Forearm Muscle Building Questions.
 

I ask a few minutes of your help. I have a few questions on different exercises that can be done to build certain muscles that arent stimulated in my "normal" workout. Dont wast your time posting "spank it more". Serious replys only thx.

http://members.rogers.com/jimbo2003/forearm2.GIF

First question involves "area 1" on the pic. Benching, doing curls etc. doesnt seem to work this area much at all. I want to build up the areas around my elbow and inner forearm. Second question invloves "area 2", the wrist area. There are not too many muscles in this area but my wrists could stand to be worked on more. Was wondering what exercises could be done to for this area.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Here are some forearm exercises that I like to use when targetting that area:

Palms-Up Barbell or Dumbell Wrist Curl Over A Bench
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2002...enchcurl1s.jpghttp://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2002...enchcurl2s.jpg

Seated One-Arm Dumbbell Palms-Down Wrist Curl
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2002...edbwrist1s.jpghttp://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2002...edbwrist2s.jpg



also, this next one is a nice one to do in between switching from your bicep workout to your forearm workout because it works both of them nicely:

Reverse Barbell Curl
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2002...sebbcurl1s.jpghttp://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2002...sebbcurl2s.jpg

Ya those 3 aboves exercises are good, the only other good one I know of can only be done on a specific machine. Basically it works the rotating muscles of the forearm.

Other than that, concentrate on gripping the bar really, really tight when doing shrugs, bench, curls, etc... This actually is proven to increase your performance in those exercises by increasing stability... and it also will work your forearms, at least a little.

my experience is that focusing on forearms can be a waste of time. bicep curls,seated rows and other upper body excercises will get them going just fine. make sure you use HEAVY HEAVY tho for bulk

As you pointed out, there is very little muscle in the wrist. Basically, nothing can be done about wrist thickness. As for forearm thickness, other exercises that were pointed out are good, but don't forget about plain old gripping work. Grab the heaviest pair of dumbbells and hold on. Do heavy deadlifts and shrugs. And don't ever use straps to hold on. Just grip and don't let go.

"Reverse" Wrist-Curls with the barbell (palms down) should help #1.

Oops I see that's listed above in pic #2..

Have you tried holding a dumbell and moving it side to side? (as opposed to the wrist curls and reverse wrist-curls).

I do something that I don't think anyone else does and that's holding lighter dumbbells and do wrist rotations in every direction (most of the times figure-8' and keep your forearm straight)

The only forearm workout that I do that's any different than those already posted, is the newspaper crunch (ala Tiger Woods).

Take 1 sheet of newspaper, lay it open and flat on a table.
Place your hand, palm down, fingers spread in the middle.
Proceed to scrunch paper into a ball as fast as possible.
Repeat 10x per hand.

This exercise has provided great results for me.

Since I need shit-hot forearms for ju-jitsu ( or any martial art for that matter ), I did some searching a while back and came up with this:

30 second warm-up

wrist curls 10-12
reverse wrist curls 10-12
(do superset 3-4 times)

behind the back curls 10-12
reverse curls 10-12
(again, do this 3-4 times)

wrist abductions 10-12
wrist adductions 10-12
(once only)

wrist twists 10-12

finger curls 10-12

grip work ( with those 'eagle catcher' things )

finish with some light stretching.

I do this 2-3 times a week, and each time it absolutely slaughters my forearms. I can barely make a fist afterwards. It may help, it may not, I'm just trying to give some advice back after all the advice I got on another thread.

I've only been training for a short time so Let me know what you think.

flamingmonkey

Sometimes the best excersises I do come from the other people at the gym. I steal them try them and if I like them I work them in to my routine.

My college has a machine that you put the weights on, then just squeeze. It rocks. Otherwise, a good trick (similar to the newspaper thing) is to clench your hands as fists, then open them and spread your fingers wide apart; do it as fast as you can and as many as you can.

These exercises look great, I may have to try some.

The pictures shown are excellent forms of exercises. They really built up my forearms well.

Play badminton does it well, and it's good for all over your body too.


And um...i can't help it but.......where are the masturbation jokes in this thread? :p ugh. sorry. /immaturity.

I always ask, what is your goal in building your forearms? If you are looking to just bulk up, then I agree with the stated exercises. However, if you want more use out of your fingers, I believe you should consider alternate exercises. This is very similar to Antagony's thread about Fingertip training.

Repost of my reply in that thread:
I don't know if you are serious or not, but I am in this post.

For rock climbing training, I do pull-ups using just my fingertips on top of door jams. Try to find wooden, three-quarter inch jams. My old house used to have them for every doorway in the house. Whenever I walk through a doorway, I pause and do between one and five pull-ups. This works very well. I can now do between one and three pull-ups on a half-inch metal jam every time. The metal jam was painful at first, but your fingers will become used to it if you persist.

A couple of tips:
1. Make sure the jam is well secured to the wall. <-- very important as to not have people come running over to find out 'what was that crash?'
2. Hand placement is very important. Much like doing push-ups, the further apart your hands are, the easier it is to pull up. Also, with a wider hand placement, you can get your thumbs up on top for extra grip.
3. Clean your hands and the top of the jams you will use. Slipping off causes a very painful 'snap'.
4. Trim your fingernails down. They don't help you grip. If they catch on the jam when you slip, it is very painful.

Try indoor rock climbing if you want to enlarge your forearms.

At work (indoor rock climbing) we use this.

http://www.dynaflexstore.com/product...203&1=204&3=11

It's really great for toning all the muscles in your wrist and forearms. It also improves grip.

another simple exercise you can do that works really well is to pick up a pair of super heavy dumbells and just walk around til you can't hold on to them anymore. i think they're called "farmer's walks" and they're pretty effective at targeting the forearms.

If you've got the dumbbells out, try the hammer curl. Like the bicep curl, only you twist your hand, so that when you are at the bottom of the motion the dumbbell is vertical instead of horizontal.

One simple thing I've found is those spring grips that are like two handles and you squeeze them together with one hand. They're ^ shaped with a sping at the "point". I have one in my car and use it when I'm sitting there stuck in traffic. You can either repeatedly squeeze it together or squeeze it together and see how long you can keep it squeezed.

They're inexpensive and can be used anywhere.

My $.02

If you're looking to strengthen your forearms. Just hang off a bar. When you do this Grip the bar firmly making sure you're not hanging by the fingers alone. You'll be surprise how quick your grip gives out..

I usually skip the forearms workouts also except for the barbell wrist curls, but I keep a tennis ball in my car and squeeze it will I'm driving.

I don't know if you've seen people doing this in the gym, but try tying a piece of rope to a 5 pound weight on one end and a small amount of PVC pipe on the other. Then stand on a platform so that, with your arms parallel to the floor, the weight dangles above the ground, then curl the pipe until the rope is fully wrapped around the pipe, then let it loose again, curl again, loose again.. This works my forearms very, very well and takes practically no time to do.

Ive noticed big gains in this area from boxing, push-ups and heeps of skipping. Someone above mentioned rock climbing. This is a killer workout for your forearms and would definately increase your strength.

that's what I use too :-)

can be damn heave with just 5pounds if you do it 2 or 3 times in a row

Not sure if this was said.

Get yerself a broomstick. Drill a hole in the middle. Tie a rope to the shaft and on the other side of the rope tie the weight. Then with yer palms facing down. Hold the Stick in front of you. And start rolling up the weight. Once it has reached the top. Unwind it all the way down. Do this a few times. Go slow and watch yer movements. Do not rush yerself.


And have fun!

Doh! I look up and i see someone already posted this :< DOH!

The rope and stick exercise is the one my baseball coaches recommended back when I was in school.

I've also been told that doing your pushups on your fingertips helps.