficit, this will impede muscle growth.
You won’t be able to gain as much muscle and therefore forearm growth will also be impeded. A lot will depend on what other pulling exercises you are already doing that heavily involve your forearms.
Weighted Hangs Will Improve Grip Strength
Lets say that person A has a bodyweight of 100kg, starts with a weighted hang with 10kg extra and is able to hang for 30 seconds.
If they progress the weighted hang and are able to hang for 30 seconds with 25kg extra at the same bodyweight, they have gotten stronger on this exercise.
Their grip will have improved and indirectly they should add some size to their forearms. How effective weighted hangs are for adding forearm size is debatable.
There are other exercises which will yield a greater benefit in terms of forearm growth. I will discuss these later on.
Hang From A Fatter Bar To Make Your Forearms Work Harder
Doing weighted hangs off of a fatter bar will make your forearms work harder. Overall, it will make weighted hangs a lot more challenging.
You will find that you will not be able to hold onto the bar for as long. If you don’t have a fat bar to hang from, you can make pull up bars fatter by using fat gripz.
Previously we have discussed on this site the benefit of using fat gripz.
If you are going to be using fat gripz to make your weighted hangs harder, I would advise starting with just your bodyweight. See how long you can hang onto the bar for and then aim to progress from there.
Using fat gripz will make your grip and forearms work even harder. You should experience more growth in your forearms from fat gripz weighted hangs than regular hangs.
Weighted hangs with fat gripz will also transfer very well to regular weighted hangs. You will find that weighted hangs with the pull up bar feel a lot easier now that you are used to a fatter bar.
This is one of the big benefits of fat gripz and fat bar training. I am a huge advocate of incorporating this type of training into your routine. Your grip will get a lot stronger and your forearms will grow!
One Arm Weighted Hangs
One arm hangs are an advanced exercise and are a lot tougher than standard hang using both arms.
With one arm hangs you have to support your entire bodyweight with just one arm. This also requires a lot more stabilisation from the core.
Your grip will get worked even harder with one arm hangs. There is no doubt that if you get stronger on weighted one arm hangs, your forearms will blow up.
Your grip will get a lot stronger and you will reap the benefits of this improved grip strength. However, there are some concerns pertaining to the one arm hang which I will discuss.
The biggest concern related to one arm hangs is the injury risk aspect. Hanging from the bar with just one arm can increase the risk of suffering muscle strains.
The lats in particular are easily strained from hangs and pull ups. If you are doing weighted one arm hangs, there is a lot of stress that you are placing on your lat as well as your core.
Therefore, I would not advise most people to do one arm weighted hangs. There is simply too big a risk of tearing a lat. Lat tears are very bad and can be extremely debilitating.
Some people never fully recover after tearing a lat. They are hindered for many years on certain pulling movements. I would advise doing exercises like suitcase carries instead.
They still involve using just one arm and require a lot of core involvement. But they are far less risky than one arm weighted hangs.
Alternative Exercises
In my opinion, there are even better exercises if your main concern is getting bigger forearms. Heavy deadlifts and farmers walks are two of the best exercises that you can do if you want your forearms to grow.
Dumbbell zottman curls with fat gripz are also a fantastic exercise for building up the forearms. They are an isolation exercise and you will feel an incredible burn in your forearms when performing them.
Doing some form of hand gripper training regularly will help you to improve your grip. Getting stronger on hand grippers will add some size to your forearms as well.
Lastly, a wrist roller or some alternative bit of equipment is useful for working the forearms incredibly hard. You can really target your forearms well and hypertrophy them over time with consistent effort.
>> Previously on this site I have talked about how you can build forearms like Popeye!
Final Thoughts
Will weighted hangs make your forearms bigger? There is no denying that getting a lot stronger on weighted hangs for time will make your grip a lot stronger.
Indirectly, this will also add some size to your forearms. This is also dependent on your diet. If you are not eating enough calories and are in a deficit, this will impede your muscle growth.
For better results you can try weighted hangs from fatter bars. You will find that your forearms will have to work a lot harder to hold onto fatter bars. In addition, you will experience better gains in terms of forearm mass.
One arm hangs are particularly brutal. I would not advise weighted one arm hangs for the majority of people. This is because the injury risk is too high and you are better served trying different one arm exercises like the suitcase carry.
If you have any comments on this topic please leave them below. As always, stay safe and enjoy your training!
>> What Is The Difference Between A Suitcase Carry And A Farmers Carry?
