Are your forearms the weakest looking part of your arms, do you suffer from a weak grip? If you do then this dumbbell forearm workout is for you!
Training hard on biceps and triceps only to have skinny forearms ruins the overall look of the arms, targeting the forearms with a couple of extra isolation exercises will help give you thicker, fuller forearms.
Our dumbbell forearm workout is a quick and simple workout that will blast your forearms, make sure you do the exercises properly using the correct form, watch the vid’s and read the exercise tips!
Forearm Exercises Increase Grip
Increased grip will help you with many other exercises in your routine including rows and deadlifts, having a stronger grip and forearms will give your shoulder and bench press a boost too.A heavyweight training routine will help build your forearms, heavy pressing and pulling involves a lot of forearm work and some guys will forgo doing any isolation work on forearms feeling they get enough from their routine as it is.But if you feel your grip weakness is stopping you pushing yourself further with movements like the bench press or deadlifts, then some isolation forearm exercises will really help you out. Not only will your strength increase, your forearms will look bigger and more impressive.
Anatomy of The Forearm
The forearms can be divided up into two groups, flexors, outside of your forearm (anterior) and the inside of the forearms extensors (posterior). You can see this in our diagram.
There’s nothing complicated about it, think of it this way “one set of muscles flexes the wrist and fingers and pronates the arm and the other set extends them and supernates the arm” says Mike Matthews best-selling health and fitness author.Both the flexors and the extensors are divided up into deeper sublayer groups but for our workout, all you need to know is we will be working both of the main muscle groups, flexors and extensors.
What You Will Need
Let’s take a look at the exercises
Seated One Arm Dumbbell Palms-Up Wrist Curls
Starting position
- To start this exercise, take one dumbbell and sit on the edge of a flat bench
- Make sure both feet are flat on the floor, slightly wider than shoulder width apart
- Grip the dumbbell and rest your arm on top of your right thigh, palms facing upwards
- Make sure the front of your wrist rests on top of your knee
Action
- Inhale as you lower the dumbbell as far as possible
- Now curl the dumbbell as high as you can until you feel a stretch in the muscle, exhaling whilst doing so
- Pause for a couple of seconds and repeat for the desired amount of reps
Tip: Try and keep forearms and legs still during the exerciseTo save time I perform this movement with both arms, one on each knee!
Seated Dumbbell One Arm Palms-Down Wrist Curl
Starting Position
- Sit down on the edge of a flat bench
- Make sure both feet are flat on the floor, slightly more than shoulder width apart
- Grip one of the dumbbells with an overhand grip (palms facing down)
- Rest forearm on the top of your thigh making sure your wrist is hanging over your knee
Action
- Start by curling your wrist up as you exhale, remember to keep your forearm flat on your thighs the whole time
- Slowly lower your wrist down back to starting position
- Repeat for the desired amount of reps
Tips: Your wrist should be the only part of your body moving in this exercise, keep forearm still throughoutThis exercise can be performed using both arms, one on each knee.
I am very impressed with your article post on improving the forearms, you made if very understandable and the videos really helped me a lot.
Does diet have anything to do with building your forearms, I have been thinking of trying a protein supplement do you recommend this or not?
Forearms are one of the most stubborn muscles in the body. Despite all the work I put in, they refuse to grow! These exercises look like they will help me.
I do have some questions though. How do the upward and downward forearm workouts differ from one another? Do they target different muscles in the forearm? If you had to pick from both of them, which motion is most likely to improve the look of my forearms? I look forward to seeing your answers to these questions.
Thank you for sharing and I hope you make it a great day!
Hi Alax,
Palms down exercises work the muscles at the front of the forearm, the extensor muscles. Palms up exercises work the back of the forearms the flexor muscles.
Whilst its most important to work both the flexors and the extensors for mass and increased strength, the forearm flexors are the stronger and larger of the two sections, the flexors are also responsible for finger flexion, in simple terms “grip”. If you really only want to do one of the exercises, go for the palms up for increased mass and grip strength.
What a sick page this is. I like how you have provided anatomy and video examples to really emphasise your points and to back your information up. And the written instructions are easy to read for any level of learner. Very easy read. Great work, keep it up. I’ll be sure to visit your site now.
Thanks for the kind words buddy, I’m glad you found our workouts useful.