How To Build Huge Forearms: Optimal Training Explained

of technique Tuesday this week we're

going to be looking at a variety of

different exercises for developing the

forearms and grip strength I actually

think the forms are one of the most

underrated muscles for looking jacked

especially when wearing a t-shirt when

the only muscles really exposed are the

forearms and the neck so you want to

make sure you're not neglecting them but

Before we jump into it let's cover some

basic anatomy first now many trainees

think of the forums as a single muscle

but there are in fact over 20 different

muscles from wrist to elbow these

muscles can be split up into an anterior

compartment on the front and a posterior

compartment on the back the interior

muscles perform wrist flexion and finger

flexion so anytime you curl your wrist

or anytime you grip something you'll be

training the front of your forearm and

the posterior muscles perform wrist and

finger extension probably the most

prominent muscle on the back of the

forearm is the brachioradialis which

along with the biceps flexes the elbow

however well it will be active in normal

supinated curls because it sits on the

back of the forearm it's gonna be more

active when the wrist is pronated as the

biceps will be put into a biomechanical

disadvantageous position so for this

reason the first exercise we're going to

cover is the reverse grip curl now here

you can use either an EZ bar or a

pre-loaded barbell whatever feels more

comfortable I personally find the semi

pronated grip on an EZ bar puts less

strain on my wrists you want to take a

thumbless grip which is gonna get more

of the interior muscles involved by

preventing the bar from resting

passively on your thumbs and as you grip

the bar you want to think about clamping

your 8 fingers into the base of your

hands as hard as you comfortably can

some training is fine that putting the

wrist either into slight extension or

slight flexion can help improve their

mind muscle connection with the

brachioradialis so you can experiment

with that while keeping your elbows

pinned in at your sides curl the weight

up until you reach maximum elbow flexion

and then lower the weight back down

under control 1 paper from marine Ian's

colleagues found that peak torque for

the brachioradialis occurred between 100

120 degrees of elbow flexion where as

peak torque for the biceps was closer to

80 degrees this might imply that

performing partial reps in the top half

of the range could help target the

brachioradialis over the biceps so as an

advanced intensity technique

after completing 12 to 15 full reps you

can extend the set by doing top half

reverse curls now other than just using

too much momentum I would say the most

common error here is letting the bar

rest in your hand or on your thumbs

while this isn't necessarily wrong it

will make the lift easier and target

less of the forearm overall the next

exercise we're going to cover is the

wrist roller which is in my opinion one

of the most effective movements for

working both the front and the back of

the forearm since as one hand goes into

flexion the other goes into extension

now here I'd recommend standing on some

kind of elevated box or riser so the

Rope can hang a bit lower you want to

load the rope with a light weight and

lift the plate up by twisting your

wrists backward once the plate reaches

the top reverse the wrist motion

allowing the plate to go back down as

you actively untwist the rope rather

than just letting it fall and I think

the best way to overload here is by

incrementally adding weight or by

gradually increasing the total distance

that you move the plate with the same

weight by doing extra rounds now one

common error that I see here is holding

the roller well out in front of you and

while this isn't necessarily wrong it

will most likely cause your front delts

to fatigue before your forearms so I

prefer to keep my arms and more in by my

sides with a flexed elbow which is also

going to isometrically tax the

brachioradialis and the biceps to a

degree as well okay up next let's have a

look at the barbell towel hold is a more

functional exercise that's gonna have

more carryover two other lifts such as

heavy deadlifts and rows and my opinion

this is one of the most underrated

exercises for developing a pure grip

strength so you want to set up a barbell

in a squat rack just above knee height

so you don't need to dead lift the

weight up first wrap to small gym towels

around the bar so the ends of the towels

overlap in your hands and grip the

towels as hard as you can while lifting

the bar up the few inches off the pins

until you reach full lockout you'll want

to start relatively light even for

roughly 30 second holds from there you

can overload by adding time up to 45

seconds then adding some weight and

repeating starting back at 30

once again you can also load these from

a pull-up bar however even putty weight

can be difficult at first so if you're

looking for a challenge definitely give

these a shot they're also a bunch of

other more basic isometric grip focused

exercises like farmers walks standard a

barbell holds that I'll train the same

basic thing however I like using the

towels because they allow you to tax the

forearms and develop grip strength

without having to load as much weight

which can save time and spare other

assistance muscles from generating as

much fatigue also with traditional

barbell holds it's tougher to train

finger flexion quite as much since you

can just let the bar sort of sit in your

palms as opposed to literally crushing

the toggles in with your fingers all

right up next I want to cover one of my

favorite forearm drills which is the

pleat pinch some athletes count pinching

strength as its own feet apart from

gripping in the palms and this exercise

is really going to strengthen up the

digit flexors of the anterior forearm so

here you want to grab two plates

side-by-side and pinch them up off the

ground by squeezing your fingers

together as hard as possible and

recommend starting off with two five or

ten pound plates eventually graduating

on 225 pounds or even thirty five pound

plates and if you're really trying to

beef up your hands as much as possible

these can also be loaded with the thumb

plus one finger at a time so for example

you can hit your thumb and index or your

thumb and pinky fingers individually to

really specialize now but I mostly like

the plate pinch because it allows you to

target each side individually which can

be helpful for identifying and

correcting left to right grip imbalances

and if you find your finger slipping I

definitely recommend using chalk and

while these grip based exercises will

undoubtedly build the forearms they're

mostly training isometric strength so

exercises that take the fingers in the

wrist through a more dynamic active

range of motion at first we can train a

crushing strength by using a hand

gripper

this might be overkill if you're already

doing some of the previous exercises but

it does make for a convenient way to get

some form training in at home while

taking the fingers through an active

range of motion now as a body builder I

personally still really like the basic

dumbbell wrist curl for lagging forearms

now it may not be as functional or have

as much carryover as some of the others

but it will hit the anterior forearm

really well it's really simple to

perform and it's easy to overload that

gradual

adding reps or weight over time and

since we're isolating a single joint in

a relatively smaller muscle group I like

to stick to higher reps in the 15 to 20

zone and similarly you can train a wrist

extension by flipping your arm over

positioning your wrists just off the

bench and doing 15 to 20 reps with

slightly lighter dumbbells now when it

comes to training frequency and volume I

definitely don't think hitting your

forearms directly is required for

everyone as they're already gonna be

getting a lot of indirect work from any

pulling and dead lifting in your program

however I would say that to really

maximize their development some

isolation is necessary especially if

they're a weak point for you and you can

start by simply adding in one or two of

these movements once or twice per week

and then assess your progress from there

or if you're really looking to take your

already and I'll see you guys all here

in the next one