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Forearm Volume


greppstark

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Will your forearms get bigger when you start reaching coc#3,5 or number #4 mms? Or do you need to do specific forearm training like wrist roller? Right now i can MMS coc#3 but have not noticed any big improvement on my forearms when it comes down to size.

Edited by greppstark
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Been doing grippers for years and haven't seen any increase in size because of it. Heavy hammer curls got mine from 12-13/13.5"

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The classic division is 1...5 repetitions per set for strength, 6...15 for mass. I don't see why forearms would be different. If you want muscle mass to forearms, do hammer curls for brachioradialis, grippers or fingercurls for finger flexors, wrist curls or something like that for wrist flexors, and also extensors. Use the proper amount of reps. You can try to achieve both strength and mass at the same time with sets of 5 or 6 reps, or you can do shorter for strength and longer for mass. You can have both strength and mass but you can't be the best at both at the same time.

Most people here seem to be after strength only and often use 1...3 reps per set with grippers. That doesn't grow mass very much, no matter how hard grippers you can use.

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The classic division is 1...5 repetitions per set for strength, 6...15 for mass. I don't see why forearms would be different. If you want muscle mass to forearms, do hammer curls for brachioradialis, grippers or fingercurls for finger flexors, wrist curls or something like that for wrist flexors, and also extensors. Use the proper amount of reps. You can try to achieve both strength and mass at the same time with sets of 5 or 6 reps, or you can do shorter for strength and longer for mass. You can have both strength and mass but you can't be the best at both at the same time.

Most people here seem to be after strength only and often use 1...3 reps per set with grippers. That doesn't grow mass very much, no matter how hard grippers you can use.

Sounds logic since im most up for bodybulding training. So i guess i need to start doing more wrist curls etc instead of just closing heavy grippers ;D
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The classic division is 1...5 repetitions per set for strength, 6...15 for mass. I don't see why forearms would be different. If you want muscle mass to forearms, do hammer curls for brachioradialis, grippers or fingercurls for finger flexors, wrist curls or something like that for wrist flexors, and also extensors. Use the proper amount of reps.

Most people here seem to be after strength only and often use 1...3 reps per set with grippers. That doesn't grow mass very much, no matter how hard grippers you can use.

You're logic is a bit off. Hands and forearms are similar to calves. You have to work them HARD to see any kind of growth. Since we use them everyday it's hard to really smoke them. I Go heavy, wrist curls with 80-100lb barbell with 5-8 sets of 20 reps every other day. And I still can't seem to break the 14.5" barrier. Grippers alone will not make them grow, maybe if you do a "feeder" workout with a super light gripper for months on end you may see marginal increases.

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Getting bigger fore arms is hard no matter what rep range you use. Like calves it's a stubborn body part when it comes to growth. You either have it or you don't it seems.

However also like calves I think high reps (15-20) would work best. Focus mostly on the bodybuilding stuff: wrist curls, reverse wrist curls, hammer curls, reverse grip curls. Combining those with something like Fatgripz would probably work even better.

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Calves needing longer sets because they're used continuously is common gym bro-science but doesn't have scientific back-up. Sets of 20 are not very hypertrophic, they build endurance. But you can test it, of course, and if it works for you, good.

You can get some burning and pump with shorter sets, too, if you keep the rest between the sets short, like 1min or even 30 sec.

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bro-science

Bro-science can be science too. :grin:

There are some studies out there that suggest high reps can be usefull for building mass.

http://muscleevo.net/how-to-build-muscle-with-high-reps/

http://www.trainingscience.net/?page_id=301

Also there are a lot of really big bodybuilders with huge (fore)arms out there that seem to be doing relatively high reps for fore arms. Who am I to judge them?

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There are some studies out there that suggest high reps can be usefull for building mass.

http://muscleevo.net/how-to-build-muscle-with-high-reps/

http://www.trainingscience.net/?page_id=301

Also there are a lot of really big bodybuilders with huge (fore)arms out there that seem to be doing relatively high reps for fore arms. Who am I to judge them?

Interesting. On the other hand the first article doesn't back up the notion of calves or forearms being radically different: you can get hypertrophy for all body parts with higher reps.

The problem with calves and maybe forearms is this: people have genetically big or small calves and those who have small have much difficulties developing even a little bit of mass. They may try many things, but the first advice is often "use more reps, those muscles need it". They focus on the calves and make a program with huge amount of total reps and sets. Then they see some growth and think that the program was pretty good (but usually still think they have small calves). But it doesn't yet prove that the high rep scheme was optimal or necessary, or that their calves were different from other muscles. Other bodyparts may grow with similar program and a different kind of high-volume program could have worked even better. For example using 10 reps instead of 20 but doing 8 sets instead of 5 and with 40 sec rest periods.

But in the end you have to test yourself. Royz and EJ may very well be right.

One reminder: if you suddenly throw in all these exercises with high volume and use thick bar adapters for everything you will probably develop tendonitis. Be careful.

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all these exercises with high volume and use thick bar adapters

Definitely! That's how I got it the first time!

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I have always focused on getting stronger and big forearms just happened despite the fact that my frame is ectomorphic. The key to me was strengthening the wrist in every direction with very unconventional exercises. Also, armwrestling. The time under tension required couples with the adrenaline rush and the fact that I am stubborn and hate to lose equated to size and strength. I always said that if people knew how strong the act of armwrestling made their arms, it would be the most popular sport in the world.

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I agree with others -forearm size and crush power doesn't always perfectly correlate

I think that Sang-Do Sim is a good example of that based on his ghp 8 video

Edited by Evan Raftopoulos
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The classic division is 1...5 repetitions per set for strength, 6...15 for mass. I don't see why forearms would be different. If you want muscle mass to forearms, do hammer curls for brachioradialis, grippers or fingercurls for finger flexors, wrist curls or something like that for wrist flexors, and also extensors. Use the proper amount of reps. You can try to achieve both strength and mass at the same time with sets of 5 or 6 reps, or you can do shorter for strength and longer for mass. You can have both strength and mass but you can't be the best at both at the same time.

Most people here seem to be after strength only and often use 1...3 reps per set with grippers. That doesn't grow mass very much, no matter how hard grippers you can use.

Sounds logic since im most up for bodybulding training. So i guess i need to start doing more wrist curls etc instead of just closing heavy grippers ;D

I can close the CoC#2.5 right now and my forearm is 33 cm (13"), thats my weak arm, my strong arm is probably half a centimeter smaller. My hand is stronger on that side plus my setting technique is better, thats why. My forearms aren't big but they are very well defined, mostly by gripper training but also from wrist rollers, I haven't done much wrist curling with bars yet. Strength and size has a correlation but they are far from the same thing. Just compare a world class weight lifter with a bodybuilder and you'll see.

And yes, wrist curls will do you very good I think, at least it does for me, although I haven't really focused a lot on that yet. Use a thinner bar, don't focus too much on the grip in the hand, more on the actual arm. Closing grippers has more to do with strenght in the hand and lower arm (wrist), try to focus on the upper forearm more for size. Thats where the forearm is naturally the biggest anyway.

One thing that we all probably can agree on is that it's impossible to know how strong anyone would be on closing grippers just by looking on the size of their arms.

Edited by Fist of Fury
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I agree with others -forearm size and crush power doesn't always perfectly correlate

I think that Sang-Do Sim is a good example of that based on his ghp 8 video

That video really demonstrate this very good. It looks like the guy in the background with blue shoes have bigger forearms than the main character in the video. I wonder if he can close the GHP8? :)

Of course it depends on what the mass actually consists of, I think you can be extremely strong with small forearms, I think that video really proves it also.

Edited by Fist of Fury
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It looks like the guy in the background with blue shoes have bigger forearms than the main character in the video. I wonder if he can close the GHP8? :)

I don't think so because his name is not on here http://www.gillinghamhp.com/gc.aspx

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oh wait, are you talking about this guy

he can close #7 x2

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oh wait, are you talking about this guy

he can close #7 x2

Yes, so his arms looks bigger than the other guy, I guess it's good mass then :)

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With forearms a lot of it is genetic. If you have small bones they will be small if you have a bigger frame then they will be bigger..

I have identical forearms to my father - shape and size the same

It's taken me years and years to increase the size of my forearms..lots of calories needed and you need to find out what they respond to best. For me it's: hammer curls and hammergrip pullups

That's my view at least!

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A lot of folks have already chimed in here but I'll throw my two cents in anyhow.

My forearms haven't grown in YEARS and I have been doing a well-rounded grip routine of mostly high intensity low reps and timed holds...in fact, they have actually shrunk quite a bit...Of course they are much, much stronger now which is what I'm going for!

But the funny part is when they were at their biggest...all I was doing for them directly was ultra-high reps daily with a cheap gripper I got from Wal*Mart...I wish I was joking here lol but I'm dead serious!

You can call it Bro-Science or Pseudo-Science or even Science Fiction if you like but results are results man.

As Ripley would say...Believe it or not

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about 5 or 6 years ago i read Bruce Lees book - "The art of expressing the human body". in there he had lots of exercises he would do for his Forearms. i use to pick 3-4 exercises, and do 3-5 circuits taking every set to failure. i done this for 8 months before i had problems with my elbow that forced me to back off. but in that time they grew fairly well.

personally, i stuck to high reps. with light to moderate weight. if you can burn your forearms out with smaller weights to the point where you cant hold on any longer, then your really training them to failure.

i started off with uneven dumbell rotations with a thick handle (i used a towel so it forced my forearms to work harder) then i use to do high reps on a plate loaded gripper (10-30), wrist roller, wind both ways 5 times, reverse curls. Repeat circuit 3 times to start with.

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A lot of folks have already chimed in here but I'll throw my two cents in anyhow.

My forearms haven't grown in YEARS and I have been doing a well-rounded grip routine of mostly high intensity low reps and timed holds...in fact, they have actually shrunk quite a bit...Of course they are much, much stronger now which is what I'm going for!

But the funny part is when they were at their biggest...all I was doing for them directly was ultra-high reps daily with a cheap gripper I got from Wal*Mart...I wish I was joking here lol but I'm dead serious!

You can call it Bro-Science or Pseudo-Science or even Science Fiction if you like but results are results man.

As Ripley would say...Believe it or not

Your not the first person ive seen who said the same. when i used my plate loaded gripper. i never went heavier then 15kgs, id even drop it 10kgs as the sets went on, but i done high reps, anywhere from 10-40.

If anyones gonna be training their forearms to bulk them up after reading this thread then give that a go. also, the finger curls that Climber recommended should do the same thing if you dont have a plate loaded gripper.

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I used to do a routine out of Arm Wrestling For Everyone. Al Turner's protege wrote the book.

I followed a rep scheme like this: 28,21,14,7. 5lbs added to each set. Then two sets of overloads 30% above your max. Forearms grew fast.

But it wasn't full-range. The wrist was trained never to go into the broken wrist (losing position).

It was wrist curls inside the the knee; and at the end of a table or bench.

For hammer curls, biceps curls, and reverse curls, all of them were performed on the preacher bench...with a 7,5,3,1 rep scheme. 5lbs added to each set. Again, not letting the arm go past 90* and the two overloads at the end.

Twice a week it was performed...and it was the biggest and strongest my arms ever were.

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