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Exercises for forearms are an important part of your overall arm workout routine. If you haven’t added exercises for forearms in your routine yet, you should consider adding them.
However, before understanding the exercises for forearms that will help you strengthen the muscle group, you should always know more about the muscle group itself.
What are forearms?
Forearms are the muscle group that is present in your lower arms (elbow to wrist). It consists of two bones - the radius and the ulna.
The primary function of forearms is to control wrist movements and maintain grip strength.
Coming to the muscles, it’s divided into two groups - flexor and extensor. The flexor muscles are found in the outsider and focus on flexing fingers and wrists. The extensor muscles, on the other hand, are situated at the top of the forearm and are responsible for the extension of fingers and wrists.
Apart from flexing and extending, other activities that help with forearms are carrying, lifting, and gripping other objects. Some of the sports in which forearms play a vital role are rock climbing, tennis, weightlifting, and others.
Exercises for forearms for strength
The following are some of the exercises for forearms that you can add to your workout routine:
Wrist curls
- Take a dumbbell in each hand and sit on a bench
- Keep your forearm on your thigh with your palms facing upwards
- Keep your wrist just beyond the knee
- Slowly bend your wrist backwards and then curl it all the way up forward
- After a couple of repetitions, your forearms will start to feel the tension
- Repeat it for at least 15 reps before switching hands
Reverse wrist curls
- Take a dumbbell in one hand and sit on a bench
- Keep your forearm on your thigh with your palms facing downwards
- Keep your wrist at the edge of your knee
- Slowly bend your wrist forward and then reverse curl it backwards
- Be steady and gentle so avoid injuring your wrist
- Repeat at least 15 times before switching hands
The above two exercises are great for forearm workouts with dumbbells.
Farmer’s walk
- Hold a dumbbell or a kettlebell in each hand
- It should be significantly heavy
- Keep your palms facing inwards
- Walk a certain distance and walk back to the starting point
- Do this at least 5 times for 3-4 sets
Plate pinch
- Hold a weight plate between your fingertips
- Walk a certain distance and return to the starting point
- Do it at least 5 times for 3 sets
It’s important that you understand forearms are a much smaller muscle group than chest, back, or quads. Hence, you need to use a weight that is suitable for your forearms and not divert into ego-lifting.
If you injure your forearms, you won’t be able to do any exercise since you won’t be able to flex or extend your fingers and wrists.
As a rule of thumb, you should always start every exercise with a lighter weight, primarily to understand and fix your form. As you become stronger, you can implement progressive overload, i.e., increase the weight to continuously challenge your muscles.
Forearm workout at home
Now, there are times when you won’t have the time or energy to implement exercises for forearms at the gym. This is usually because forearms are usually trained at the end, and by then, much of our energy has depleted.
Hence, you may want to put aside some time for a quick forearm workout at home. On the other hand, you could also be an individual who prefers working out at home rather than the gym, and in such cases, it’s important to know the exercises for firearms that can be done at home without equipment.
- Towel pull-ups
- Push-ups on fingertips
- Hand grippers
- Planks with hand taps
- Wall crawls
Whether you’re searching for forearm workouts for men or women, the exercises above are great for anyone who wants to improve their grip strength and as a result, their performance during various compound exercises.
Benefits of strong forearms
If you’re yet unsure about whether or not to add exercises for forearms to your routine, here are some of the benefits that will entice you!
- Improve grip strength
- Improved arm strength
- Improvement in performance
- Increase in functional strength
- Better aesthetics
