# is there any way to make my forearms and wrists grow ?



## lordgeorge (Jun 30, 2010)

I'm adding mass to the rest of my body alright, but my forearms look tiny.

I guess there's not really any visible muscle down by the wrists, but they just look awful. I do a lot of grip work, I use a 200lb gripper 3x a week, and at the end of every workout pick up a 50kg DB and hold on to it as long as I can.

what can I do for mass, I've heard wrist curls but I'm not sure how to perform them correctly ?


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## jay631 (Oct 2, 2010)

I hear that wrist curls are good, but I personally find that pull ups and deadlifts do the job pretty good


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## BillC (Jun 11, 2009)

Well I always do deads and pull ups and have skinny forearms too. I've recently started to hit them hard with wrist curls both ways and am seeing some progress,


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## Barker (Oct 1, 2009)

my forearms are pretty decent, but i think that's just genetics and too much vvanking.

Overhand curls always kill the forearms, as do hammers slightly


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## DNL (Sep 24, 2010)

Barker said:


> my forearms are pretty decent, but i think that's just genetics and too much vvanking.
> 
> Overhand curls always kill the forearms, as do hammers slightly


I prefer wanking as opposed to vvanking.


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## Ironclad (Jun 23, 2009)

uuanking... lol


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2010)

BillC said:


> Well I always do deads and pull ups and have skinny forearms too. I've recently started to hit them hard with wrist curls both ways and am seeing some progress,


dopnt use straps do you??

I never touch my forearms with curls etc. just heavy deads. Their not huge but big enough that i have issue's with long sleeved shirts.


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## Hendrix (Sep 16, 2009)

Reverse curls give a nice burn in the forearms.(pronated grip)


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## SiPhil (Jun 16, 2010)

Wrist curls all the way for me. Deadlifts also even with straps. you should only let the straps take the strain when your grip starts to slip. Before that grip tight which works your forearms. Never done any grip work and my forearms are pretty decent, at least I'm happy with them.


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## DB (Oct 31, 2003)

BillC said:


> Well I always do deads and pull ups and have skinny forearms too. *I've recently started to hit them hard with wrist curls both ways and am seeing some progress*,


EXACTLY!

It seems almost cool to not do any isolation movements for certain bodyparts on here sometimes..

Whenever someone posts a thread asking ''How can I get my biceps to grow'' some know it all will reply heavy deadlifts and squats.. ffs That works to a point but if you want real growth then most of the time isolation movements are needed, not many exercises or volume but to complete ignore isolation movements on lagging bodyparts is stupid.

Forearms respond well to wrist curls, either with a barbell behind your back like doing a rear shrug then curling the wrists or off the end of a bench with a barbell,

Once you have forearms they don't really need training as they don't go if you continue to train normally, abit like abs tbh, they need some isolation to get them there, but once u have them they never shrink

All IMO of course

I use to train them when I first started training but haven't done for years and they haven't shrunk


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## steve1234567890 (Aug 30, 2009)

one tip a mate gave which really burns my forearms is to tie a rope to the centre of a bar and put your weight on the other end of the rope (hanging down as you stand up) - then roll the bar with both hands to roll up the rope - difficult to describe - like rolling up a newspaper? and then roll the weight back down. a few reps of that and your forearms really feel it.


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## Haimer (Sep 1, 2008)

I usually do reverse wrist curls on a barbell in the power rack after I have done Chest & Biceps, ace pump.


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## monkeybiker (Jul 21, 2010)

steve1234567890 said:


> one tip a mate gave which really burns my forearms is to tie a rope to the centre of a bar and put your weight on the other end of the rope (hanging down as you stand up) - then roll the bar with both hands to roll up the rope - difficult to describe - like rolling up a newspaper? and then roll the weight back down. a few reps of that and your forearms really feel it.


It's called a wrist roller


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## God (Sep 3, 2009)

lordgeorge said:


> I'm adding mass to the rest of my body alright, but my forearms look tiny.
> 
> I guess there's not really any visible muscle down by the wrists, but they just look awful. I do a lot of grip work, I use a 200lb gripper 3x a week, and at the end of every workout pick up a 50kg DB and hold on to it as long as I can.
> 
> what can I do for mass, I've heard wrist curls but I'm not sure how to perform them correctly ?


Well your stuck with wrist size but in time forearms can improve. I was out for ages with tennis elbow injury so I'm wary of training them too much directly but I think the best stuff would be deadlifts without straps, wrist curls and perhaps hand grippers.

Pain in the @rse as with small wrists and weedy forearms, in a t-shirt you always look small! Out of interest what size is your wrist as I'm yet to meet a bloke that has smaller wrists than me!


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## Barker (Oct 1, 2009)

DB said:


> EXACTLY!
> 
> It seems almost cool to not do any isolation movements for certain bodyparts on here sometimes..
> 
> Whenever someone posts a thread asking ''How can I get my biceps to grow'' some know it all will reply heavy deadlifts and squats.. ffs That works to a point but if you want real growth then most of the time isolation movements are needed, not many exercises or volume but to complete ignore isolation movements on lagging bodyparts is stupid.


I agree. Personally i don't see how people don't train biceps/triceps, theyre like my favorite muscles to work. (not because im a chav that just eants massive arms i just generally enjoy doing them)


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## D92 (Aug 25, 2010)

chilisi said:


> Training them usually works..


small man syndrome ?????


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## MarkFranco (Aug 26, 2010)

Barker said:


> I agree. Personally i don't see how people don't train biceps/triceps, theyre like my favorite muscles to work. (not because im a chav that just eants massive arms i just generally enjoy doing them)


Because there boring


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## Matt 1 (May 8, 2010)

Wank more...

On a serious note, you can get these grip strength gadgets, they work the forearm well.

My best advice would be to get bang on the heavy compound exercises, add in forearm iso exercises once you've nailed the compounds.


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

lordgeorge said:


> I'm adding mass to the rest of my body alright, but my forearms look tiny.
> 
> I guess there's not really any visible muscle down by the wrists, but they just look awful. I do a lot of grip work, I use a 200lb gripper 3x a week, and at the end of every workout pick up a 50kg DB and hold on to it as long as I can.
> 
> what can I do for mass, I've heard wrist curls but I'm not sure how to perform them correctly ?


High rep work 3-5 times per week is all that builds size to my forearms... heavy compounds certainly seem to help them get stronger, but not at the same time add much size.

Since my forearms grow best with relatively light weights and high reps, is probably a strong indication that I have a high proportion of slow twitch fibers and not many fast twitch ones... maybe try something like that as you could well be similar.


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## gringo (Jul 13, 2009)

Had a similar problem - forearms not growing at the same rate as uppers. I think you are pretty well stuck with the overall form of your arms, if it's all tendon down near the wrists then its not going to turn into muscle. But you can bulk up the muscle you have got of course.

As your forearms are used all the time every day (like typing!) it needs some extra special stimulus to get them to grow. You need intensity AND volume. You need to work them until they are on fire, and then do another set. Expect to see results slowly, like in 6 months, not a few weeks.

There are loads of different muscles in the forearms - gripping, flexing & extending & rotating the wrist, and flexing the elbow too (the brachioradialis thats on the top of the forearm and wraps around the elbow). So you need to train all of these muscles to maximise your growth potential.

Your dumbell holds are good, but when the 50's drop from your fingers, pick up 40's, then 30's, then 20's...

I like reverse preacher curls with EZ bar as it activates a lot of the forearm muscles.

I like using a thick rope to do pullups on - good gripping work.

Plus other stuff been mentioned here:

- Barbell wrist curl behind back.

- Wrist roller.

There's so much stuff to do you cant get bored if you mix it up. Just make sure whatever you do makes your forearms feel like they are going to explode, and stick at it for a few months. It will work. And the extra strength you get will also pay off on your other exercises such as bench press, deads, rows etc where a stronger grip makes for more solid reps.


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## sully807 (Jul 28, 2010)

you can train them and add thickness, but look at a lot of the top pros, a lot of forearms is to do with genetics, look at jay cutlers for example, yes they are massive but not like someones like flex lewis' its genetic


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## cecil_sensation (Jan 26, 2009)

imo i think genetics play i large roll in it


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## Andy Dee (Jun 1, 2008)

Deadlifts and dumbell rollers are a total miricle for me.


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## warren (Jun 16, 2008)

i have just started doing wrist curls but hav had to stop them as i have sore forearms atm, i would like to ask however what different people are classing as ''decent'' forarms?

mine are just over 13" and they look tiny imo, whats a so called decent forarm?


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## stl (Apr 12, 2009)

Wrist curls/reverse wrist curls and Wrist roller as mentioned, I also use DC style as well to mix it up a bit


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## DB (Oct 31, 2003)

warren_1987 said:


> i have just started doing wrist curls but hav had to stop them as i have sore forearms atm, i would like to ask however what different people are classing as ''decent'' forarms?
> 
> mine are just over 13" and they look tiny imo, whats a so called decent forarm?


mine are about 16" and look ok? I have tiny wrists tho


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## Andy Dee (Jun 1, 2008)

DB said:


> mine are about 16" and look ok? I have tiny wrists tho


I have pencil thin wrists, its a real bitch aswell as my arms will never really look big whatever size they get to.


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## RobJ (Nov 2, 2010)

I used to use a powerball when I first started boxing.

My wrists would wreck after hitting the heavy bag for more than 5 minutes and i would have to stop.

Couple of weeks using the powerball and my wrist strength increased nicely to the point that I could hit the bag without pain.

I'm not sure wether this would build a great amount of mass though (or if im going to get slated for suggestiong such a contraption on a body building site  )...

For my lower arms I generally do wrist curls and over hand bicep curls as these guys have suggested. For the wrist curls I use a barball and sit the back of my hands on my lap with my knuckles just over the knee, then roll the bar down to the tips of my fingers, slowly opening up the grip, then close the grip and bring the bar upwards, curling your wrist as much as possible. You dont need much weight and you should really feel it in your forearms with good form.


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## ^King Leonidas^ (Aug 29, 2009)

i do pinwheel curls and reverse curls they destroy my forearms :thumb:


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## lordgeorge (Jun 30, 2010)

God said:


> Well your stuck with wrist size but in time forearms can improve. I was out for ages with tennis elbow injury so I'm wary of training them too much directly but I think the best stuff would be deadlifts without straps, wrist curls and perhaps hand grippers.
> 
> Pain in the @rse as with small wrists and weedy forearms, in a t-shirt you always look small! Out of interest what size is your wrist as I'm yet to meet a bloke that has smaller wrists than me!


yeah it's really annoying that!

measured my wrists today there about 7"

forearms are about 12.5"


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## bighead1985 (Dec 31, 2010)

I never do forearms but I might start doing some now


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## Mars (Aug 25, 2007)

Here's a clue, next to you meet a blacksmith check out his forearms, iv'e never seen a blacksmith with anything but massive forearms.


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