Strengthen Fore-arms

[Alaskan_Blood]

I'm a 16 yr old , and people at school sometimes comment on the fact that forearms are quite slender. I was wondering if theres a work out that beefs up the fore-arms.

[S_Roache]

http://www.powerballs.com

[MrCheese]

lol funny ad. If your looking for specific forearm exercises I personally use hand grippers. 3sets of 25 rep to help increase endurance with things like deadlifts, rows etc. Forearms are built though on general gym work that uses the forearm extensively, eg. the aforementioned rows and deadlifts.

[rynuku]

lol...i have a couple of those powerballs...thought they sounded really cool...but i dont use them

youll build your forearms through normal exercises like he said...deadlifts...pretty much anything that requires you to pull while maintaining your grip...

you can do some reverse curls...wrist curls...plate pinches....i used a few of these to help increase grip on the deadlift but i dont think i got much size...maybe 1/4-1/2 inch

[Boss Man]

Wrist Curls are garbage. Reverse ones are better for the bigger hit, and for the Bicep work that Wrist Curls don't do.

Plus using weight around the Wrist, Ulna and Scaphoid area, is not a potentially good thing in the long-term, so avoid possible future issues and scrap them.

[Packard]

Big forearms are very impressive. Even when you are wearing a normal short sleeve shirt, your forearms are visible.

The following are good for your forearms:

Hammer curls
Reverse curls
Conventional curls

There are gripper clamps that you can use for your inner forearm and they are very cheap to buy.

There are short bars with a rope attached that you use to roll up weights. They are good for ropey arms. These are very cheap too.

Pushups done on your finger tips will build strong forearms.

Dead lifts (without lifting straps, and using both hands over hand grip) will build a terrific grip and strong forearms.

[Alaskan_Blood]

Thanks I'll try it out, and ill post if fore-arms get beefier after a month or so.

[Packard]

Thanks I'll try it out, and ill post if fore-arms get beefier after a month or so.

From experience, 6 weeks is a more reasonable cycle to look at.

It will take 6 weeks for you to get strong enough for the exercises to start to have a real effect.

It will take 6 more weeks for you to realize the bulk of that effect.

Six weeks later you should re-mix your workout as you will start to get stale with the existing one.

So it is 6 weeks; 12 weeks; 18 weeks that you should be doing your evaluation. One month is an unrealistically short period of time for you to be evaluating your progress in opinion.

But maintain a log in your workout book. Record your forearm dimensions both pumped and cold each week. After you have done evaluations of your workouts over many periods you will learn your own exercise cycle.

[vamp]

Just a little side note, everyone, as packard mentioned, has their own cycle for how long they should be doing a program. I have found that a deload or off week about every 5th week works well. so I do 4 or 5 weeks on a program and then take a week of light weight or strickly cardio, to allow the body to recoup, especially with heavy weights. Every one is different, but I believe from reading and experience that between 4-6 weeks and on the rare occassions up to 8 weeks, an off week should be utilized.

cheers

[swanso5]

forearms - are mostly genetic so if they're not that big naturally they probably won't get that much bigger through training and really it's a lot of work for little reward...i don't train them or have clients train them...as mentioned heavy exercises will do (deads, rows, pull ups etc)

deloading - not good to take a full week off all wts...all you need to do is to decrease the wt and the vol...you still need a training effect and a week of cardio is a week of not building muscle or even sustaining it

[vamp]

I personally use lighter weight or different excercises at a lower weight and increase the cardio for the week. I also do less sets. i do know some people who take the week off from the gym totally, but I recommend this only about every 6 months to a year for mental and physical break, like taking vacation from your job or school.

Cheers

[Packard]

Training the forearms is a way to increase your gripping strength. In that regard I think you can make substantial gains. Whether your forearms (or calves, or biceps) grow are largely a matter of genetics and nutrition and sleep and rest.

When I benched heavy I liked to "pyramid-up" on a 6 week schedule. A typical routine would look like this:

Week 1: 3 sets of 6 x 225 lbs.
Week 2: 3 sets of 6 x 235 lbs.
Week 3: 3 sets of 6 x 245 lbs.
Week 4: 3 sets of 6 x 255 lbs.
Week 5: 3 sets of 6 x 265 lbs.
Week 6: 3 sets of 6 x 275 lbs.

Week 1 (new pyramid): 3 sets of 6 with 235 lbs. and start the pyramid over again.

If I were unable to complete the workout for week #6 I would repeat the sequence again until I could.

This accomplishes two things. It gives your body a chance to rest as weeks #1 through #4 are pretty easy; and it gives you the mental approach that not only are these lifts possible, that they are likely to be completed.

[Mystik]

I like that pyramid idea. I think I might incorporate that into some of routines.

[swanso5]

not a fan of pyramids...have a look at it, how you're only working hard for 2 weeks tops really...how do you expect to see any changes??? you can easioy lift heavily almost constantly if you cycle your training properly...i'm with vamp where i have a deload week every 4 weeks with decreased wt/vol...the 1st 3 weks are high stress (volume/wt used), medium and very high and the cycle continues...in a little rehab phase now so i'm not doing it with current program

[Packard]

not a fan of pyramids...have a look at it, how you're only working hard for 2 weeks tops really...how do you expect to see any changes??? you can easioy lift heavily almost constantly if you cycle your training properly...i'm with vamp where i have a deload week every 4 weeks with decreased wt/vol...the 1st 3 weks are high stress (volume/wt used), medium and very high and the cycle continues...in a little rehab phase now so i'm not doing it with current program

In experience the value of rest is underrated and the value of hard traing is overrated. I think most people will see a strength gain when they carefully incorporate adequate rest into their routine.

Also, I found that the mental aspect of strength training is often overlooked.

I recall once that I was doing French presses with 155 pounds on it. I had done 6 sets the previous week with 10 reps for the first 4 sets, but only 8 for the 5th set and 6 for the last set.

I loaded up the bar and proceeded to do 10 reps for all the sets. A friend of mine came up to me and said, "Nice set. How much you got loaded on that bar?"

I replied, "155".

He studied the bar and said, "Nope. It's 175."

So the mental aspect of the lift carried the sets to 175.

By using pyramids you get accustomed to easily doing the reps and you get a mindset that you are going to be able to do the lifts. It will help carry the weights for you.