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Big
biceps are what most gym-going men yearn for and, after the pectorals
(chest muscles), biceps are the most exercised part of the body.
But two other parts of the arm that many (even seasoned) gymmers
forget to exercise are the forearms and the wrist flexors. Weak
wrist flexors or forearms, besides making them prone to injury,
can limit the growth/strengthening of biceps and triceps. Also,
stronger forearms can help support other muscles while lifting
weights for most upper body exercises and even in compound exercises
that use upper and lower body muscles, like the dead lift (BT,
November 20, 2005).
Yet you won't see too many people exercising
their forearms and wrist muscles. But there are several simple
exercises that can make your forearms and wrists strong and building
them into your routine won't harm. Here's an easy one that can
even be done at home:
Tie a piece of rope around a metal (or wooden)
rod or thick stick; attach a weight at the other end (a dumb-bell
does fine). Now, as in the illustration, hold the stick or rod
with your forearms parallel to the floor and elbows fixed at the
side of your torso. Without moving your upper arms or elbows,
use only your wrist muscles to twist the rod to wind the rope
around it and lift the weight right up till it touches the bar.
Now reverse the process, unwinding the rope by twisting the rod
in the opposite direction and lowering the weight to the starting
position (see illustration for help).
While twisting the rod, it is important to
avoid jerky movements. Also, keep your forearms parallel to the
floor and elbows fixed at the sides of your torso through the
movement. The exercise sounds simple but can be tough in practice.
The dividend: it's a preventive against wrist injuries. What's
more, if you want a really buffed look for your arms, you cannot
neglect a vital part of them.
Other forearm exercises include the wrist
curls. The commonest way: sit on a bench with your feet shoulder-width
apart; hold a barbell with both hands (palms up) and rest your
elbows on your knees; now, without moving your elbows or forearms,
curl your wrists; the same exercise can be done with a reverse
grip (palms facing downwards). Both of these can be done with
dumb-bells or at a cable machine. Incorporate a weekly forearm/wrist
exercise in your routine and you'll see how much more you can
lift in your bench presses, shoulder presses, dead lifts and even
biceps curls.
-Muscles Mani
write to musclesmani@intoday.com
Caveat:
The physical exercises described in Treadmill are not recommendations.
Readers should exercise caution and consult a physician before
attempting to follow any of these.
ALL
ABOUT BLACKBERRY THUMB
It
is called the blackberry thumb in parts of the world where the
e-mail device from Research In Motion is popular. Repetitive pressure
on the thumb, the preferred digit to scroll down messages, even
type replies for those one-hand users (most people prefer to use
one hand, the right if they are right-handed, say, to type on
the Blackberry; in such cases, the thumb is the only digit free
enough to access the keypad) can cause damage to the digit. Now,
although there are some 2.5 million Blackberrys in the world,
there aren't too many in India (where Airtel offers the service).
However, India does have around 67 million mobile phone users
and a good number of this uses thumbs for the short messaging
service (or SMS) utility. Ergo, Indian doctors may not know a
Blackberry Thumb when they see one just as they won't a Gamer's
Grip, Nintendo Thumb and PlayStation Thumb, but they do know that
too many SMSes could cause damage to thumbs. Here, they simply
refer to the problem as Mobile-related Syndrome.
"Although, the disease is rare in India,
people using mobile phones very often develop thumb injury and
neck strains," says Dr M L Sindwani, a consultant with Batra
Hospital, Delhi. "People often come to us with traversed
fingers and our suggestion to them is to minimise the usage of
mobiles phones and computers as much as possible," he adds.
Treatment: A person suffering from the BlackBerry
Thumb may wear a splint and apply ice to the affected area. The
treatment for someone suffering a SMS Thumb would be the same.
With treatment and rest, recovery could take six to eight weeks.
In some cases, however, it could take six months. And surgery
may be required as a last resort. An external keyboard may be
a solution to this problem as could a sub-notebook that is easy
to carry (or new-gen smart phones with full keyboards). Our suggestion:
talk whenever it can be a substitute for a SMS.
-Manu Kaushik
PRINTED CIRCUIT
Have Phone, Will Talk
The Nokia N70, LG M4410, and RAZR L6
 With
over a 100 models to choose from, there's a phone for everyone
these days, and three new phones sum that up very nicely. The
first is the Nokia n70, the first of the company's next-gen phones.
It boasts two very good cameras, is a 3g phone, can handle e-mail
and is the ideal all-in-one phone for someone who wants power
and is not unwilling to pay for it.
 The
second is the LG m4410. It has the standard toys, a 1.3 megapixel
camera, Bluetooth, edge, and an SD card on which you can load
music. Then, there is the phone itself, flashy and rather uniquely
shaped.
 The
last is Motorola's razr l6. Last year, the company launched the
razr v3 (launch price: Rs 40,000), which told the world that Motorola
could make sexy phones. Now, Motorola has launched the razr l6
for India. This is a super-thin, stylish phone that comes with
everything the v3 had, in the candy-bar (as opposed to clam-shell)
form Indians seem to prefer.
Price: Rs 27,900 for Nokia n70, Rs 13, 125
for LG M4410, and Rs 8,905 for Motorola razr l6. The razr V3 is
also available and it now costs a mere Rs 14,495.
 Game
In A Box
The XBox 360
Microsoft
never brought the Xbox to India and it is unlikely that it will
launch the new 'Son of XBox' in the country. However, the console,
which has just gone on sale in the us, isbeing acclaimed as the
greatest thing since the, er, ps2. We are yet to get our hands
on one but the first pieces are expected to hit India's grey markets
(Delhi's Pallika Bazar, Mumbai's Heera Panna market, and Chennai's
Ritchie Street) soon.
Price: $399 (Rs 17,955) for a console, two controllers, and a
few games. Expect to pay around Rs 25,000 (approx.) in the grey
market.
Never Forget A Face
Riya
 This
is a first for this section. Riya is a utility that is in alpha-testing
(read that as by-invite-only testing, but it is possible to wrangle
an invite) and no a-t utilities have, as yet, featured here. Riya
is a start-up (the founders are Indians) on the US West Coast
with a tech back-end in Bangalore that promises to make hi-tech
face recognition available to everybody. The concept is simple,
you tell the software that you download from the website the name
of the person on a picture (might be you) and the software will
scan every single digital image on your hard drive (and even your
online storage-Flickr, Ofoto etc) and recognise every photograph
that has you in it. That's something. P.S.: The buzz is that Google
is acquiring Riya for $40 million. That, Rs 180 crore, is something
too.
Download from: www.riya.com (if you can wrangle an invitation).
-Compiled by Kushan Mitra
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