After my last post about the reasons you should train your forearms like savage, I got a lot of questions about how to actually train and grow the forearms.
This makes me happy as I can see that perhaps not as many people are overlooking the forearms as I’ve thought. Oh, I know it’s still a very large percentage but now I have some hope.
For those of you who realize the need to build a powerful set of sleeve stretching forearms, rest assured that I am going to layout the exercises that I do to accomplish such a feat below.
The one thing I can’t promise you with these exercises is results. Not because the exercises I’m about to recommend don’t work because they work tremendously well.
I can’t promise you results because it’s going to be on you to put the work in.
It’s going to be on you to dedicate yourselves to building impressive forearms and commit the time necessary to see it through. Not quit after two weeks because you don’t look like the Hulk.
Quitting is for losers. Losers aren’t going to build big forearms. Losers really aren’t going to build anything in their lives because they give up almost immediately. Don’t be like that.
The exercises I discuss in this post are the ones I personally due to gain forearm strength and size. They have worked wonderfully well for me and I know they will work for you if you let them.
Here are my 5 exercises to build massive forearms in no particular order.
# 1- Wrist roller
If you have done any type of forearm training before, you probably have used a wrist roller. It’s one of the most common pieces of equipment you’ll find for forearm training.
As you can see from the video, a wrist roller is a very simple piece of equipment that most people make at home. The typical wrist roller consists of a wooden dowel for a handle with a piece of rope laced through it.
Weights are then added or tied onto the bottom of the rope and you simply use your hands, wrists and forearms to roll the weight up and then back down.
My father made me one of these for little league baseball when I was about 9 years old and I have been doing them ever since. These are my favorite forearm exercise.
If you haven’t tried them before, you might think that they will be easy, but you’d be silly to prejudge them. Even with a seemingly lightweight, a few full repetitions of bringing the weight up and lowering it down will have your forearms screaming.
I always get a massive pump from these and rarely go over ten pounds. I credit these for building a large amount of my forearm strength and size. These will also strengthen your wrists like no other.
The wrist roller that I have comes with a handle that has both a wide and narrow grip. Going back and forth between both really gets my grip working.
When you do these, try to keep your arms close to your body as is shown in the video. They can put a lot of stress on your front deltoids if you hold your arms straight out while doing them. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you are doing these for your forearms not your deltoids.
# 2- Dead hangs from a pull-up bar
This is an exercise I was turned on to after reading Convict Conditioning 2. The basic premise as to why these are so powerful for grip strength and forearm size has to do with anatomy.
Most common bodybuilding exercises done for forearms typically focus on the wrist. If you see anyone working on their forearms in the gym, they are likely going to be doing dumbbell or barbell wrist curls.
The issue with this is that the vast majority of the muscles in the forearm work to move the fingers, not the wrist. The forearm muscles primarily assist with gripping.
Knowing this, it makes perfect sense why working on your gripping strength will contribute massively to forearm strength and size.
Dead hangs are a powerful exercise when it comes to building great forearms. The exercise is exactly the way it sounds. You grab onto a pull-up bar and hang on for your life as long as you can. That’s it.
Just like wrist rollers, these may look easy, but they are anything but. Especially if you haven’t done them before. You will feel a massive pump in your forearms within a short amount of time with these.
A solid goal to shoot for starting out is to be able to hang from the bar for a minute. In the beginning, even 30 seconds is going to be a challenge but hang in there. Literally.
I love these. They are as much of a mental exercise as they are physical. You are going to feel some pain before you grip gives out which is going to require focusing your mind on something other than the pain you’re feeling.
I have noticed a huge difference in my forearm size, definition and grip strength since incorporating these on a regular basis.
# 3- Hex holds
This is a new exercise for me that I recently discovered on YouTube. This exercise gets its name from the six (hex) angles found on either end of a hex dumbbell.
I don’t know how I never realized this before, but the angles on the sides of a hex dumbbell form a perfect grip to hold onto.
The only issue for most people will be that the dumbbells you find in most commercial gyms today are rounded not angled. You can still find hex dumbbells online or in most sports stores though.
Like the name implies, you pick up a dumbbell in each of your hands by the hex side and hold onto them as long as you can. Pick a weight that you can hold onto for at least 20 seconds to start however, I recommend experimenting with all different weights.
The important part is that you work the forearms and you grip as much as possible. Hold on as long as you can. You will feel a serious pump with these.
I like these a lot because like the dead hangs, your grip and forearms are constantly being worked throughout the exercise. If you watch in a mirror, you can see your forearm muscles quivering and flexing.
# 4- Pull-ups
You may be surprised that good old pull-ups make the list, but if you remember the anatomy lesson from the dead hang section it will make perfect sense.
You grip and forearms are worked tremendously well during pull-ups. You are being forced to move your entire body through space up and down.
No matter how strong you are, pull-ups are an ass-kicking workout. You are squeezing the bar tightly throughout the entirety of the exercise while your body weight is pulling you down. Gravity is our friend for these even though it may seem like our enemy during them.
Now that you know the forearm muscles are primarily responsible for assisting the fingers to move and grip things, you understand that your forearms are getting a lot of work with pull-ups.
When I am doing pull-ups often, I really notice a huge difference in the appearance of my forearms. The vascularity of my forearms is noticeably better. Pull-ups just seem to strip any fat you have on your forearms completely off.
All pull-ups are effective for working the forearms, but I feel that the basic overhand pull-up works them the best.
# 5-Grip trainer
These are another popular thing associated with bodybuilding that most people have seen or tried.
A grip trainer is a handheld piece of equipment that you squeeze and close with your hands. The resistance gets harder the further you squeeze it.
These are largely popular in the arm wrestling and powerlifting community. Those guys only use things that are effective, so you know these are no joke.
As the name implies, they work by strengthening your grip. I have personally found these very effective for forearm size and grip strength however, I have found the type of grip trainer you use to make all the difference.
Most grip trainers you will find in the store are plastic pieces of trash. They are also very light in my experience and you outgrow them strength wise very quickly.
Hands down, the best grip trainers that I have every found are the Captain Of Crush trainers by Iron Mind. These things are amazing. They are made out of solid steel and are very well-made. They make them in 11 different resistance strengths going up to 365 pounds. There are even certifications they will give you once you prove you can close the heavier ones.
I have three Captain Of Crush trainers and have used them for years. I keep a lighter one with me in my bag at work and will use it periodically as I drive around during my shift. My hand and grip strength have skyrocketed with these. They are also just plain fun to use.
How often and how much
I know that the big question after this post is going to be how often to do these exercises and in what amounts.
My advice may be frustrating for you or it may be relieving. I believe in simplicity when it comes to building muscle. I absolutely hate hard and fast rules when it comes to repetitions and frequency.
Each one of us is different and there is no one size fits all for any one person. I don’t care what professional bodybuilder or powerlifter says that there is, they’re wrong.
You have to do what works for you. Bodybuilding is all about experimenting and figuring out what works best for your body. People get way too caught up in the little details about training.
What works for me might not work for you but here is my advice. I believe that the forearms are remarkably resilient muscles that can take a beating. For those reasons and from my experience, I train them as often as I can.
Lately, I train them almost every day. I do something whether it’s dead hangs, pull-ups, wrist rollers etc. Sometimes I do a few of them or sometimes I just do one of them. It really just depends on how I feel.
As far as sets go, I will typically do 3-5 working sets however, I may do far more. I may do dead hangs on and off for an hour while watching television. I change it up a lot.
I have invested the time into training forearms for years so I understand what I can handle and what works best for me. What I suggest is that you experiment with these and see what works best for you.
I do these until my forearms are so pumped up, I can barely move them. Once that happens, I know that I have worked them sufficiently.
It won’t take long for you to experience a stellar pump if you do these exercises correctly. Overtime, you will be able to increase your workload, which will increase your strength and forearm size.
Your journey to massive forearms
Like anything else, you have to be dedicated if you want to build massive forearms. You need to train with intensity and train often.
You may be one of the lucky few that is able to blow their forearms up with only a little work, but that’s unlikely. What’s more likely is that you will have to invest hard work and time into getting better and stronger at these exercises to get the results you want.
You are going to get out of it what you put into it. I love having strong and muscular forearms and I can tell you that they are worth the hard work.
If you take my advice and do these exercises, I’m confident that you will be able build a pair of forearms that even Popeye will admire.
Have you tried any of these forearm exercises before? Do you have any favorite forearm exercises that aren’t on this list? I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions and comments below.
Until next time,
Dan Strong.
Wonderful article.
As a gym user myself, these are great pointers to get the most out of my gym sessions, and I’ll certainly be using them.
Thank you for posting all the above and I look forward to reading more of your articles soon.
Thanks Scott! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Let me know how they go for you and let me know if you have any other questions. I’d love to help if you need it. Thanks for your comment and thanks for stopping by!
Being a woman, I don’t think I want to build massive forearms, but I believe that women should still have strong forearms and doing exercises like the wrist roll can only do us good.
I think women would have to do a lot of these exercises to actually build their forearms, but there is nothing wrong with them doing a set of reps with lighter weights, and having strong forearms can only help them with household chores, picking up children and also maybe even protecting themselves if they need to.
Hi Michel,
That’s perfectly fine. I know that not everyone thinks like I do. I agree that it is a very important muscle to develop in terms of real world value. You use your grip for a lot of things. Even if you don’t workout. Thanks for your comment.
Interesting post for muscle building and great tips on how to do the exercises. I like that there are ways of doing something if the exercises without having to buy expensive equipment. I use a door in my house for hang from to stretch back muscles and shoulder muscles so I appreciate ‘homemade’ equipment.
Very encouraging and enjoyable to read
Thanks Louise. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Yes, there’s a lot of it that can be done at home. In fact, every exercise I talk about here can easily be done from the comfort of your own home if you choose. I suggest most of these be done from home so you can do them often. Thanks for your comment!
Being a woman I can say one thing: No, I’m not interested in building massive forearms but I wouldn’t mind -I’m lying, I definitely want – a pair of well-built forearms to lean on and feel secure. Let’s admit it, ladies, sleeve stretching forearms are so very sexy! What are you waiting, guys? Get off the couch and start training!
LOL. Thanks Effie. Hopefully the guys reading this see this. Think the motivation you bring up will push them more than the one I bring up. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comment!
Great Content and InformationThanks for this concise and thorough article;
This was a great and simple to follow guide on how to build massive forearm.
You laid it all out clearly and showed examples that helped emphasize your various points. This guide will be very useful for people like me. I am familiar with wrist roller infact I have used it several times but I haven’t heard about hex hold and pull ups.
Thanks for this eye opener
Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I did my best to explain each exercise and why I like them. Let me know how you like the other exercises! Thanks for your comment and thanks for stopping by.
Hey, I’m not a frequent commercial gym visitor even though most my friends are into bodybuilding and weightlifting. Of all your recommendations above, I think I can only relate with the grip trainer. This was a gift from one of my friends when I visited the gym, maybe he gave it to me so that I can frequent myself at the gym after seeing the result from using the grip trainer. I tried using for a few days,I saw little improvement on my forearm but I couldn’t continue the exercise, blame it on laziness.
Nevertheless,I think this comprehensive post will make me have a rethink about it
Perhaps he was just trying to get you addicted to bodybuilding like you said LOL. Sounds like a great friend to me. Maybe you’ll change your mind now. Thanks for your comment!
Dan,
Well done! Love the organization.
Clearly building big and strong muscles are important to you. I also know this is the case for so many people especially if they’re in competitions.
Is this a hobby of yours or competition?
What are some of the benefits to having big strong arms?
Keep up your great work!
Hi Greg,
Thank you very much. I work hard to make sure I give you guys something readable lol. Yes it is very important to me. I don’t compete in bodybuilding no. I have competed in powerlifting in the past and currently compete in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, so grip strength is still a huge priority to me for that reason. If you check out my last post here, I give you the 4 reasons I think it’s important to have big/strong forearms. Thanks for your comment!
Great tips! Thanks a lot 🙂
Thank you. You’re welcome!
Very informative article! In all the years that I have been training (both with trainers and on my own), I really haven’t seen the forearms being addressed very often. Perhaps that’s because females don’t really go after built forearms like men!
I think it’s great that nearly all of these exercises can be done at home. We live a long way from the nearest gym, and I’m always on the look out for workouts that I can do at home. Also, several of them can seemingly be done throughout the day even if you are working. Just take a little break and perform one of the exercises. Very convenient!
Thanks for the great information!
-Darci
Hi Darci,
Thank you! No, sadly it’s not a big area of concern for most people. True females don’t go after built forearms but they are not going to get huge and bulky if they do actually do them. That’s a huge misconception. I do a lot of my forearm training from home. It’s one of the easiest things to train from home for sure, which means I can do them whenever I want:) Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comment!
Hi there, great article to help anyone who wants to build their forearms. I recently bought myself a pair of gymnastics rings so I’ve been doing hangs and pull-ups. I can definitely agree with your points on these 2 exercises particularly having tried them. I’ve found that even just trying to maintain the support position and turn my wrists out is a tough exercise. How does the size of your wrists impact how much muscle you can build in your forearms?
Hi Cyndy,
Gymnastics rings are great for building your forearms. There’s some at one of the gyms that I go to and I love them. Always a difficult workout. I don’t think that it has much of an impact because I’ve seen people with skinny wrists and big forearms and vice versa. Since most of the forearms muscles don’t work in conjunction with the wrist, it should be negligible. Thanks for your comment!
My husband is not a gym-enthusiast but he looks after his health well, though. There was just this one time we laughed about his forearms. He has feminine-like forearms. I made him read this article and it sparked an interest in him to improve those areas. Good job for giving these tips! After all, strong and big forearms not only complete your arms aesthetically but they also boost your lifts and grips. I hope he can lift me up again with so much ease, LOL!
LOL. I hope it gets him interested in working on his forearms then. That would be awesome. Sounds like he has some motivation. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comment!
Thank you, it really helps me a lot, your videos just make this understand easily! I will do this next time when I was in the gym! Thank you very much!
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Let me know how it works for you! Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comment.
I have been working out for almost a year now. But now and then I tend to change my workouts. I’m glad I came to your site has an amazing forearm workout schedule. I looked at all the videos and it looks so convincing for me to change to this. I’ll be definitely trying this out and I’ll let you know how it is.
Thank you so much for sharing this insightful post.
You’re welcome Sujandar! Glad it could be of some use for you. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck on your road to massive forearms! Thanks for your comment.