Just recently I wrote a piece about calf training, and how this muscle group is one that is extremely “genetically determined.” What I meant by that is that some lucky people are just born with outstanding calf development, which manifest quite often without ever setting foot in a gym.Another similar muscle group are the forearms.
Regardless of your genetic gift, or lack thereof, the forearms should be trained just as any other bodypart, but even more intensely if you are lacking any meaningful development below the elbow. Just as a skinny set of calves look quite silly under a pair of tree-trunk quads, forearms like sticks appear quite out of place when you are wielding a set of decent guns. So, what are you waiting for – let’s get some freaky forearms!
The forearms are heavily recruited in every single upper body exercise that you do. This makes them very tough and very resilient, which unfortunately makes it harder to affect their hypertrophy. Simply pumping them up is not enough to get your forearms growing, so you need to think in terms of literally bombarding the forearms with tremendous intensity and varying stimuli. This means targeting the flexors, extensors and brachioradialis with specific movements and utilizing a wide array of rep ranges.
If your forearms are severely less developed than your upper arms you might want to train them twice per week. Another way to give the forearms a boost in size is to avoid using wrist straps as much as possible in your back training, so the forearms are forced to squeeze the bar or dumbbells harder in order to hold the weight. Finally, if you are truly a glutton for punishment, try performning the below exercises as one “giant set.” If that does not freak out your forearms, nothing will.
