Forearm Growth

If bulging biceps and a huge chest make someone look like they know they’re way around the gym, huge forearms give the impression of pure strength. Think of a 40 year old mechanic turning a wrench, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, their forearms are HUGE and you know they’re strong as an ox. Now the average bodybuilding won’t have 8 hours a day to train forearms, so what’s the best route to go about when training them? I’ll give you some quick details and tips to help build the forearms for size and/or strength.

Picture from: http://www.nomenclaturo.com/human
   
The forearm muscles are used to flex the elbow, pronate/ supinate the lower arm and also play a major role in grip strength. Any time you curl or grab a dumbbell/barbell, your forearm is doing major work.

First thing to start if you really want to hit your forearms isn’t something to add to your workouts, rather something to take away. Lose the lifting straps. This equipment is used to release the strain on your grip and lets the weight hang from your wrists, almost taking out forearm use entirely (aside from stabilization and sway of the bar). So during your heavy sets of dead-lifts, shrugs and even rows, lay the straps down and let your forearms hold the bar for you. This will hit them harder then any other exercise (especially those heavy dead-lifts for 8-12 reps).
    But this also comes with a tradeoff. When using straps, the heavier weights might be thrown up for high reps, without straps, a lifter’s weights will drop significantly. It’s up to the person to decide his or herself if the drop in weights is worth the best forearm work, or if he or she will make up for the work later.
    I have rarely (rarely) ever seen a powerlifter with a set of straps. Their forearms is based on grip strength and the best way to gain that is through raw dead-lifts or a farmers walk, as mentioned above. In fact, I’ve rarely seen a powerlifter train biceps of triceps. All their arm strength and size will come from heavy rows and benching. I’ve heard Ronnie Coleman rarely trains arms, as a former power lifter, this makes sense.
    The genetics debate always comes up again with forearms size and ability to grow. I would rather say that, “ectomorphs would have a harder time building up forearms, compared to meso or endomorphs”, but this debate can be said about any muscle group. Anyone can have huge forearms if they’re taken into consideration (See link #1 below for a crazy example). Train them 2x a week, along with losing the straps to really see some growth in your forearms.

    Basic training for forearms:
Do this routine twice a week at the end of a workout, along with losing the straps and see results for yourself.
a. Alternating dumbbell hammer curls, 3 sets of 12 each arm
b. Barbell wrist curls, 3 sets of 15
c. Farmers walk with dumbbells, until failure (a good starting dumbbell weight would be 70-80% of what you can perform a bent over row with)

    If you’re having trouble getting any growth and you haven’t tried the things mentioned above, then go ahead and give them a try. I’m sure you’ll start seeing growth, strength and vascularity in no time.

Email me with any comments or questions.

Tyler P.
CanFit Pro Personal Training Specialist
tylerrpritchard@gmail.com

Link 1: This might be fake (I haven't decided for myself), but this kid only trained his right arm for arm wrestling competitions. He looks like an ectomorph but his right forearms is almost 18 inches!!
http://www.odditycentral.com/tag/bodybuilding