A Complete Guide to How to Grow Bigger Forearms

Posted by Dayne Hudson in Muscle Building

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

How to grow forearms doesn’t seem to be every lifter's first priority. But it should be: forearms not only look great, but they also help us with all other lifts!

So we’ll outline how to get bigger forearms, and provide you with a forearm muscles workout, so we can build a mean set of them as fast as possible!

We’ll look at the farmer's walk, plate pinchers, hand grip exercises, and barbell holds. Let’s go!

Exercises to grow bigger forearms

The first one is a simple barbell hold.

As you can see below, hold the bar for up to 20 seconds (or longer if you can!) with a challenging weight.

Rest for up to 2 minutes before starting another set. You'll find your strength may increase from month to month quite quickly, so don't be shy to load up the bar more, and practice the aforementioned progressive overload!

The other great exercise is the dumbbell farmer's walks, as seen below.

Be sure to choose a very challenging weight and walk for around 10-15 metres (one set). You can lift much more weight than you think here.

After walking, you'll find your forearms will get very tired. Increase the weight more and more as time goes on to ensure growth.

The other strategy that works your forearms is training your hand grip.

And we can do that by using a hand exerciser, as seen below:

You can be watching TV and performing reps with this exercise!

You simply squeeze the tool for five or six sets for around 10-12 reps. Rest for the usual 1:30-2 minutes between sets afterwards.

Lastly, plate pinchers are another great way:

Once you can comfortably hold the plates for twenty seconds, grab another plate the same size and keep pinching!

Three sets are a good start here. Check out the Sample workout routine for building forearm muscles and how to get stronger forearms below:

Proper form and technique

Take a look at the below forearm muscles workout, and learn how to make forearms bigger:

1. Plate Pinchers: 3 sets of 12-15 reps

2. Farmer's Walks: 3 sets of 30-60 seconds

3. Barbell Holds: 3 sets of 15-30 seconds

4. Hand grip Squeezes: 3 sets of 12-15 reps

How to make forearms bigger with progressive overload

So with a solid workout that answers our question of how to get bigger forearms, let’s look at the importance of the principle of progressive overload, which directly drives muscle growth. It is simply increasing the workload for your muscles beyond what they're currently used to.

For example, bench pressing 100 kilograms last week and 105 this week is progressive overload in action.

Research shows we can practice progressive overload in the following four ways:

Additional research reveals number one is the most popular progressive overload method.

Recovery and nutrition for building forearm muscles

You’ve heard it 100 times, and it’s true – there’s no point training without proper nutrition and recovery.

How to build forearm muscles comes down to the above exercises, with adequate sleep and nutrition.

So to get this right, to ensure you’re successful in building forearm muscles, here are seven tips:

Now, all of this won’t only show you how to make forearms bigger, but your increased strength will also give you many other benefits! Im talking about:

The anatomy of the forearms

Let's begin by discussing forearm anatomy.

The main two categories we need to divide our forearm muscles into are the flexors and extensors.

As you can see, your forearm is a complex area that contains several muscles, tendons, and bones that work together to allow for movement and stability in the wrist and hand.

And as mentioned, the muscles in your human forearm can be grouped into two categories: the flexors and the extensors. The flexors are located on the anterior (palm side) of the forearm and are responsible for wrist and finger flexion. The main flexor muscles include:

The extensors are located on the posterior (back of the hand side) of the forearm and are responsible for wrist and finger extension. The main extensor muscles include:

These muscles work together to produce complex movements such as gripping, holding, and manipulating objects. And understanding them is to learn how to grow forearms!

Our flexors are used for flexing our fingers and wrist (bending) whilst the extensors are obviously for extending. And when we perform something like tricep pushdowns with our palms facing down, in what's called a pronated grip; our flexors are responsible for that getting our hands into that position.

And our extensors are responsible for our palms facing up in a supinated grip when we do something like barbell curls.

And how much forearm training we need really depends on a few things, notably genetics.

If we're naturally born with large, strong forearms, training them doesn't seem to make much sense, as they get worked when we train our back, shoulders, arms, and chest heavily. But for the rest of us, we need to perform an effective forearm muscles workout.

Wrapping up

In conclusion, barbell holds, farmer’s walks, plate pinchers and hand grips will help you with building forearm muscles.

Developing strong forearms is an important aspect of your lifting program, as they increase stability, enhance wrist flexibility, and provide better control during other lifts. By following the tips outlined above, such as proper form, progressive overload, and adequate recovery, you can master how to grow forearms, and how to get stronger forearms.

Improving your forearm strength can also have a positive impact on your performance in other lifts, making it an essential component of an overall successful gym routine.

All the best with your forearm growth! 💪

Dayne Hudson

Like many, Dayne was once desperate to lose weight and get into shape. But everyone he asked, everything he read, lead to the same place... nowhere.

His journey started there - researching science journals and completing a Sports Nutrition Specialist qualification so he could make weight loss easier.

More about Dayne Hudson

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