Don't let the silly name fool you; this exercise can be tough to perform, and will stress muscles that you might not be accustomed to working hard.

This lever bar classic will build your wrist strength and stability. If your sport requires you to swing some piece of equipment (such as a bat, racket, or club), you will be able to swing it harder after training on this exercise. The increased wrist stability that you will gain translates to better control of your equipment. Harder, more controlled swings means more home runs, harder serves, longer drives, etc.

To perform the exercise, imagine a 180 degree arc, such as that formed by a rainbow. You will rotate your wrist, while holding the rest of your arm as still as possible, through a 180 degree arc. Start with the lever bar pointing inwards (across your torso) while your knuckles are facing upward towards the sky. At the midpoint, your knuckles will be pointing to the side, while the lever bar points straight up. At the finish, your palms will be up and the lever bar will be pointed to the side.

Start very, very light to make sure that you can totally control the weight throughout the entire movement. Sweep through the arc slowly, in a controlled manner, and stop completely at the horizontal position for both the starting position and the finish position. Do not, repeat, DO NOT, allow the lever bar to fall below the horizontal position at either end of the arc. This can cause a twisted wrist injury. This is not a heavy weight movement - high reps, controlled form, and volume is better than trying heavy low or single reps (the risk of injury is too high with heavy weights).

Keep your elbow tucked in to your side throughout, hold your forearm horizontal and straight in front of you, and maintain a 90 degree angle at the elbow. The movement should come entirely from your wrist, not the elbow. Only your forearm should be rotating around during a rep. See the pictures below, which show a view from the front and the side for each of the starting, midpoint, and finish positions. Always work both arms equally to maintain your body symmetry.

It is possible to change the resistance during the course of a set, simply by changing the position of your grip on the bar. The more "choked-up" your grip, the less leverage will exist and the less resistance to the turning movement you will experience. You can take a choked-up position to warm-up, and then reposition your hand to do the working reps. Then, as you get tired and approach muscle failure, you can reposition your grip again to continue doing more reps. In this way, you can do a type of "drop set" for maximum intensity and results. Happy hitting!

Starting position...

Midpoint position...

Finish position...

A very choked-up grip position on the lever bar...