A challenge that a lot of people face is growing their forearm size to equal their biceps and triceps. It can be a real struggle to not just get them big, but also proportional to the remainder of your arm. Having said that, it is perfectly normal for one arm to be a little bit bigger than the other because of the usage from the dominant hand on a daily basis.
Workouts for Building your Forearms
Performing barbell curls behind your back is your initial exercise. You should use either a barbell rack, or fixed weight barbells for this exercise. We will assume you are at the barbell rack for this example. Try not to use the smith machine for this exercise except in cases where you are limited on time and need to make use of the only equipment available. Position the bar beneath your waist level to the spot where you need to slightly bend at the knees to get the weight. Get your correct weight, and then grab the barbell, similar to how you would for back shrugs. Press your arms up against your own body and curl upwards as far as you can ensuring you are using only your forearms. Roll the bar back down and repeat. You should be aiming for 3 sets of 10-15 reps for this exercise.
Next you can try the rotating hand exercises. Grab a couple of low weight dumbbells that you can do x25 repetitions of. Start with your arms bent at 90 degree and your forearms parallel to the floor. Begin to rotate your wrists to where the dumbbells rotate inwards and outwards. While rotating, slowly contract your arms up and down, almost like doing a bicep curl. By doing this, you are hitting all the muscles in your forearms and getting a real burn!
The final exercise is a reverse curl with dumbbells. You will need medium weighted dumbbells, and then basically perform a bicep curl with your hands facing the opposite way. Reverse curls also help develop the forearms greatly while also hitting the brachialis, which is the muscle group that is found under your biceps.
Use Supersets for further Benefit
Supersets are basically doing one exercise after another without rest. With this example you could complete normal bicep curls, followed immediately by one of the forearm exercises listed above. Perform the bicep curls with medium-heavy weights, as you normally would. This means no using the back or legs to help you lift the weight. Immediately afterward, grab a lighter weight and perform the dumbbell wrist curls. This gives you a super burn and will make sure you are tender the following day!
Stretch out your Arms!
Your arms are necessary for nearly every lift you complete, and hurting one or both could cost you greatly. There are many muscle heads and tendons located on your arms that need stretching, and your biceps and forearms are the easiest to injure without stretching. Also be sure to rotate your hands around and flex them back to get a correct stretch which keeps hand fractures away. Keep your posture and form correct, and make sure you use the same weight on both arms to prevent unbalanced development. Poor technique can easily result in under development, or even injury in your non-dominant arm.
Workouts for Building your Forearms
Performing barbell curls behind your back is your initial exercise. You should use either a barbell rack, or fixed weight barbells for this exercise. We will assume you are at the barbell rack for this example. Try not to use the smith machine for this exercise except in cases where you are limited on time and need to make use of the only equipment available. Position the bar beneath your waist level to the spot where you need to slightly bend at the knees to get the weight. Get your correct weight, and then grab the barbell, similar to how you would for back shrugs. Press your arms up against your own body and curl upwards as far as you can ensuring you are using only your forearms. Roll the bar back down and repeat. You should be aiming for 3 sets of 10-15 reps for this exercise.
Next you can try the rotating hand exercises. Grab a couple of low weight dumbbells that you can do x25 repetitions of. Start with your arms bent at 90 degree and your forearms parallel to the floor. Begin to rotate your wrists to where the dumbbells rotate inwards and outwards. While rotating, slowly contract your arms up and down, almost like doing a bicep curl. By doing this, you are hitting all the muscles in your forearms and getting a real burn!
The final exercise is a reverse curl with dumbbells. You will need medium weighted dumbbells, and then basically perform a bicep curl with your hands facing the opposite way. Reverse curls also help develop the forearms greatly while also hitting the brachialis, which is the muscle group that is found under your biceps.
Use Supersets for further Benefit
Supersets are basically doing one exercise after another without rest. With this example you could complete normal bicep curls, followed immediately by one of the forearm exercises listed above. Perform the bicep curls with medium-heavy weights, as you normally would. This means no using the back or legs to help you lift the weight. Immediately afterward, grab a lighter weight and perform the dumbbell wrist curls. This gives you a super burn and will make sure you are tender the following day!
Stretch out your Arms!
Your arms are necessary for nearly every lift you complete, and hurting one or both could cost you greatly. There are many muscle heads and tendons located on your arms that need stretching, and your biceps and forearms are the easiest to injure without stretching. Also be sure to rotate your hands around and flex them back to get a correct stretch which keeps hand fractures away. Keep your posture and form correct, and make sure you use the same weight on both arms to prevent unbalanced development. Poor technique can easily result in under development, or even injury in your non-dominant arm.
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If you like the information in this post, the author has also written a article titled How Do I Gain Weight? More muscle developing facts to help you achieve your goals.
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