Forearms!!!!

[jakethasnake]

What the best routine for building up solid forearms?

I have decent ones, but I want them to be burly... I mainly only do reverse grip curls, both with dumbbells and barbells, but I have yet to figure out an effective routine focusing on the forearms.

Should I work the forearms as part of a comprehensive arm work out, i.e. triceps, biceps, and forearms?

Or should I isolate the forearms?

How many sets of how many reps of what exercise should I do for my forearms?


I would especially appreciate advice from Diesel and other frequent posters here. Cheers, guys.

 

[strong like bull]

farmers walks - carry a heavy dumbell in each hand, then walk from x to y. turn around and repeat the distance as many times as you can before your grip/forearm fails and you drop the weight.

deadlift holds - using a squat rack or powercage, load up a barbell at about waist level. the idea is to hold an extremely heavy barbell, in the finished deadlift (or starting shrug) position, until your grip/forearms fail. if you have access to a cage, you can adjust the safety pins/bars so that when your grip fails, the barbell only falls an inch or so.

i do them as part of my full-body split. ill usually do 2-3 sets at the end of a workout.

reverse grip curls are decent, but these are much more practical. they WILL greatly increase your grip (thus forearm) strength, as well as obviously increase forearm size. also important, is that exercises such as the deadlift hold, or even heavy shrugs, helps your body adjust to working with heavy weights.

 

[ChevyLover]

Grab a dumbell, kneel by your bench and rest your elbow in the middle of it so you are perpendicular to your bench. Now with your palm facing up and the dumbell in your hand still(in midair), keep your elbow as steady as possible(don't lift it off the bench) and start moving your wrist in and out(like your flexing your forearm). Use as heavy a dumbell as possible, and do it as many times as you can. I tried this one day out of experimentation and OH MY GOD the burn!!! I never felt a burn in any part of my body like that before, so it has to work wonders. I'm gonna start doing it every time I work out.

A friend of mine takes a foot long piece of a hockey stick, drills a hole in each end and puts a string through, knots it, and ties weights to the end, then holds out the stick and curls up the weight until its at the stick and the string is wrapped around without letting down his arms the whole time, then slowly unravels it. This would work the shoulders as well as the forearms, but I never tried it... never got around to making the thing

Hope these weren't too confusing...

Good Luck

 

[Ricky]

I've been working out for 8 years and never isolated my forearms. Of course as a consequence, I've never had huge forearms even with fairly large and very strong biceps.

Ironically just the other day, I focused on curling the dumbbells closer to my body with my arm more at my side instead of slightly in front of me (it was a tip I read to make sure you put more stress on the bicep). 2 days later my forearms are still burning.

So my tip is curl the dumbbells closer to your body, make sure your arm isn't out in front of you. It will put more stress on both the forearms and biceps. I was pretty amazed how it felt!

 

[Soshyopathe]

Do power lifts such as deadlifts and hack squats. Then on forearm day, do heavy HEAVY reverse barbell wrist curls. Hit them heavy, and they will grow.

And I swear to christ, if I never hear the term "Farmer's Walk" again it'll be too soon.

 

[jakethasnake]

Hey, thanks, fellas. Actually, maybe I should have been more specific. Sorry about that. Your replies were all helpful though.

I'm quite satisfied with the intensity of my forarm/general arm workouts. I have diamond-cut arms, and am steadily adding bulk. I have a naturally lean, sinewy build, so all this sculpting is making me look like an olympic swimmer. I just wish I was as tall as one though, lol.

Anyway, here are the excercises I typically do in a forearm workout, and the weights I use.


- dumbbell reserse-grip curls, 3 sets of 8 reps, w/ 25 to 30 pound weights.

-barbell reverse-grip curls, 3 sets of 8 reps, w/50 to 60 pound weights.


Am I lifting heavy enough to initiave sufficient growth? I prefer slow, steady growth to "building massive pythons in 2 weeks", which in my opinion is bogus. I prefer to stick to medium to medium-heavy poundages with a moderate number of repetitions (i.e. for dumbbells -- 8 reps of 25 pound weights, or 6 reps of 30 pounds, or 4 reps of 35 pounds), and I usually stick to about 3 sets on each exercise.

I am 5'8" and 155 pounds, probably 145 pounds in lean muscle.

These poundages probably won't impress many. But I don't work out to impress. I have immaculate form and rhythm when lifting. That ensures steady and dependable growth. To me that is much more important than curling 80 pound dumbbells with sinfullly bad form. I fvcking hate morons who grunt loudly while doing ridiculously heavy curls with horrible form. Makes me wanna go drop a plate on their heads. I'm not the strongest guy in the world, but I'll be satisfied as long as my body looks good and I have at least above average strength. I have no desire to win a Strongman competition anytime soon.


A second round of input? The first round was greatly appreciated.