How to Get Bigger Forearms

The forearm is a notoriously difficult muscle to exercise, as many people do not know how to work it correctly. It is also one of the most visible muscles since it can be seen in long cut t-shirts and anything else. When training the forearms it's important to realize that there are two primary muscle groups in it: wrist flexors and wrist extensors. The wrist flexors are on the side of your forearm where your palm is, whereas the extensors are on the side where the back of your hand is. Both muscles are worked differently, so it's important to not just rely on one forearm exercise to build them up.

Before getting into specific exercises, I want to explain the difference between two types of muscle: slow and fast twitch. Fast twitch muscles are specialized for explosive movements and are relatively inefficient and incapable of performing at high levels for a long period of time. These muscles are best worked with low reps and high weight. Slow twitch muscles are the opposite: they are somewhat weaker, but are more efficient and can continue working longer than fast twitch ones. The best way to work these muscles is to use a high total volume and a high number of reps per set. The forearms are primarily composed of slow twitch muscles, so you'll want to work them often and with a high volume. I recommend hitting your forearms two or three times a week, with about 60 total reps per workout session.

The main exercises that work the forearms are wrist curls and reverse wrist curls. These can be done with a barbell or dumbbell, although I find that the barbell puts less strain on the joint as the motion is significantly more linear than with a dumbbell, where the wrist is often turned to the side. The standard wrist curls will work your flexors, while the reverse ones will work the extensors. You will want to both exercises every workout. Some people like to superset them, although I don't think it's really necessary.

There's another major muscle in the forearms that I didn't mention before. This is the brachioradialis and it is just as important as the flexors and extensors. The best way to work this muscle is by doing reversed grip curls, as it is an elbow flexor. This muscle isn't as predominantly slow twitch as the other forearm muscles, so I recommend working in the eight to ten rep range, and seeing how your results are with that. Hammer curls will also hit the brachioradialis, although not as hard as reverse curls. Reverse preachers are probably the best for building up this muscle.

While you can isolate your forearms with the exercises mentioned above, there are a lot of other lifts that will cause significant growth in them. Any exercise where you are lifting a heavy weight for more than one rep will benefit the forearms. Some examples include shrugs, upright rows, deadlifts, chin ups, and pull ups. You can hit the muscles from different angles depending on how you hit the muscles.