Forearms Training

[Tou]

I keep receiving PM and emails asking : "What's your forearms routine ?" "How did you get such forearms ?" and such.

First of all, I am the opposite of a "hardgainer". I touch a barbell and my muscles grow. I have big forearms but my calves are even more impressive. This is probably due to genetic along with hard training. My dad never trained with weights but he has MONSTEROUS calves. He is naturally strong and his grip is way above the average man.

Next, there was forearms training.

When I was 16 years old, I bought a 125 lbs set of weight. All I did was bench press, biceps curls and WRIST CURLS. I was a maniac of wirst curls. I could do it for a full hour each and every day. I loaded my bar to 80 lbs and did sets of 60, doing full range movement, from the tip of the fingers to the biggest wrist flexion I could achieve. I did at least 10 sets every day. Did it improve my forearms size ? Tremendously. Did it improve my forearms strength ? Not much.

I'm not a specialist but here's what I consider a good routine for forearms strength and size.

1. Farmer's walk : As heavy as you can for 100ft. Do 4-5 runs. Farmer's walk is a great overall grip and forearms exercise.

2. Wrist curls : 5 x 5 then 2 x 8-10. As heavy as you can in GOOD FORM. This is very important.

3. Lever bar to the front : 5 x 5 then 2 x 8-10. Move the wrist only.

4. I built myself a 3,5" padded bar with camping foam mat. I use it in the Rolling Thunder pattern to lift weight off the ground. I have a 80lbs anvil that I lift with this thick foamed bar, with one hand, for max time. I hold over 90 seconds. This is a KILLER finisher. Painful. You can do these home-made or get the Big Squeeze dumbells from Richard Sorin's Sorinex. These dumbells are said to be excellent products.

I think such a routine, added to your normal grip workouts will put some serious strength and size in your forearms.

Pascal (TOU)

[Big Steve]

Thank you for sharing Tou. The hard work paid off big time!

[Sybersnott]

Tou,

You and I are cut from the same cloth, apparently. I too have big forearms and my calves... I don't work them and they are BIG! I wonder what would happen if I decided to put in some calf training??

The last good pump I got was going EXTREMELY heavy on the G-Rex and repping the weight. My forearms blew up like balloons!! Heavy, real heavy wrist curls get my forearms ta pumping - I got the most growth out of doing that then anything else. I am going to try some other exercises you suggested to see if I can ADD some growth on my forearms. But I'm unlucky in the fact that when it seems like when I do ANY heavy grip training - it all goes straight to my forearms.

[SHRUG]

Hi Tou, I am new to the Gripboard and I found your post interesting because I am the same way. I gain muscle mass very easily, no-matter what bodypart I work it gets huge fast. I am new to working my crushing grip strength but I have been doing Wrist Curls like a mad-man ever since I started lifting. I do Wrist Curls three to five times a week in addition to my other training. I go extremely heavy and do reps of 8-12. I do both dumbell and barbell wrist curls and I usually complete about 12 to 15 sets. My forearms are huge, rock-hard, and covered in strech-marks, and my wrist strength is incredable and continues to improve with each training session. However I could really use some advice on how I should train to improve my crushing power. If anyone who reads this can offer some good advice please do so.

[Guest lofz]

lol Tou wtf dude, how big were ur forearms before u started on weights??

[Tou]

Don't know. I know I gained a lot of volume from doing hundreds of reps almost every day in my 16-17 years old days. I was playing hockey and wanted improve my wrist shot. It was a BB workout which gave me few strength but lot of volume.

[Dave H]

Tou,

I found your post to be very interesting. When I was 14 I got my first Barbell set. (I'm 46 now and still in excellent condition) and all I knew back then was presses, barbell curls and wrist-curls. I did each of them every day. I didn't know anything about over-training, which seems to worry so many people today. I did everything with sets of 20's and I worked out for hours. I trained everyday like that for years.

I AM a hard-gainer, and to this day I am still tall and lean. But the strength came to me fast - not so much size - but strength.

I still train with sets of 20's - just as I did back then. I do take rest days now, I only train 4 days a week, but that's more because of work than anything else. But despite being lean, I do 100# DB Wrist-curls for sets of 20's, Barbell curls at 120# for sets of 20's (current 1-rep max is 165 at 215 bodyweight). Military presses at 100 pounds for sets of 20's and weighted sit-ups with sets of 20's. I do leg-presses with an old vertical leg-press machine with bodyweight (215) for sets of 20's. Leg-extentions and leg-curls for sets of 20's (50#). And I do mega-sets of these on my workout days. I am hard, lean and strong. I just kinda shake my head when I here people talk about 8 sets of 3's, or 5 sets of 5's and no more, for fear of over-training. I KNOW FOR A FACT that the body will adapt to anything we put it through (with proper rest and nutrition) and it will become stronger! Nice post.

Sixgun

[crushjunior]

My grip, biceps and forearms, low back and lats always responded very well to training. I didn't get that big but I have quite strictly curled 160 lbs at 182 lbs bodyweight, did 30 consecutive chin ups and can dead 500+ and row or pulldown shitloads of weight (done pulldowns with 360 lbs for a single).

Too bad my ass, quads, shoulders and triceps are nowhere near as strong. My deadlifts good but my bench press and overhead press are average and my squat is merely somewhat good. The funny thing is my spinal erectors aren't that big but are strong and my shoulders are pretty big but aren't strong. Go figure. On the other hand my lats are definitely well developed and are strong and my biceps are actually close to 1/2 the size of my upper arm. My triceps are scrawny and weak, so that makes sense.

I find it fascinating that some muscle groups can be so strong. I wonder if it's fast/slow twitch fiber distributions or leverage disadvantage due to tendon insertions or maybe some sort of neural inhibition to some muscle groups.

[Ray Hansford]

I'm the opposite of TOU and SYBERSNOTT, I've always been stronger than the average person my age. The first time I went to a gym I was 13 with my high school class, all the others topped out at 40 kgs on the bench press, I got up to 65kgs. But muscle size is not something that has come easily, doesnt bother me though I'd rather be super strong than super big.

[mossman]

i have to agree with most people on this board....is it just me, or does anyone see a connection between calf and forearm size? my calves, although only trained by heavy squats, meausre 17 3/4 inches and my fore arms are 13 3/4.... my friends and i loaded a calf machine in my gym to 700 pounds, and i managed 5 reps in strict form, no belt. never done wrist curls before, eager to try...any one done them on a thick bar, a la dinosaur training?

[Tou]

Depending on what calf machine you use, the poundage is not really significative. Just like leg press. On some calf machines, I stack up to 16 45lbs plates on each side to do sets of 10. On some, I struggle with 2 plates on each side.

On some leg press, I use 15 plates on each side for sets of 30. And I'm not squatting 700 pounds.

Don't let machines weight impress you. Real lifts are the real indicators of strength.

As far as correlation between forearms and calves strength, I don't know. For me, calves and forearms are my most impressive bodyparts. I got some of them from my father but I worked very hard and heavy to gain those muscles.

[mossman]

ok i see your point now tou....by the way, since you are a COC , could you maybe tell me a good way to train the final crush on a gripper? im having trouble with ym #2, i can get it to about 2 mm always, close it on good days, but i want to conquer this last space.

[Mac06]

I remember reading somewhere that the forearms and calves have more variations than any other area of the body. Don't know if its true but it could be why some people are plain freaks in those two catogories and not in others.

[destructivus]

i have really weak calves(they are shorter than those of an average person) as well as thin forearms, but there´s a difference:

my forearms respond to training, the grow as well as they get stronger

but my calves somehow refuse to grow, they measure just 37cm

a guy in my school is 16 years old and really fat, he has 53cm calves allthough he never trained them, they are so Four score and seven years ago I am the MAN because I swear and I want everyone to know how manly I am by using profanity.ing tremendous that it looks silly

am i the only person here, having weak, short calves ??

that really SUX, they are very weak and look stupid

Edited June 7, 2004 by destructivus

[Clay Edgin]

My calves are 20" and my forearms are 14" or so (no gooseneck). Seems all I have to do is walk by a calf raise unit and they grow a quarter inch. My dad, both uncles, and my grandpa all have big calves and big forearms too.

[Ray Hansford]

My calves are nowhere near that size, But I'm a sprinter so as long as I run fast I really don't care how big they are.

Being a hard gainer is fine with my chosen sport, since I have to be careful not to gain any weight,even if it's muscle.

[Vise]

i'm just wondering how the hell my forearms grew an inch eating only maintenance calories. must be those sledge twists.

[Darco]

Sledge Twist just gave me one odd looking muscle on the upper forearm that sticks out to the sideat all times,... ,

[Finnegann]

Sledge Twist just gave me one odd looking muscle on the upper forearm that sticks out to the sideat all times,... ,

Got a pic?

[Vise]

i irritated a forearm muscle doing sledge twists. it left me with an odd, oversized bump protruding from my upper forearm. it went away but it still was funny looking. does yours hurt when you flex or is it just a oversized muscle?