I keep my forearm workouts simple and short. Simple of course doesn’t mean easy. With all the gripping and holding of heavy weight when weight training, I feel they don’t need an extreme amount of work. However, it does seem like I rarely see many lifters training them directly at all. That being said, here are my favorite forearm workouts.
Reverse Grip Dumbbell Grips – I like to do these one arm at a time with thick handled dumbbells if possible. Do at least 20 reps with one arm, then switch to the other. After you get to failure, switch back and continue repping with the first arm. A ton of reps are what I go for with as many as 4 rounds per arm without stopping.
Preacher Bench Wrist Curl – Any type of dumbbell wrist curl can be done here. I like doing them on a preacher bench at the moment. This is another exercise done for 3 or 4 rounds per arm without stopping. Lots of repetitions will be done as well.
Weight Plate Grip – I don’t really know what to call this. The gym I go to has some blue 45 pound plates that are a challenge to hold by the edge. I like to grip one and hold it while standing or walking a bit. This is done until my grip gives out.
My other favorite workout for the forearms focuses on cable training. It is as follows.
One Arm Reverse Cable Curls – These are done the same way as with dumbbells, going back and forth between arms. The difference here is that I drop the weight after repping out with each arm.
Cable Wrist Curls – Same deal here. Back and forth while decreasing the weight.
Overhead Hang – This is timing how long you can hold your weight while gripping a pull-up bar. If you’re strong enough, you can do it one arm at a time.