Top 5 Forearm Exercises

These five forearm exercises will help you make a great first strong arms impression.

Forearms. Yeah that’s right, the only bare skin you see when rocking a 1R tee at the gym, or Polo on the weekend. Your forearms will get hit indirectly when performing other exercises, but why not isolate them, improve your grip strength, and really get the most out of your gym time?

I’m not saying add a whole day of forearms to your already solid workout plan, but work them in at the end of your workouts and you’ll see some veins in those bad boys you never knew existed. Look, it’s a simple equation: Do these exercises and add some beefy forearms to go along with your now bigger arms. Trust me.

Farmers Walks: This may seem like more of a leg and carry your core exercise at first glance, but these will light your forearms and traps on fire, all while strengthening your grip. Grab some meaty dumbbells (i.e. the largest ones the gym has) and set yourself up with a decent length to walk across your gym (think 25-30 yards). Lift the dumbbells with your legs so that you don’t beat your back up, and walk down and back. Old school, simple, effective. (Down and back is one rep. Do that 3-5 times.) Loved by baseball players, but useful to all.

Motorcycles: This may not be the official name for them, but that’s what I call ‘em because they look like your revving the handles of a motorcycle. Use the preacher curl set up and grab a barbell. I’m using the Olympic 45 lb bar here, but they may be tough if you’re just starting out, so grab whatever straight bar feels right. With forearms, maybe even more than other body parts, strict form is key because you don’t want to jack up your wrists by going too heavy. (3 sets x 15 reps)

Barbell Holds: Pretty simple here, but trust me, 20 seconds has never felt so long. This is just a straight up hold of some heavy ass weight. Beginners should start out with 135 while intermediate and advanced guys could throw up anything from 225-315. Do these and watch your grip strength shoot through the roof along with your ability to rep those last few deads out. Oh and don’t worry, that shaking you’ll experience is completely normal (Hold for 15-30 seconds, 3-5 sets.)

Behind The Back Curls: This one is executed with the barbell of your choice as well. It’s easiest to lay the barbell on a bench at the bottom of a squat rack, before backing into it to pick it up. Once you’ve got the weight in your hands, curl it up and down from your fingertips back up to your wrists. This will get those veins popping on the inside of your forearms, no question. (3 sets x 15 reps)

Plate Holds: A variation on barbell holds here that is deceptively hard. Put two ten pound plates in each hand and squeeze them together in your fingertips. Don’t worry fellas, by the end of the hold you’ll swear they were 45’s. This exercise brings variety into your forearm workout, which is key for muscle development in any body part. (Hold for 15-30 seconds, 3-5 sets)

When you have big forearms, you’ve got “the look” in the gym. And by that I mean the look of a guy who benches heavy, rows heavy, and definitely doesn’t skip out on the deadlifts. But even more importantly, hitting your forearms will increase your grip strength allowing you to lift that heavy ass weight. So have at it Fellas, and spread the forearm word, because nobody wants to be Olive Oil when they could be Popeye.

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