Realized I was gripping dumbbells way too tight during my workout yesterday

I was at the Planet Fitness on 3rd street doing bicep curls when my forearms gave out before my biceps even felt tired. Turned out I was squeezing the handle like it owed me money for the whole set. Eased up my grip on the next round and suddenly I could actually feel the curl in my arm. Has anyone else found themselves white-knuckling weights without realizing it?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora18412h ago

The Planet Fitness on 3rd is actually where I had the same thing happen with the leg press. 3 months ago I was pushing so hard on the handles that my shoulders cramped up after 10 reps. I loosened my grip to barely holding them and my quads actually did the work for the first time. The funny thing is I still catch myself doing it with the cable machines now. I'll be doing tricep pushdowns and suddenly my fingers are white. So yeah, you're not alone in this.

tylerg301h ago

The leg press is wild for that. I started going to the one on Broadway and same deal - first few weeks I was gripping the handles so tight my forearms were sore the next day. Once I figured out I could just rest my hands on them it was like a whole different exercise. The cable machine thing is real too. I caught myself doing lat pulldowns last week and my grip was way too tight again. Its almost like your brain thinks gripping hard equals working hard even when the muscle you're targeting doesn't need it. Took me a solid 6 weeks to break the habit on most machines.