Yours truly plate curling a 45lbs disc, easily my absolutely baddest ass feat of strength
I have searched and searched and searched for someone who could do this, I came out empty handed. So I decided to do it for you yesterday…moving on
I have written many times about the plate curl, king of curls. In my opinion this is the critical element missing from your training right now. Allow me to sell you on this superior drill for total arm strength.
The plate curl is a leverage lift and a pinch lift. You secure the plate with the forceps power of the thumb and fix it with a wrist and finger strength. The amount of stress placed upon the wrist and elbow is unreal compared to a dumbbell of the same size. This of course is related the the displaced center of mass and the small base of support of the thumb and fingers.
There is no “incorrect” way to do this. it is a curl, so curl. Some things which i recommend
- Pinch the plate and hold it firmly
- I focus on a straight wrist and I do not allow it to extend back. A bent wrist during the plate curl can be very harsh on your tissue and will damage you if you ignore your feedback.
- I do not do not use swing on the plate, I work to keep the movement strict and beautiful.
Naturally I advocate you allow your feedback to fully guide you on weight, reps, sets, rest times, and frequency.
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{ 20 comments }
Strict and beautiful. That’s you.
What would be the best way to add weight to a plate curl? Taping plates together?
Taping plates would work. I bought some cheap strong magnets from ebay and use them
Nasty
that is soo good Adam!! awesome!!!!
HELL YA MAN!!!
A thing of beauty to watch. Really, it is. CONGRATS!!!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
Nice with the 20kg/44lb, but where’s the 45lb plate curl?
Just kidding.
Great job!
R
Kick ass
Off the sheet dude ! That is insane. Nice work
I’ve been doing plate curls since you first recommended them Adam. A great exercise for sure. And to do them with a 45 is monstrous!
Logan, I have a 50lbs piece of plate steel cut to a plate shape, it is 22 inches long. I believe this will be the logical end goal. To curl that in this style would be truly epic pinch/finger/wrist/arm strength.
Adam, the very idea of an “end goal” relevant to any of your endeavours seems surprising to me. Especially one “only” 5lbs from where you’re at!
I thought it’d be “compressing the world into a disc shape and curling it from the moon”.
Piers, you do not understand. The added few inches plus 5lbs translates to several HUNDRED additional inch pounds of stress on the arm. for example.
Leverage lifting requires some different thought on progressions. Progress is certain, but not linear.
Haha, Adam, I know mate. I was merely being facetious (sometimes a bad habit of mine). I’ve played with plate curls a little and even pinch gripping the end of a hex dumbell and curling that strict you realise how much difference a little weight distribution shift can make.
As someone with a genetic disposition to overly flexible and easy to injure joints, leverage lifting is something I’m very interested in, but need to be ultra careful re: volume. I’ve seen that it’s easy for me to tip from constructive to destructive just by moving too much; so easy does it.
That just puts me in awe of what you achieve mate.
So SICK , SO hard you make it look so easy great stuff
I’ve seen 45lb plate curls before, but never, ever strict. Awesome.
Awesome stuff, your form is TIGHT!
I’m working on a very hard curl (for me) with a long concrete block, once it’s smooth I’ll put it up for scrutiny.
Adam that is one of the best all time strenght feats I’ve seen in a while.Not many can perform that feat of strenght that strict without a little motion .Your dedication in what you do surely pays off and motivates others to be better at what they do.So thank you.
Thank you Richard.
Today I tried curling a 25lbs plate.
Ehm.
How the hell is that so friggin hard?! Adam you have Herculean forearms. (Not that I’m aware of any grip feats of strength from Hercules)
Anyway… That’ll be very interesting to work on! Thanks for being such a model to look up to.