Four Weeks to Bigger and Thicker Forearms

 Build Muscle, Workout Routines

Forearms. You either love to train them because they add symmetry and seriousness to your physique, or you hate them because they remain weak and flat no matter what you do. Unimpressive forearm development is one of those things that painfully detracts from a complete and well-balanced muscular package both on stage and in the streets.

But there are more reasons to give your forearms some tough love other than aesthetics – achieving a complete forearm development will not only help you build a look of Herculean power, it will also translate to a maximum grip strength and enable you to work with heavier weights. And those are some pretty awesome advantages when it comes to improving your athletic performance and overall gains.

Given their anatomy, the forearms are a complex muscle group that demands to be targeted with specific exercises and heavy loads in order to unlock their full potential. And if your genetics haven’t rewarded you with an ability to build impressive forearms without any substantial difficulty, you will have to provide adequate stimulation for growth by hitting them with a smart and equally brutal training program consisting of rather unconventional exercises. In this article we’ll uncover the most efficient way to do exactly that with the end result being thicker forearms in the shortest time possible. Read on!

The plan

Relying solely on wrist curls to give you strong forearms is not a very smart idea. Although we’ve included them in the routine below, the emphasis is placed on many much better exercises for building fantastic forearms. And have you noticed how guys with jobs that demand physical labor have forearms of steel?

That’s because repetitive squeezing and gripping work great for blowing up forearms, so we made sure to incorporate such movements in combination with heavy weights in this routine.

Below you’ll find four forearm workouts that you can perform at the end of your regular training sessions. Perform them in a consecutive manner, completing all prescribed sets and reps of one exercise before moving to the next.

Workout #1:

1. Wrist roller

3 sets x 4-5 reps, 90 second rest

Grab a wrist roller with a pronated grip, straight up and hold it straight out in front of your body. Make sure that the rope is not wrapped around the roller, then roll your hands forward in an alternating fashion until the weight is raised and your arms are fully extended. Reverse the motion and return to the starting position.

2. Pinch grip

3 sets x 15-39-second hold, 60 seconds rest

Place two dumbbells or wide-rimmed plates with the smooth sides facing outward in a standing position on the floor. Bend down and pinch the head of each weight with your fingers, lift them off the floor and hold.

3. Towel wring-out

2 sets x 60 seconds, 0 seconds rest

Grab a thick towel and soak it in water, then wring it out by twisting your wrists in every direction.

4. Wrist flexion/extension stretch

1 set x 60-second hold on each side, 0 seconds rest

Slightly bend your left elbow and clasp your right hand over the fingers on your left hand, then extend your left hand and gently bend the wrist back. Hold the stretch for 60 seconds, then perform the opposite movement to stretch the opposite muscles by bending your wrist and fingers in the opposite direction so that your palm comes closer to the forearm.

Workout #2:

1. Farmer’s walk

3 sets x 20-second walks, 60 seconds rest

Pick up a heavy set of dumbbells, stand tall and walk with them as fast as you can, maintaining a neutral back.

2. Band finger extension

2 sets x 20-30 reps with each hand, 0 seconds rest

Take a rubber band and put it around all of your fingers, then spread them apart as far as possible and hold for a second.

3. Single dumbbell wrist curl

2 sets x 15-20 reps on each side, 0 seconds rest

Take a dumbbell in one hand and sit on a bench, allowing your elbow to rest on your thigh, bent at 90 degrees. Your working hand and the dumbbell should be loosely hanging off your knee with the palm up. Curl your wrist up so your palm faces your biceps.

4. Wrist flexion/extension stretch

1 set x 60-second hold on each side, 0 seconds rest

Slightly bend your left elbow and clasp your right hand over the fingers on your left hand, then extend your left hand and gently bend the wrist back. Hold the stretch for 60 seconds, then perform the opposite movement to stretch the opposite muscles by bending your wrist and fingers in the opposite direction so that your palm comes closer to the forearm.

Four Weeks to Bigger and Thicker Forearms

 Build Muscle, Workout Routines

Workout #3:

1. Kroc row

3 sets x 15-20 reps on each side, 90 seconds rest

Place your left knee and hand on a bench and grab a relatively heavy dumbbell with your right hand. Maintaining a natural arch in the lower back, row the weight to your side in an explosive manner. To ensure maximum contraction, focus on getting a full range of motion by fully extending the shoulder at the bottom and forcefully pulling it up and back at the top.

2. Single dumbbell wrist extension

2 sets x 20-30 reps on each side, 0 seconds rest

Take a dumbbell in one hand and sit on a bench, placing your elbow and forearm on your thigh and allowing the working hand to loosely hang off your knee with the palm faced down. Curl your wrist up so that the back of your hand faces your biceps.

3. Lacrosse ball forearm roll

2 sets x 30 seconds on each side, 0 seconds rest

Place a lacrosse ball on a box and place your forearm on the ball with the palm of the hand facing down. Really push your forearm into the ball, then slowly roll from the wrist to the elbow and back. As you roll, turn your wrist slightly on both sides to ensure that all of the tissues have been targeted.

4. Wrist flexion/extension stretch

1 set x 60-second hold on each side, 0 seconds rest

Slightly bend your left elbow and clasp your right hand over the fingers on your left hand, then extend your left hand and gently bend the wrist back. Hold the stretch for 60 seconds, then perform the opposite movement to stretch the opposite muscles by bending your wrist and fingers in the opposite direction so that your palm comes closer to the forearm.

Workout #4:

1. Towel pull-up

3 sets x AMRAP, 90 seconds rest

Attach a towel to a pull-up bar, grab each end of it. As you hang from the towel, pull yourself up until your chin is raised above your hands. If this proves to be too hard, hang from the towel for as long as you can instead.

2. Cable thumb curl/pinkie curl

2 sets x 15-20 reps on each side, 0 seconds rest

Attach a rope handle to the pulley then grasp an end of it with your left hand (thumb pointing up) and pull it to thread through the hole so that you end up having one long rope. Take a step back so that your arm becomes fully extended then flex your wrist to bend the thumb back toward your forearm. After you complete all prescribed sets and reps with both hands, grasp the rope with your left hand again and perform the opposite motion by curling your pinkie toward the underside of your forearm. Repeat with the other hand.

3. Cable supination/pronation

2 sets x 15-20 reps on each side, 0 seconds rest

Attach a rope handle to the pulley and make it thread through the hole as described in the exercise above. Grasp an end of it with your left hand (thumb facing the machine), take a step back and sit on a bench. Maintaining a 90 degrees bend in your elbow, rotate the wrist inward until your palm faces down.

After completing all prescribed sets and reps with both hands, grasp the rope with your left hand again (thumb facing the machine, palm down) and perform the opposite motion by rotating the wrist outward until your palm faces up.

4. Wrist flexion/extension stretch

1 set x 60-second hold on each side, 0 seconds rest

Slightly bend your left elbow and clasp your right hand over the fingers on your left hand, then extend your left hand and gently bend the wrist back. Hold the stretch for 60 seconds, then perform the opposite movement to stretch the opposite muscles by bending your wrist and fingers in the opposite direction so that your palm comes closer to the forearm.

Perform all four routines every week, pairing each of them with your regular training sessions (make sure to do them at the end). This frequency will ensure optimal gains because just like in the case of training calves, your forearms need to be hit regularly and with heavy loads in order to grow. Since the forearms are the most exposed part of the arm, if you don’t train them enough, your arms will never look complete, so take this routine to the gym and start building your own Popeye-level forearms!