Hi listeners, old and new. Coach Kevin Donne here with another weekly injection of fitness facts.

So last week I got into a conversation with someone about arms. I was out at a coffee shop

and someone asked me what exercise I do for my forearms

and then got in an argument with me when he refused to believe that the answer was,

I don't train.

Reminded me of a funny anecdote by the actor Rowan Atkinson,

who was in a car dealership when someone said,

you look like that fellow that plays Mr. Bean.

When he confirmed that he was indeed the actor who played Mr. Bean, he was then confronted with an angry person who didn't believe him and didn't appreciate being trolled.

So, what's the deal here?

Do some people really just have big forearms, big caths or any other muscle group?

Well, yeah, maybe. But also, whilst I don't directly train my arms, I do still hit them in my training.

This is called indirect training. So I train in judo, and there's a fairly significant importance on grip strength.

Being able to hold onto your opponent and throw them is kind of the key concept.

Regular listeners will know I also train in gymnastics, another sport with a lot of grip involved.

So indirect training can be a powerful intervention.

And why? Well, let's think about the animal kingdom. So visualize for a moment, if you can,

the vast African savannah. Tall grasses being swept side to side by the warm breeze

and over the horizon stomps an elephant, followed

closely by a herd of gazelle. The gazelle skip lightly over the land as the elephant

treads somewhat more heavily because they have vastly different leg sizes. Now, I've not seen

elephants doing squats, so what gives?

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