Methods for Building Powerful Forearms

If you're involved in strength training, body building and/or upper body fitness, you may or may not overlook your forearms as a target area. A lot of weightlifters, for example, assume that their forearms get enough work through secondary means - from the variety of exercises that they perform while targeting their major muscle groups. This is somewhat true, but there are methods out there that are geared strictly for building powerful forearms and crushing grip strength.

Wrist Curls are known as a good forearm exercise, but I've never been a big fan of this tedious motion. I would recommend hand grippers over performing wrist curls, any day.
If you're looking for the best hand grippers in the world, at least that I have run across, visit the "Captains of Crush - Build Forearm & Hand Strength" page. I'd purchase a couple, for starters; just get one with less tension for higher reps, and then a tougher one for strength training.

Regular arm curls (using dumbbells or a bar), used in bicep training, does work parts of the forearm. However, if you're looking to build more explosive forearms, I'd recommend that you throw in some Reverse Curls into the mix. This type of curl, is where you use an overhand grip as opposed to the typical underhand, hence the name "Reverse Curls."

The use of wrist rollers with a fair amount of weight is also quite effective. This device involves a short bar that you grip with both hands. The bar has a strap in the middle that rolls the weights up & down, etc. If you keep the weights off the floor the entire time you're using this device, along with slowly lowering the weight each time you finish a complete roll up, you will definitely feel the burn quite quickly. 

I also find that arm raises can really give the forearms a decent burn, when working the deltoids. While standing straight, using a heavy dumbbell in each hand and starting from the hips, slowly raise the dumbbells to shoulder level and then back down to the starting position. Do as many reps as you feel comfortable with. You can raise the weights sideways or in front of you, as it is effective either way. I'd just alternate to get a fuller range of motion.

There is another method for building powerful forearms, and this is called "Thick Bar Training." You can read more about this along with other methods for strength training, here:
www.bodybuildingsecrets.com/articles/workouts/the_forearm_secret_of_old_time_strongmen.php

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Well, in a thumbnail, if you're interested in "thick bar training," you just need to simply visit Amazon.com and order something called "Fat Gripz." Yes, that is how they spell it. It is just a sleeve that goes over the bar to thicken it - which works your forearms that much more during your regular lifts. They currently offer 3 sizes with diameters of 1.75, 2.25, and 2.75 inches. Just try curling a dumbbell that you normally use, with an extra thick handle and see if you can tell the difference.  Trust me, you will. Thick bar training works, no doubt. You might want to start with a lower diameter and work your way up, though, because it is somewhat challenging.

---Update (2024): Another excellent method for building powerful forearms, is to watch, learn, and study how the elite arm wrestlers of the world train. That is one sport that relies heavily on forearm training, for the most part (unless you're one of those that just rely on a flop wrist press during your arm-wrestling matches). After studying arm wrestling for a bit, you'll get really familiar with terms like rising, rolling, cupping, pronation, backpressure, supination, etc. Personally, since I'm not a professional arm wrestler, I just look at what my regular physical fitness training could gain from arm wrestling tactics. I ended up buying some loading plates, straps, and bands. With that, I mainly work my pronator muscles using pronation movements along with some riser exercises for the brachioradialis. However, if my current workout regimen didn't have a few forearm exercises already, the arm-wrestling training tactics would have been deployed a bit further. I'm just throwing this out there as another method for the ones seeking alternatives. ---End of Update

Anyway, if you have a workout that consists of a variety of muscle building exercises and you throw in a few of these additional methods for building up lower arm and hand strength, you should be well on your way to having powerful, impressive, Popeye Forearms of Steel.

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