Feeling like you’re always losing in arm wrestling matches? Or maybe your forearms seem to vanish when you wear long sleeves? Your forearms are just as important as other muscles, and training them can actually be enjoyable!
In this post, I’ve got 6 killer forearm exercises to help you build strength and confidence fast!
#1 Dumbbell Wrist Curls
You can perform these workouts using both arms simultaneously or concentrate on one arm at a time. I prefer the single-arm approach because it allows me to establish a mind-muscle connection by touching my forearm and maintaining stability by anchoring my working arm to my thigh. This method ensures a more focused and controlled workout experience.
HOW TO DO:
- Sit down and hold a dumbbell in one hand
- Rest your forearm on your thigh or a flat surface with your palm facing up
- Slowly curl your wrist upward, bringing the dumbbell towards your body.
- Lower the dumbbell back down, controlling the movement.
Tips:
Push yourself to do as many reps as possible until you feel a burning sensation in your forearm and your wrists can’t move any further. This burn signifies that you’ve reached failure and pushed your muscles to their limits.
One effective technique is to do drop sets. if you’re doing 3 sets of 16 reps with a 16 kg (35lbs) dumbbell, after completing those sets, immediately switch to a lighter weight, like 10 kg (22lbs), and continue without rest. This keeps your muscles engaged and maximizes hypertrophy!
#2 Ez Barbell Reverse Curls
Credit: https://www.fitnessai.com/exercise/ez-bar-reverse-curl
HOW TO DO:
- Hold an EZ barbell with an overhand grip (palms facing down). Your hands should be shoulder-width apart. Keep your elbows close to your sides throughout the exercise.
- Keeping your upper arms stationary, exhale and curl the barbell upward towards your shoulders by contracting your biceps.
- Pause for a moment at the top of the movement, then slowly lower the barbell back down to the starting position while inhaling.
- For an additional stimulus, pause when the barbell is at a 90-degree angle to your body, then slowly lower th barbell.
Tips:
You can perform these exercises as a superset. Typically, I do lighter-weight reverse EZ barbell curls immediately after regular EZ barbell curls. This combination really works my biceps and forearms, leaving them feeling incredibly sore afterward.
#3 Elephant dumbbell curls
The purpose of these exercises is to build the larger portion of your forearms, medically known as the flexor digitorum profundus. Your wrist position during this workout resembles that of an elephant’s trunk, being angled downward.
HOW TO DO:
- Hold a dumbbell and turn your arm as if you were doing a zottman curl.
- curl your wrist so that the back side of your hand is facing to the ground.
- Do a regular dumbbell curl while maintaining the same wrist position. You should feel a lot of tension on the flexor digitorum profundus muscle.
- Control the eccentric
Targeted muscles:
Performing Elephant dumbbell curls targets the blue area, which contributes to a thicker forearm from behind. This exercise is great for quickly increasing your forearm size. Remember to do this workout regularly, as forearms typically recover quickly.
Tips:
For even more hypertrophy, you can do these exercises thumbless, essentially curling with just four fingers. Avoid using excessive weight as it can compromise your form and limit your gains. This workout yields better results when you focus on quantity (do many reps) and maintain proper form throughout.
#4 Hand Grippers
Hand grippers are a must-have tool for every bodybuilder!
They not only help develop veiny and robust forearms but also enhance overall strength. This improvement enables you to train your back and other muscle groups without your forearms lagging behind.
HOW TO USE:
- Place the gripper firmly on your palm
- wrap your fingers around it
- Squeeze using your fingers and thumb, press both handles together so they are touching each other
- Hold the position for couple seconds
- Slowly let go, control th eccentric
Tips:
To start, aim for 10-12 reps and repeat for 2 sets. As you gain strength, increase to 4 sets. When you can comfortably do 12 reps, up the resistance slightly. Gradually increase the weight whenever you can do 12 reps until you reach a point where you can only manage 8-10 reps. This technique, called progressive overload, is beneficial for hypertrophy in almost every exercise.
Check out a hand gripper here:
#5 Farmers walk
HOW TO DO:
- Grab two dumbbells or kettlebells, the heavier the better
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart
- Make sure your posture is upright, no leaning forward or backward. Imagine a bar
- aligning your entire upper body. keep your core engaged
- Walk til your hands cannot hold the dumbbells anymore
- Rest and repeat
Benefits of Farmers Walk:
This exercise trains multiple muscles at the same time, activating your calves, forearms, and core. It improves your grip strength and endurance, making this workout extremely functional in your day-to-day tasks, like carrying groceries.
#6 Dead hangs
HOW TO DO:
For this exercise, all you need is a hanging bar which you can find in almost every gym or parks.
- Grab the bar with a wide grip, overhand grip, meaning your palms should be facing away from you
- Activate your core for maximum stability, try to keep your entire body in a straight line
- Relax your shoulders and biceps to emphasize forearm activation.
- Hold yourself for 20-30 seconds. Aim upp towards 1 minute once you have gotten better
- Rest and repeat for 3-4 times
Tips:
To add an extra challenge, consider using a towel for a more demanding grip or experimenting with weighted dead hangs. Another option worth exploring is Fat Gripz, known for enhancing grip strength across a range of exercises.
Check out fat gripz here:
Big forearms are dope, but you gonna need big biceps for the complete package. Learn how to increase biceps size by reading the article below: