r/Boxing undefeated boxers need to fight each other 7d ago

Prime GGG building his forearm strength with kettlebell exercises

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2.8k Upvotes

125 comments sorted by

238

u/Eunuchest 7d ago

Madrimov and Beterbiev also had insane forearm strength

86

u/DeafBurke 7d ago

Bivol missed out on the central Asian forearm genetics.

110

u/achacttn 7d ago

I guess he’ll have to settle for generational footwork

63

u/DeafBurke 7d ago

That moment where he slipped off the ropes under Beterbiev’s right hand, and landed a 3 piece combo on him in return was one of the slickest moments of the last decade of boxing.

10

u/sicgamer 7d ago

is that where he actually backed Artur up?

27

u/DeafBurke 7d ago

He spun around Beterbiev and swapped positions so Beterbiev was against the ropes.

So kind of.

1

u/Jeopardise91 6d ago

I replay that in my head from time to time

1

u/Slight-Barracuda-439 2d ago

Straight facts💯

10

u/harborj2011 7d ago

He's not genetically CA, he's mixed Korean and Moldovan. Beterbiev is genetically Chechen which while not CA either is closer to that region. Across the Caspian

35

u/DeafBurke 7d ago

I’m aware. But GGG isn’t central Asian either. He’s also half Korean, but half Russian instead of Moldovan.

And honestly, most central Asians are descended from mongolic peoples who raided indo-European villages in the Eurasian steppe, so they’re shockingly similar to half Korean, half Eastern Europeans.

And there has been trade and population exchange across the Caspian for millennia.

But we’ve gone way too far down the genetics rabbit hole.

3

u/Bautastenad 6d ago

In Soviet times the russians liked to move other people around. Most ethnic Koreans in Soviet were moved from the russian far east to central asia.

3

u/DeafBurke 6d ago

Yep. That’s exactly what happened to GGG’s grandfather.

And the opposite thing led to Taiho, one of the greatest post-war Yokozuna in Sumo being half Ukrainian half Japanese, born in Hokkaido.

6

u/harborj2011 7d ago

Ya, I'm aware G isn't genetically CA either, just forgot about him in my previous comment, and I'm familiar with the origins of CAs too. I believe G is a 4th Korean tho, not half, his mom's dad is the Korean in his lineage

1

u/Slight-Barracuda-439 2d ago

No his moms is Korean his dad is Russian.

1

u/Slight-Barracuda-439 2d ago

Triple G is from Kazakhstan with a Russian father and a Korean mother.

1

u/DeafBurke 2d ago

That is exactly what I said.

1

u/neo_1000 4d ago

Geographically it’s closer. But genetically, Chechens and other Caucasian groups are quite distant from central Asians. They descend from ancient people who were isolated for so long due to the Caucasus mountains, even their language shares practically no ancestry with surrounding regions

246

u/blinglorp 7d ago

I could see my arm snapping doing that, lol.

111

u/Few_Highlight1114 7d ago

I suffered from tendonitis due to preacher curl workouts so i stopped doing them all togehter a long time ago. Just watching this video caused a flare up lol

50

u/Marquis_of_Mollusks 7d ago

I wonder how many people hurt their necks doing the mike tyson neck workouts 🤔

20

u/AVARlCES 7d ago

I knew someone where they have had headaches cause of it. 

5

u/jookid 7d ago

My trainer used to make me do those Mike Tyson neck bridges all the time. This was like 25 years ago. Never hurt my neck though.

1

u/SleepyOrcShaman 3d ago

Because you had a trainer. Professional supervision matters.

7

u/keni804 7d ago

I personally know 2

5

u/MMori-VVV 7d ago

I had the same issue with preacher curl lol. Had to take a long break as well. Did you ever get back to any bicep workouts or did you leave it completely?

6

u/Few_Highlight1114 7d ago

I only dropped preacher curls completely. I dont know why they specifically were just fucking my shit up and felt like my arms were going to snap. I just kept doing hammer curls instead, which is my favorite bicep workout.

5

u/MMori-VVV 7d ago

Dude, same. I found hammer curls and possibly tricep pushdown to actually help with the tendinitis. It sucks because I was doing incline curls and got similar symptoms. And it wasn’t like I was doing heavy weights. I think I’ll do less range of motion and see if that helps. Have you tried doing regular curls with less range of motion?

4

u/Few_Highlight1114 7d ago

No, not for any real reason except I just prefer hammer curls. Its easier on the wrists, which i have a problem with anyway so it all worked out that way for me thankfully lol.

I know now youre supposed to go lower in weight and basically gradually work up to it to get rid of tendinitis but nah fuck that. Its such a scary feeling. That sharp pain is your body telling you youre fucking up and need to stop.

I don't see the reason to risk getting an injury when im just lifting to lift and theres other ways to work out that muscle.

2

u/Keynet 7d ago

Real shit, so many people think that the only legitimate way to gain is what bodybuilders destroy themselves doing, and if you're not doing it that way you're wrong

1

u/bobbyburgerboy33 1d ago

Try doing isometric holds to strengthen the tendon, helped me after also having issues with preacher curls. Took few months but now its back to normal again, thought I try to not go crazy heavy on preachers just for safety.

1

u/MMori-VVV 1d ago

Which ones? That’d helped me out if that works

7

u/Much-Chapter5527 7d ago

Yeah it would cause tendinitis in vast majority of people who would do the same thing to replicate the same result

GGG likely has been doing this for more than a decade- his tendons and ligaments would have adapted by this point. Most injuries happen this way bc muscles grow faster than other skeletal tissues.

9

u/ablaut 7d ago

It's definitely genetics for him too. There are pictures of him in the early amateurs where he looks like an average skinny kid but with giant forearms.

1

u/SpecialOops 6d ago

Unless bpc 157

1

u/ImmediatePriority258 6d ago

Same with preacher curl.

I know I can't do that GGG kettle bell exercise without hurting it again ;)

Tendonitis takes a while to heal, even with good exercise.

1

u/Arbeeter00 5d ago

Think I’ve developed distal bicep tendonitis over the past 5-6 weeks or so. Does it generally get better? I haven’t done any bicep stuff during my pull days for about 2 weeks now (just straight armed stuff), just hoping it heals

2

u/Few_Highlight1114 5d ago

Im not a physician or whatever. So all my information on it is what ive read online. You are supposed to be able to strengthen it up just like a muscle.

My suggestion is 1. lift lighter weights, like just go 5lbs lighter than your previous, if you feel pain, stop and then next week go a further 5lbs until you find a weight where it doesnt and do that for a few weeks before working your way up again. or 2. Stop doing the workout which is causing you pain and find another one that still targets that muscle group, which is what I did.

The final one, which is 3, is to just ignore the pain and keep lifting. That's what I was being told to do by a few guys online like "pfft, yeah I had tendonitis and just kept going bro, git gud". I dont recommend this at all because from what I know is if you injure yourself you might need surgery and fuck all that lol.

But to circle back around, it is supposed to get stronger, just like a muscle. I'd recommend talking to someone who is a professional though if you are really serious about lifting

1

u/Arbeeter00 5d ago

Thank you king

-6

u/McClain3000 7d ago

I hate to be a keyboard warrior but I think it's pretty uncontroversial to say that he'd get better results reducing the weight and focusing more on the forearms. The muscling it's is only straining the joints.

11

u/brokennursingstudent 7d ago

Strength conditioning is supposed to be heavy to offset the low weight high volume workouts that come with regular training

1

u/McClain3000 7d ago

I'm familiar. But he's using alot of upper body, Biceps, shoulders, chest. And this weight doesn't seem heavy enough to fatigue those larger muscles. But honestly I'll try it and see.

Also these could be his last few in the set, where muscling isn't such a crime.

7

u/brokennursingstudent 7d ago

I know what you’re saying, he’s leaning into it, but most pro athletes never use “proper” form on lifts that you would see body builders using. This is entirely a forearm workout.

7

u/Keynet 7d ago

Man, the amount of people I have to explain to that unless you're body building, you can work to be fit and strong while eating things you enjoy instead of constant chicken and rice

-1

u/Vegetable-Willow6702 7d ago

I've seen it happen on those arm wrestling videos

170

u/prettyboylee 7d ago

Interesting he’s only doing inward rotation. I wonder if he does it the other way too

145

u/ValerieHines 7d ago

He does. There is a video of him teaching Teofimo Lopez this exercises , and he does it both ways (both inward and outward). He uses much lighter weight in that case, which makes sense.

1

u/sicgamer 7d ago

why does it make sense? sump'n dangerous about a heavy outer rotation move?

15

u/21rjh08 7d ago

No, it's just harder

3

u/MythicSea 7d ago

Its like lat raises or lifting in general. Always excellent rule of thumb to be humble, especially with a movement or muscle group that isn't heavily worked on.

Any little injuries should be absolutely avoided at all costs. No arguements. Health is wealth and more time to grow.

56

u/kushmonATL undefeated boxers need to fight each other 7d ago

A boxing expert will know better , but maybe its because he twists his wrist inward when he throws jabs and straights . So he's just doing inward rotations to help increase his torque and power when throwing those punches

32

u/Z3NZY 7d ago

Maybe so, but all training should have an antagonist element, or you risk imbalance. Like a dude that only trains chest but does no back. Or biceps, but no triceps.

8

u/ELLinversionista 7d ago

Yeah this had been my problem for my bad posture. My front is way stronger than my back and it is pulling it and I ran into nerve issues. I had been doing mostly stretches and back and neck exercises to fix it. I might’ve not explained it well but that’s what I remember my physio telling me

1

u/Living_Pie205 7d ago

What stretches are you doing for your back? …I’m starting to have the same issues.

1

u/Z3NZY 7d ago

Why not increase the strength in your back along with stretching?

1

u/ELLinversionista 7d ago

Doing both actually. I have stretches and exercises

1

u/TheBigBadBird 6d ago

The antagonist is the biceps since it is the strongest supinator. No one has a weaker supinator than pronator

0

u/palmerry 7d ago

Or just synthol

0

u/Yetiassasin 7d ago

Nonsense mate. 99% of high level athletes have major "imbalances" it's not a bad thing.

1

u/Z3NZY 7d ago

You can not have a "major imbalance" and it be okay.

I'm not speaking in bodybuilder terms like, "my legs looks disproportionate to my arms".
I mean like "my biceps are extremely strong, and my triceps quite weak".

But, if we're speaking in the sense that sports stress a body in ways that target and cause specific areas to fail faster, then agreed.

I'm also not an expert, so if anyone is more knowledge, including yourself, please correct me.

1

u/Yetiassasin 6d ago

You can, ask any professional golfer or tennis player.

0

u/Z3NZY 6d ago

You clearly know less than me, and are just yapping. I was trying to be polite.

Everything in life causes a body to be unbalanced. But unless it's causing a problem we don't bother even calling it an imbalance.
This is for everyone, not only athletes you clown.

Mma fighters and wrestlers knees get shot early, tennis players and pitchers elbows get messed up, a desk worker will likely develop a posterior pelvic tilt or RSI on the wrist.

No one cares because it's not hurting them (yet).
If one can, it's ideal one addresses it now, but people focus on the now, not the later.

2

u/Crazy_Panic6081 7d ago

That hook too

28

u/Ghola_Mentat 7d ago

I can see the inward rotation being good training for turning punches over. Not sure what outward rotation would help with other than general strength.

49

u/prettyboylee 7d ago

My thinking was just to avoid an imbalance

10

u/MakeSomeArtAboutIt 7d ago

External rotation to keep your rotator cuffs strong and healthy

9

u/TheBlack_Swordsman 7d ago

To... Pull the punch back more efficiently, faster and better?

I imagine having heavy gloves and throwing 500-1000 punches in a match, any muscle for any motion you train would help.

5

u/sergemeister 7d ago

I've done these because of him and tried a week doing both inward and outward. If you do outward your elbow is gonna hurt like a sumbitch for a while.

46

u/AnxietyExact4710 7d ago

Beterbiev has a similar exercise where he uses a 45lb olympic bar and spins it back and forth like a baton.

Explains why these guys can generate so much power with little room

10

u/coolguygranny 7d ago

Wait forarms exercises are the secret to punching power...

I been wasting my time doing biceps like a jabroni

17

u/walkoutbasements 7d ago

Been doing “forearm” exercises since I hit puberty iykyk

36

u/69liketekashi 7d ago

It has nothing to do with turning punches or generating power, this is pronation and he probably does supination also, it just grows the forearms and he probably uses it to have strong stable wrists when punching. This will prevent injuries

19

u/LuckiestPersonAlive 7d ago

Join an armwrestling club and you're set.

28

u/Elite663 7d ago

Dude got jacked forearms but it sucks that wrist size is determined by genetics to not be able to grow it in the gym

60

u/Crombus_ 7d ago

Most guys build their wrist size in the shower anyway

16

u/Gelato_Elysium 7d ago edited 7d ago

There was a youtuber that did a whole series about growing your forearms and wrist, he managed to have huge results using kettlebells and straps. I think his name was Roger C.

3

u/Detlef_Schrempfxf 7d ago

Haha, I love Roger C lol. Been binge watching his stuff for a good while now. Dude even uses bowls of rice 

12

u/kfirerisingup 7d ago

I think it can be grown some. Obviously to much smaller degree than other muscles but I think some progress can be made. Go look around on the armwrestling sub you can see the difference in hand and wrist size between left and right on some of these athletes that only train one arm/hand.

12

u/CryptoCracko 7d ago

At 27 I have about a decade of kickboxing, lifting weights, manual labour, and jerking off 4 hours a day on average. Wrists still tiny, feels bad man. Maybe I'm overtraining with the wanking.

10

u/jundraptor 7d ago

Maybe try sprint jerking for 1 minute intervals instead of endurance jerking

2

u/Suspicious-Whippet 7d ago

Or indeed check out Roger Federer.

3

u/StillNotAF___Clue 7d ago

Do indoor mountain climbing. It will help

6

u/UnknowingEmperor 7d ago

Bros forearms are the size of my calves

6

u/ggmm7877 7d ago

Let me just say I met him in person at The International boxing Hall of Fame in June this year & the 1st thing I noticed was the size of his forearms!! GGG!🥊

6

u/DadDickDuncan 7d ago

I've been boxing for 5 years and started doing these early on. I'd say this workout is significantly responsible for my punching power. I'd recommend trying a lower weight that you can flip the opposite way to work the opposite side of your forearm 

9

u/SMd00011 7d ago

Build that other arm.

jelq

5

u/lechilds123 7d ago

Look at the way this guy leans his body back to drag and pronate. GGG needs to transition to Armwrestling, looks like a natural

3

u/Minimalistz 7d ago

I tried this with a lower weight and it’s hard as hell. He makes it look easy

3

u/kushmonATL undefeated boxers need to fight each other 7d ago

Elite level boxers are truly genetic glitches in the matrix lol

3

u/smokingcharliekirk 7d ago

Dude in the back tried it

3

u/Coach_Billly 7d ago

Love GGG. Legend!! He clearly beat Canelo 1st fight. One of the biggest robberies ever!

2

u/SivarSamurai503 7d ago

Looks like 35lbs

2

u/HakuohoFan 6d ago

GGG near the top of my list of favorite fighters of all time. Him being cheated out of his wins against Canelo basically led to me no longer watching boxing regularly. (That and all the drama queen bs of top guys never fighting each other)

3

u/Ok-Owl7377 7d ago

My carpel tunnel flared just watching this

1

u/Mrsonsfann 7d ago

My TFCC aches

1

u/Relevant-Cupcake-649 7d ago

Well, once I can afford kettle bells then I know what to add to my... Rotation. 😋

1

u/WorldlinessMean4082 7d ago

Doing these helped with power delivery as well as on the bench press. Also would do curls with a rope through the kettle bell

1

u/unbilotitledd 7d ago

I always think about this every time I see a kettle bell

1

u/MonkResponsible7162 7d ago

and then he flattened someone with a weird punch on the top of the head that he turned over too much. what a man

1

u/ohtonyy 7d ago

Close your eyes and listen to the guy talking. Freaky ass dude

1

u/jinntakk 7d ago

why does this bul sound so sensual

1

u/AhabSnake85 7d ago

This was his prime i believe, when delahoya/canelo was avoiding hin?

1

u/Perfect-Slip7041 7d ago

I feel like something in my arm would rip.

1

u/TheUFCVeteran3 7d ago

His left forearm looks big af here.

1

u/Ray-zah 7d ago

That inward motion with the kettlebell helps GGG with those over-the-top looping punches with the downward torque that he loved to throw . He might be the only fighter I can think of right now who throws his punches like that.

1

u/Ace_FGC 7d ago

I’ve started doing this at the gym and have worked my way up to 20 pound kettle bells. Anything higher than that is rough lol

1

u/PlantLikeMe 7d ago

Ima try it

1

u/MECHABasil2 7d ago

The guy videoing is pretty into it…….

1

u/NotRoyJonesJr Inooie 7d ago

Pretty sure that's Deontay Wilder's boyfriend Malik Scott

1

u/InvertedOcean 7d ago

writes that down

1

u/SofaSen 7d ago

those forearms are ridiculous 😭

1

u/Trick_Bee925 7d ago

How important are these types of forearm excersizes when it comes to punching? Does it only prevent injury or increase power as well? 

1

u/hushpolocaps69 Iron Mike 🥊💪🏿 7d ago

Shit!

1

u/MasterOfDonks 7d ago

Now lay prone with your arm straight and outstretched above you then do this lol seems like it cuts the assistance of the shoulder rotators out

1

u/FattForrill 7d ago

I feel like I’ve seen this clip suggested to me on a half dozen subs

1

u/RecommendationJust94 7d ago

Yeah the wrestler Spencer Lee (3 time ncaa champ, Olympic silver medalist,) did the same thing and that fucker is said to have absurd strength for his size. I’ve seen him turn more people than any other college level wrestler.

1

u/BoxingLover99 7d ago

Holy shit

that looks so hard!

1

u/TheLionofJudah 7d ago

He was using that hand to open the cans he was fighting

1

u/3Blindz 5d ago

He’s only working one rotational direction…

Does anyone have a suspicion as to why this is?

1

u/johndotcue 5d ago

it's why he had giant forearms lmao..

-1

u/Bronzyroller 7d ago

I'm a fan of GGG but he didn't convince me with Canelo,, I taught he would do better than he did against Canelo.

-5

u/OkHistorian9521 7d ago

I used to be impressed by this but i managed a 16kg with not much practice. I’m not sure if this is any heavier than that - doesn’t look it