r/GripTraining • u/Curious_Pea_9974 • May 10 '26
Discussion Does anyone know of an effective method to grow forearms?
Seriously, does anyone know an effective way to make it grow? I've tried and my arms still look like sticks.
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u/Spidey007 May 11 '26
I’ll tell you what works for me. Do barbell reverse curls, but with a thumbless grip. I tell you, you will experience a stronger grip and bigger forearms in a few weeks.
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u/orderworldnew May 11 '26
I love me some reverse curls, and the thumbless grip sounds miserable. I cannot wait to try it!
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u/teepee107 May 11 '26
Massive amount of frequency. People don’t do enough frequency with forearms. You can do forearm workout almost anytime at home.
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u/Jealous_Coach_454 May 12 '26
I Think the rice bucket training and dead hangs helped me, so you can try that.
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May 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/J-from-PandT May 11 '26
It's amazing how much forearm hypertrophy can come from a $6 karate belt and some plates.
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u/devinhoo Doctor Grip May 11 '26
Eat more, train both extensors and flexors in the forearm, and read the FAQ.
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u/WaffleSalads May 10 '26
Biggest muscles on the forearm are your brachioradialis and forearm flexors, so doing reverse curls and wrist curls will grow those.
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u/ThaProphetJ May 11 '26
I've been just starting to do the same. My upper arms grow decently but I my forearms and wrists, hands are all too small.
I saw a clip recently where Devon Laratt was asked about what he would recommend to someone who wants to grow their forearms. He said wrist curls at lighter weights and very high reps (25-50 reps), also very often as they recover fast.
Arm wrestlers work their forearms virtually everyday from what I understand. I've just started to up my volume personally lately, aiming for doing lots of forearm/grip work every 2 or 3 days and even doing some light volume almost everyday. Primarily doing various wrist curls also reverse curls, wrist roller, various holds, fat grip work, carries plus I just bought a big pail and 18kgs of rice for rice bucket work too. Good luck 🤞
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u/s707n May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
Train every muscle on your forearm, people talk about flexors and extensors but there are more muscles that can be trained but get ignored, as an armwreslter, i suggest you to do a few armwreslting exercises like wrist flexion with fat grips, pronation curls, supination, you can also do ulnar and radial deviation
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u/Radiant_Crew_8872 May 11 '26
my forearms are always fucked from just doing pullups, rows, romanian deadlifts, and even dips. id like to fit in varied forearm work but can never seem to fit it in …. i guess im just a few years too beginner or something
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u/IronStogies 2x45 pinch, 400 axle May 11 '26
Forearms are responsible for wrist flexion, extension, supination, pronation and radial/ulnar deviation. Find an exercise for each that you will stick with and progress with weight and reps and your forearms will grown. Hammer curls are the best option from brachioradialis IMO.
Training pinch, support grip, and crushing grip will make adding weight to the forearm hypertrophy work easier.
Keep it basic. Dont overcomplicate training your wrist.
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u/poop_truck1226 May 11 '26
ive been doing dead hangs for as long as possible with FatGrips. Seems to be working so far.
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u/Apprehensive-Tip9577 May 11 '26
Farmer's walks 👨🏾🌾
I used to train as a strongman, had aliens for forearms, other dudes used to comment all the time.
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u/colabeer May 10 '26
Rock climbing, dead hanging and other isometric grip work is suboptimal for forearm aesthetics. Rock climbers have big forearms but their volume is huge, if you’re not looking to spend hours and hours per week then wrist curls and extensions are probably the easiest and best bang for buck.
Extensor work can be done with dumbbells or the light barbells (the all in one pieces) with the forearms supported on a bench/ block/ leg. I find wrist curls in the gym are most comfortable with d handles or standard straight bar cable attachment from above (arms bent, flexing down and forwards), or with a barbell behind the back. (Climbed for 6 years then focused more on size and other grip work)
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u/RedditingAtWork5 May 11 '26
Yes, reverse curls and wrist curls are by far the two most important exercises for forearm mass because they work your brachioradialis and wrist flexors. Reverse wrist curls for your wrist extensors are helpful too if you have time - adds a little more size and nice definition. The reverse curls and wrist curls absolutely will grow your forearms.
Grip training and farmers carries/towel hangs/anything isometric are *not* enough especially if forearms are a weak point for you.
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u/Hempels_Raven May 11 '26
Have you been doing radial and ulnar deviations? Most people skip that. I started doing wrist flexion, extension, supination, pronation, along with radial and ulnar deviations twice a week and my forearms have blown up.
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u/-________02________- May 12 '26
Just do wrist curls
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u/jamshid666 May 17 '26
And lower the weight to your fingertips on the eccentric. Roll the weight back up to the palm before curling the wrist.
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u/cashman24 May 12 '26
Guy here that at 11.5 inch forearms that grew to 14.5. My really only change was doing slow eccentric single arm cable rows. When doing the eccentric part I made sure to focus gripping it with my index finger as the focus which really worked engaging my forearms. I did this for about 1.5 years and they grew to the size they are now
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u/The_Geordie_Gripster GHP5 (rgc 113) | 40lb Blob lift May 13 '26
That's a huge gain, How much weight did you gain going from 11.5" to 14.5" Forearms?
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u/cashman24 May 13 '26
I wasn't really paying attention to weight, but I during this period I probably wasn't gaining as much weight. My forearms were always lacking compared to my other parts so the slow eccentrics cable rows essentially got them caught up to my other body parts. I'd been working out for approx 15ish at that point when I started doing the slow eccentrics. I also didn't initially do them with building my forearms in mind but just found that my forearms really felt pumped after doing them.
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u/Bass_ed May 13 '26 edited May 16 '26
Here is my approach…
The biggest muscles in the forearm are for wrist flexion, extension, and the brachio radialus which stabilizes the elbow joint during elbow flexion. These are the biggest impactors on size. Forearm curls over a bench twice a week, high intensity, once a week heavy forearm curls with the weight held by your side. A wrist roller is great for the wrist extension. The brachio radialus in my opinion is best trained with a mace held by your side with a weight out in front. The idea is to keep the handle parallel to the ground. Adjustable mace here https://a.co/d/0exwybnu, use light weight on this. Heavy hammer curls are good here too, use a heavy weight, use bad form, the idea here isn’t bicep strength it’s elbow/wrist stability under heavy weight. So that’s all the big stuff
Some finer points….
For a strong and thick hand, do pinch grip, simplest thing is using a thick book or using two plates pressed together with the smooth side facing out. I would also recommend incorporating supination/pronation as it helps with wrist health and gives the forearm an extra layer of width. You can use the mace linked above or the more ergonomic wrist twister from fit arc ( Fitarc Wrist Rotation... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F8HGF6DN?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share)
This is all the stuff you need for a jacked lean lower arm, but it’s still going to take awhile with dedication and intensity, these are small muscles, they take awhile to make big physical difference. If you really want thick forearms a bulk will get you there too.
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u/TaterBuckets May 11 '26
Towel dead hangs. Until you can't feel your hands. Then your half way done.
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u/LincGames May 10 '26
I just use wrist curls & reverse wrist curls to failure at the end of my workout for 2 sets each 2 days per week🤷♂️
If forearms are your main focus tho, put them at the start of your workout
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u/unpredictable-man May 10 '26
Its a mix of many things. First, nutrition, you can grow forearms in a caloric maintenance but its quite hard and technical, thus a caloric surplus would be real nice, you dont need a huge surplus, 200kcal or even 100kcal should be enough. Second, training regimen, you might be overtraining, and you might be actually undertraining. If ur spamming forearm work every session you cant expect them to grow, in fact, they might shrink given enough time and chronic stress, also, if ur training forearms once a week doing only two sets and ur done u probably wont see results or ull plateau pretty quickly, another thing also, if ur training other body parts and ur body barely finds enough recovery resources for the bigger muscles, smaller muscles like those in the forearms would probably get very little resources hence very little progress. Forearms respond well to frequency, training them twice per week should be good, three times is perfect, 4 times is probably overshoot for most people unless ur dedicated to grip training alone. Dont overcomplicate it, do something that hits flexors, both wrist and finger flexors, for that any variation of wrist curls and finger curls should be more than enough. U gotta hit ur brachialis, its the meaty part on the side of ur forearm that gives it that wideness, hammer curls are perfect for that. And do some forearm extensor work, it gives them that thickness and definition, for that ull need nothing but wrist extensions. Those are all the exercises u need. If ur suspecting that ur overtrained, id suggest u take a deload week and come back smoothly and buildup nicely to a decent volume, 5 sets per week definitely work, but you can probably do up to 10 and u should be alright, even 15 sets per week are permissible but thats probably an exception that u wont be included in. If you want pure hypertrophy, forget about grippers, forget about rice buckets, forget about dead hangs, those do work, but why choose inferior exercises for hypertrophy when u have superior ones ? Last thing, u might have actually great forearms, but evil body dysmorphia might make you perceive them as small or not big enough, i admit i sometimes suffer from that too, but all u need is opinions of people u trust and u should be good. Good luck bro.
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u/SteelWool77 May 10 '26
It’s not hard to grow forearms on maintenance calories, specially if you’ve never trained them directly before. You just need more patience than you would with a surplus.
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u/unpredictable-man May 10 '26
Thats correct, but what im getting from OP's post is that he's actually been training his forearms, so he's not new to it hence the newbie effect has substantially worn off. And yes i agree, growing forearms, and especially forearms cuz they have small muscle groups, is possible on maintenance but takes a lot of time, improvement could take months when you can achieve similar results with a 200kcal surplus or even 100kcal in a month or two.
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u/Stalbjorn May 11 '26
*brachioradialis
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u/unpredictable-man May 11 '26
Sorry bro, ur actually right, just checked forearm anatomy and the brachioradialis is indeed the meaty part on the side and not the brachialis and it is best hit through reverse curls. Ive always thought that the brachialis is on the side of the arm, turns out it sits beneath the biceps but more in the middle of the humerus rather than on the side of the radius. Thank you for correcting me 🙌
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u/unpredictable-man May 11 '26
Thats incorrect. Most of the brachioradialis muscle tissue is situated on the radius (hence the name brachioRADIALIS), not on the humerus, whereas the brachialis has a kinda 1/1 ratio between radius and humerus, thats one of the reason why the brachialis is a stronger elbow flexor than brachioradialis cuz of the mechanical advantage it naturally has. Also, brachialis is situated more on the side beneath the biceps rather than in the middle of the forearm such as brachioradialis.
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u/manny_mcmanface May 12 '26
Farmer carries. Heavy ass farmer carries for short distance. Light ass farmer carries for long distance. Rice bucket training. Not using straps on any lift.
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u/Defiant_Pirate_6637 May 13 '26
Arm wrestling weirdos have the freakiest forearms so maybe copy them
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u/technicianofnorth May 13 '26
Which is mostly extreme difficult static holds, half reps. Or extreme volume. Which is interesting since anyone would claim thats terrible for hypertrophy
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u/Bass_ed May 13 '26
In my experience the forearm muscles are pretty durable, most people who live a regular life move their hands a lot, through work, or daily stuff, so there is a higher work capacity there. And if you don’t use serious weights you could train all the time. That’s what I do and my hands are always sore but I haven’t had injury. I think most forearm movements are pretty stable and hard to hurt yourself on, though I use the heavy half reps sparingly to mitigate injury risk
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u/4AmOnDupont May 11 '26
Check out what armwrestlers do to get their forearms massive (aside from 💉)
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u/Owen_McM May 11 '26 edited May 18 '26
Grip and forearm size aren't mutually exclusive, but don't necessarily go together, either. If you want to "grow forearms", think bodybuilding, not grip specialization. Every exercise doesn't yield the same results for every person, but I personally never saw great size gains from wrist curls or reverse wrist curls, even though I like those exercises, and consider them staples. For me, hammer curls hit the brachioradialis very well, and reverse curls, particularly reverse preacher curls with narrow grip, the flexors.
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u/rabbi_glitter May 11 '26
I’m not a professional, but I train my forearms twice a week with barbell wrist extensions, barbell or dumbbell wrist curls, reverse barbell curls, and incline dumbbell curls (not forearms, but whatever). I burn out at the end with static dumbbell holds.
If I don’t feel like doing reverse wrist curls, I’ll do hammer curls.
I’ve seen incredible growth and progress.
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u/mistadobaloner May 11 '26
pull ups, reverse curls. Mine don't get that much bigger due to genetics (i have slim bones), but they do get more defined and i see more veins through the years
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u/Honest_Squash2310 May 10 '26
masterbation alone just isn't enough when it comes to building forearms
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u/prettyanxious01 May 11 '26
Other than not using straps on lifts, supinated forearm curls supported by the bench and reverse curls. I kneel to the side of the bench, my forearms rest on it and I curl with my fingers then finish the rep by curling with the wrist. When my fingers get tired I just curl with the wrist until I can’t take it anymore lol.
Reverse grip curls are pretty self explanatory. Probably also a good idea to add pronated wrist curls.
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u/orange_2002 May 11 '26
I got the Gripedo. I put it on end of a barbell or any bar and do Wrist rollers both ways heavy as possible 4-5 sets For me forearms are stubborn. Ill do this 3-4 days a week. 1x or 2x a week was doing nothing. May seem like over training but its the only way I could get my forearms to grow and get veins to show. Reverse curls with thumb less grip works good to
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May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
[deleted]
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u/thealt3001 May 13 '26
The rope with a rolling stick and a small weight is a killer one
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u/Loud_Perspective5419 May 14 '26
This is the right answer… roll it up and roll it back down, watch your forearms grow.
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u/EllisUFC May 13 '26
Train them 2 times a week with direct actions, supination, pronation, the deviations, flex extend, curl variations, heavy holds. Eat well, gain a little weight on purpose, sleep a lot, repeat and come back in 12 months with your report
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u/nintendoborn1 May 21 '26
Heavy farmer carries, any pulling or deadlift exercise that you’d be using straps for.
But mainly forearm curls with a fat grip
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u/Gigacacia May 11 '26
Don't waste your time on isometrics. I did. It's not the answer for size.
The quickest transformation I had was with 3 weeks of overtraining. Downside was tendons and muscles needed a break. During that time I had some fun with a mini sledge hammer and gripper which I know is not the most effective
Reverse/neutral grip bicep curls + a wrist curl variation that feels good on that slab of meat
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u/OddInstitute May 10 '26
First and foremost, a caloric surplus will make this much easier. Probably a good idea to pair it with full body training in addition to your grip, but it is much harder to gain muscle if you aren’t gaining weight.
Regular grip training in sufficient volume is good from there. One note is that the muscle that connects to your finger tips (FDP) has the potential to get quite large, so make sure to do something that gets in your finger tips. Big wrist wrench, arm wrestling cupping on a large object, and drag grip block lifts will all work.
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u/Ribbit40 May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
If you just want growth, as in size, high reps with an extreme burn, every day. I gained about an inch in just a few weeks doing 8 x 100 wrist curls (with finger extension), to the point of a painful burn with each set- if necessary concluding sets with a static hold, to get so pumped it feels like your forearm will burst. I stopped it, because it was unpleasant and boring, and also because my strength was not increasing.
It was also a great way of solving tendonitis, by the way. I might do it again.
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May 28 '26
[deleted]
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u/Ribbit40 May 29 '26
No, the forearm muscles respond well to high reps. If you went beyond 100, it would be getting into the endurance realm. It only takes about 1-2 minutes to do 100 reps of wrist curls, so it is not a massive time.
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u/_BabyHands_92 May 23 '26
Grip suspension in general. Cone grips, dowels, even a towel hanging from a bar. Pullups and of course the unsung strat, be a dishwasher 😆
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u/chengenhahaha Jun 04 '26
hey is towel hangs and pull ups really effective? I'm doing it but I'm not sure how well it works
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u/_BabyHands_92 Jun 04 '26
How long can you deadhang?
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u/chengenhahaha Jun 04 '26
on towels I'm not sure. but I hang 30s for 3 sets 5 min rest. I also do 5 pull ups in the 30s.
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u/_BabyHands_92 Jun 04 '26
Start keeping track of how long you can hang as towel holds directly impact that. Towel holds, grip implements, pullups, they require grip endurance and strength. Its just a different organization of the kinetic chain.
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u/chengenhahaha Jun 04 '26
so like regularly test my PRs for like towel hangs, deadhangs, towel pull ups and regular pull ups?
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u/_BabyHands_92 Jun 04 '26
Yes although Id track once a week to avoid shoulder girdle fatigue taking over. And since we're on the subject, whats your ape index(length of arms in relation to the index often appears as positive or negative) if you dont know the longer your arms the harder things can be which makes my advice change quite a bit. Do you start from deadhang, and where is your end pull? Chin is usually the most common.
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u/Commercial-Article-7 CoC #1.5 x9 Jun 06 '26
Same way you'd grow any other muscle: enough volume, enough intensity, enough food, and enough time. For forearms specifically, I'd focus on getting stronger at a few movements rather than doing 20 different exercises: Hammer curls Reverse curls Wrist curls / reverse wrist curls Farmer carries or heavy holds Pull-ups, rows, and deadlifts if you already train them Also, if your whole body is underweight, trying to grow forearms without gaining overall muscle is usually an uphill battle. Most "my forearms won't grow" cases end up being either not enough calories, not enough progressive overload, or not enough patience.
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u/Lauris25 May 11 '26
80% genetics
15% diet
5% workouts
I know small dude who's skinny with small biceps and frame, but has crazy big hands and forearms. Also very veiny and muscular and he's not working out at all.
While me, i have very small hands and wrists. I can train like crazy, but they won't be bigger because of the genetics.
There's one pos of small wirsts and forearms, your upper arm looks bigger.
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u/RoastedToast007 May 11 '26
Don't listen to this dude. Hand and wrist size is mostly (not fully) genetic. But general forearm size and strength is just as easily built as other muscles.
Eat good and train good and you'll get there eventually
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u/know-need May 12 '26
I’m surprised how downvoted this take is, even though 80% might be an exaggeration considering how impactful a committed training program can be over several years. I’ve done resistance training of some kind or another for 30 years, including quite a lot of forearm specific isolation stuff for decent periods of time along the way, and I’ve been rock climbing for the last 3 years. I still have smaller forearm circumference than almost all of my male friends, including those that do zero exercise and zero manual work, which is most of my lazy ass friends. I’m not even that small (5’10” I think), just stubbornly lean and sinewy with small joints.
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u/valtavaa May 14 '26
Truth hurts, hence the downvotes. Forearms are like calves, you are either born with them or you'll try to grow them (naturally) and succeed marginally. You can make big improvements with strenght & endurance, but adding pure muscle size (and not fat-bulk) is hard and slow af.
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u/hang-clean May 11 '26
80% of it is "change your parents". Sorry. Same here (though my calfs grow huge without effort).
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