Forearms much like calves are a difficult bodypart to improve. This is another one of those body parts where people will say it is mostly genetics. On one hand I agree with that statement but on the other, no one ever trains forearms as hard as other muscle groups. So it is no wonder they dont grow as much.
Forearms respond well to high frequency training. You are constantly using your hands and forearms to grab things so they are constantly being worked. Here are some cool forearm workouts you can try next time you are at the gym.
Wrist Rollers:
Wrist rollers are brutal. It is a rope attached to a pipe. You hold your arms out in front of you with a weight attached to the end of the rope. You keep twisting until the rope comes all the way up and then you go back down. Your forearms will be on absolute fire.
To make a homemade version you could even use a wiffle bat. That is what I had back in the day. We jammed a hole through a bat and just used that. There are various different ways you can make them.
Forearm Curls:
These can be performed with a dumbbell or a barbell. You can do it seated or standing. When standing your arms should be extended and you are simply bringing your hands towards your arm with the weight. Seated you put the end of your wrist on your knee and perform the same motion. With these you can go a little harder than the wrist rollers.
Deadlifts:
Deadlifts are a great forearm builder. Although it is normally an indirect way to build them, the deadlift allows you to load a ton of weight on your forearms. Show me someone who can pull 600+ off the floor and I can almost guarantee they will have big forearms.
Farmer’s Walk:
A farmers walk is an excellent conditioning workout as well as forearm builder. What you do is pick up two heavy dumbbells and simply walk! That’s it. See how far you can get and how much weight you can use. Your forearms will burn like crazy.
Pull Ups:
Any time you can hang on a bar will help your forearm growth. Pull ups and chin ups are great to do. To add in an extra challenge try doing them weighted.
Rock Climbing:
Rock climbing is a super fun way to build your forearms. I remember the first time I went rock climbing, I was at the gym for like 2 hours. My forearms never have really been sore before. They were sore for 3 straight days after that, it was crazy! The only issue is finding a gym to go to.
Forearms like every muscle group can be built up. It will certainly take more time and isn’t as fun of a muscle group to train but you don’t want to have huge biceps and scrawny forearms. Try these different methods out and switch up the rep schemes.