The creators of forearm weights claim that these interesting weighted sleeves can help you recover from injuries faster and improve your athletic performance.
But are these claims really true?
Let’s take a look at what forearm weights can and can’t do for you. Also, we’ll look at the best place to buy these training accessories if you’re interested in giving them a shot.
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What are forearm weights?
But first, what are forearm weights? Forearm weights are weighted sleeves that you wrap around your lower arms while playings sports or going about your daily activities in order to apply resistance to your muscles.
The term may also refer to wrist weights. While they do have similar effects to forearm weights, wrist weights aren’t suitable for use during competitive sports because they can easily come loose.
Forearm weights, on the other hand, have a snug yet comfortable fit because they’re essentially weighted sleeves, meaning that they fit very close to your skin.
Forearm weights benefits
Forearm weights aren’t just a specialist tool. Whether you’re a high-performing athlete, rehabbing after an injury, or just seeking to build more forearm strength, these weighted sleeves can offer some excellent benefits.
Faster injury recovery
Compression can help you recover faster from injuries and muscle soreness after a workout by improving blood flow in your limbs. This helps to shuttle blood to damaged connective tissue in order to help it heal quicker. [1]
Ultimately, this quickened recovery enables you to get on with what you enjoy doing rather than being sidelined with an injury.
Improved rehabilitation
While stretching and lifting weights are great to do for rehab, sometimes you just wish that you could regain your lost strength faster. Well, with forearm weights, you can. They offer the compression benefit of faster muscle recovery while also challenging your muscles with some resistance.
So compared to wearing regular compression sleeves, you’re getting a fair amount of forearm tension by wearing these weighted sleeves. This novel accessory will add muscle because your lower arms aren’t used to performing daily activities while under resistance.
Enhanced sporting performance
If you can play excellent basketball, baseball, or golf while wearing forearm weights, then the game will feel ridiculously easy once you take them off.
While there are many sports-specific tools that can help you with certain parts of your activity, such as improving your golf swing, they can be complicated and time-consuming to set up.
However, with forearm weights, you just slide them on and start playing. That little bit of extra resistance might seem challenging at first (and that’s a good thing), but once your muscles become accustomed to the tension, you’ll reach the same level of performance while wearing these sleeves as you previously had while not wearing them.
Research also shows similar benefits while wearing ankle or wrist weights. [2]
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Where to buy forearm weights
While some specialist sporting shops might sell forearm weights, you’re going to find the best deals online. This pair of adjustable forearm weights, for example, has resistance levels from 1-5lbs, which is actually quite a lot when you’re wearing them for a prolonged period of time.
They’re also made from durable materials so that you can use them during sports without worrying about the quality degrading. Of course, they’re not invincible (nothing is), but they’re definitely suited to the athlete as well as to someone who’s looking to gain general strength and mobility.
The verdict on forearm weights: Worth your money?
While there are many ways to strengthen your forearms and improve your sporting performance, few methods are as simple and cost-effective as wearing a pair of forearm weights.
We might wish that we could play our favorite sport while holding dumbbells, but it’s just not practical!
Forearm weights speed up your recovery from injuries and from training by promoting blood flow to damaged ligaments, tendons, and muscle tissue. This means that you’ll experience less soreness the day after a hard workout.
These useful weighted sleeves will also boost your sporting performance by making movements such as swinging a golf club and shooting a basketball that bit harder during training. So when you take them off on game day, you’ll feel that bit stronger, more accurate, and more confident.
References
- Hill, J., Howatson, G., van Someren, K., Leeder, J., & Pedlar, C. (2013). Compression garments and recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage: a meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48(18), 1340–1346. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2013-092456
- Green, A. S. (1991). The Effect of Ankle Strapping on Knee and Ankle Angle in Treadmill Walking and Running. Physiotherapy, 77(2), 107. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0031-9406(10)63609-7