Hey what's up guys, Sean Nalewanyj here of BodyTransformationTruth.com, and in this video
I’m going to be covering proper forearm training for building overall forearm size
and grip strength.
Just like the calves, the forearms are a very “genetic” muscle group, and if you do
have naturally skinny forearms that don’t seem to respond well to weight training then
it almost certainly will require a decent amount of patience and consistency before
you’re able to make significant gains in this area.
It definitely doesn’t mean you can’t build impressively muscular forearms; it just means
that it will likely be a longer road in comparison to your other muscle groups.
So the forearms are basically made up of two main groups of muscles.
You have the wrist flexors, which are the muscles that run along the underside of the
forearm, and then you have the wrist extensors, which are the muscles that run along the top
of the forearm.
Since the primary function of these muscles is to flex and extend the wrist, it would
seem to make sense that the best way to go about training them would be to perform your
basic wrist curls and wrist extensions using a barbell, dumbbell or cables just like most
lifters who are trying to target their forearms do.
However, the truth is that not only are wrist curls and wrist extensions NOT the most effective
way to build forearm muscle, but they’re also potentially dangerous as well.
This is because the wrist flexors and wrist extensors are a very strong set of muscles,
but when you perform wrist curls and wrist extensions, it's actually the much weaker
wrist joint that becomes the limiting factor in the exercise.
So not only do you end up not training your actual forearm muscles to failure, but you
also end up putting your wrists into a dangerous position that will increase the chances of
injury, both to the joint itself as well as to the surrounding nerves.
The actual best way to train your forearms is through the use of gripping exercises.
Gripping exercises are going to take the wrist joint out of the equation and allow you to
fully overload the wrist flexors and the wrist extensors with the maximum amount of weight
that they can truly handle.
There’s no need to get fancy or complicated here, and all it really takes is a few basic
movements to get the very best forearm building results possible.
So here are 4 excellent forearm exercises for overall mass and strength that you can
make use of in your routine.
Forearm Exercise #1 are just your Standard Weight Training Exercises.
Now this might seem obvious, but it’s important to keep in mind that your forearms are already
being heavily worked and are receiving a lot of stimulation on ANY exercise that you perform
in the gym that involves holding onto a heavy weight.
And this is especially true of exercises where you’re forced to grip the bar particularly
tightly in order to prevent it from slipping out of your hands, and this includes exercises
such as deadlifts, shrugs, bent over rows, pullups, pulldowns etcetera.
So even if you never perform any direct forearm work at all, you’re still going to be effectively
building these muscles up over time as you become progressively stronger on all of your
basic lifts at the gym and are forced to hold onto heavier and heavier weights.
Forearm Exercise #2 are Farmer’s Walks.
Now this is an extremely simple exercise but it's an awesome way to build up your forearm
muscles and develop better grip strength as well.
So to properly execute these, all you're going to do is pick up a pair of heavy dumbbells,
grip them as tightly as you can, and then with your back straight, your chest up and
your shoulders back, walk at a moderate pace until your grip gives out and you’re forced
to let go of the weights.
There’s no one “perfect” distance to walk for these, but anywhere between 30 and
60 metres will work very well here.
Forearm Exercise #3 are Pull-Up Bar Holds.
Just like farmer’s walks, these are also a very simple exercise to perform but are
a great way to train your forearms safely and effectively.
As you probably guessed, all you’re going to do for this one is grab onto a pull up
bar as tightly as you can using either an overhand or a neutral grip, and you can also
utilize varying grip widths here to hit your forearms from different angles, and then you're
just going to hang from the bar for as long as possible until your grip gives out.
You’ll obviously be shooting for a specific time frame here, and anywhere from 30-60 seconds
is a good target.
If you’re able to hold your body weight for more than a full 60 seconds then you’ll
want to add some additional resistance by using either a dumbbell or a weight plate.
Make sure to treat farmer’s walks and pull up bar holds just like you would any other
exercise by training for progressive overload and constantly striving for continual improvement
over time.
You can also optionally mix things up here by varying the thickness of the bars that
you’re gripping.
For example, you could use a set of Fat Gripz and make the dumbbells or the pull-up bar
thicker and harder to hang onto (and if you're not familiar with Fat Gripz then I will link
them in the decription box below if you want to check them out), or you can just wrap something
around the bars in order to get the same effect.
And Forearm Exercise #4 are Hand Grippers.
Although I would consider these to be an optional add-on, the use of hand grippers is also an
effective way to place significant tension on the forearms in a safe way without your
wrist joint becoming a limiting factor in the exercise.
The only downside here is that it can become a bit pricey because you’ll need to purchase
an entire set of grippers in order to allow you to continually increase the resistance
over time as you become stronger and stronger.
So if forearm and grip training is of particular importance to you and you do have the extra
money for it, then some work with grippers can also be included along with your farmer’s
walks and your pull up bar holds.
Two of the most popular hand gripper brands out there are Heavy Grips or Captain Of Crush
Grippers, and I’ll also link those below for you as well if you want to check them
out.
Or, if you don’t want to purchase actual hand grippers but would like to simulate the
same basic movement here, then you can just use a basic freeweight variation instead.
So here's how to do it.
You're just going to grab a barbell and hold it behind your back with your palms facing
away from you.
Next, you're going to allow the barbell to slowly roll down your hands and onto the tips
of your fingers.
And then all you're going to do from there is just squeeze the bar back up with your
fingers until it comes into contact with your palms, just like you would if you were using
a regular hand gripper.
Make sure to NOT flex your wrists as you squeeze the weights back up and instead just focus
on using the strength from your fingers only, otherwise you’re all you're really doing
is turning this into a wrist curl.
You can perform these for sets of anywhere from 8-12 reps and again focus on progressive
overload just like you would for any other exercise.
So how do you put this all together?
Well, there is no one absolute “perfect” way to combine these forearm exercises together
into a complete workout, but if your forearms are a lagging muscle group that you want to
build up as quickly as you possibly can, then here’s a simple and effective way to go
about it.
Do 1-2 sets of farmer’s walks for 30-60 metres in distance each.
1-2 sets of Pull-Up Bar Holds for 30-60 seconds each.
And 1-2 sets of Hand Gripper Squeezes or the Freeweight Variation that I just outlined
for 8-12 reps each.
You can perform this forearm workout twice per week at the very end of your workouts
after all of your other exercises are done.
So although building thick and muscular forearms does take time and patience no matter what
you do, including these exercises in your workout plan on a consistent basis is a good
way for you to speed up the overall process.
So thanks for watching this video lesson.
If you want to learn all of the details behind training all of your major muscle groups including
step-by-step workout plans and other useful tips, make sure to head over to BodyTransformationTruth.com
and download my complete Body Transformation Blueprint System.
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