And what Prof X said lose the wrist wraps in all excercises except on very heavy deadlifts, never use them on latpulldowns!
Yeah seriously, I laugh inside when I see some fags doing lat pulldowns with straps.
A lot of the suggestions here are great, but don’t forget about the wrist extensors. You wouldn’t train quads without training hamstrings, you need to have proper balance between extensors and flexors or the flexors won’t continue to grow.
Reverse wrist curls work great, but I like to do extensions with rubber bands around my fingers. You can adjust the resistance by how your wrap the bands and how many you use. It’s easy to get some high volume in on this movement if you just sit at work playing with rubber bands while working (or surfing T-Nation).
[quote]threewhitelights wrote:
A lot of the suggestions here are great, but don’t forget about the wrist extensors. You wouldn’t train quads without training hamstrings, you need to have proper balance between extensors and flexors or the flexors won’t continue to grow.
Reverse wrist curls work great, but I like to do extensions with rubber bands around my fingers. You can adjust the resistance by how your wrap the bands and how many you use. It’s easy to get some high volume in on this movement if you just sit at work playing with rubber bands while working (or surfing T-Nation).
[/quote]
i was thinking that with the rubber band at work but didnt think it would really do anything
i thought it was common sense by now?
holding a heavy weight will produce forearm growth. romanian deadlifts will work well because you dont ever take tension off your forearms. and you generally use a realtively heavy weight for that.
Don’t use straps- except for maybe stuff above 90% RM. Towel pull ups/ rows. Thick bar work is great too. Most gyms won’t have them so you can either wrap a towel around a bar or use some grips. Eric Cressey recommended Lynx PT grips in an article. I ordered a few pairs and they worked great.
I noticed some growth lately once I started going heavier on wrist curls. I let me reps drop down to 6 - 8 and have noticed a huge pump and some decent gains.
Most people do lots of reps with light or moderate weight, but going heavier did it for me.
Do direct forearm training if you think you need it, it might suck, but I’ve always had fun with it.
Not everyone is built the same. LiveFromThe781 seems to know OP’s body better than OP.
If my calves were lacking, should I not train them? If someone is training for years, has 18 inch upper arms, and 12-13 inch forearms, don’t you think this person MIGHT need some direct forearm work?
Here are some of the things that helped me build stronger forearms…
Sledge hammer levering. This one was great IMO. A few good exercises can be found at Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos . This is actually a site on nail bending which brings me to my next exercise…
Nail bending. As addicting as crack, haha, and a much higher risk of injury. Never pierced my hand, but it creates ALOT of stress on your hand (got a slight strain in my left hand twice, haha). If you do this, take it really slow, trust me.
Wrist rollers. One of these can be made from a wooden pole and a piece of rope. Just add some weight to the end of it, maybe rest your forearms on something, and roll it up. Then flip your hands over and try the other way.
Overall, wrist work seemed to do MUCH more for my forearms than grip work ever did. But still, if you’re using straps, definitely try to build enough grip strength to lose them.
Hope that helped some.
[quote]jimmyjamesii wrote:
Do direct forearm training if you think you need it, it might suck, but I’ve always had fun with it.
Not everyone is built the same. LiveFromThe781 seems to know OP’s body better than OP.
If my calves were lacking, should I not train them? If someone is training for years, has 18 inch upper arms, and 12-13 inch forearms, don’t you think this person MIGHT need some direct forearm work?
Here are some of the things that helped me build stronger forearms…
Sledge hammer levering. This one was great IMO. A few good exercises can be found at Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos . This is actually a site on nail bending which brings me to my next exercise…
Nail bending. As addicting as crack, haha, and a much higher risk of injury. Never pierced my hand, but it creates ALOT of stress on your hand (got a slight strain in my left hand twice, haha). If you do this, take it really slow, trust me.
Wrist rollers. One of these can be made from a wooden pole and a piece of rope. Just add some weight to the end of it, maybe rest your forearms on something, and roll it up. Then flip your hands over and try the other way.
Overall, wrist work seemed to do MUCH more for my forearms than grip work ever did. But still, if you’re using straps, definitely try to build enough grip strength to lose them.
Hope that helped some.[/quote]
well yea im wondering why everyone is suggesting grip work, i know that would make them stronger but would it really help growth more?
Either way when i set up my routine next i’ll probably superset some static holds with wrist curls for 3 sets each then end with some reverse easy bar curls. seems like i would get the best of both worlds. I guess that 2x a week would be good.
[quote]pumped340 wrote:
I’ve actually read that wrist curls pretty much suck for forearm growth which suprised me and that high volume static holds, CoC grippers, etc… was best.
[/quote]
I don’t know where you heard this man…
There are lots of pics of some huge bodybuilders doing wrist curls and the like and they don’t seem to be having forearm problems. Not only that but if you do it and your forearms are sore they would need to repair. It is just another muscle.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
(aside from genetics). .[/quote]
in my uneducated opinion calf and forearm size is limited by genetics more then other muscles.
My entire dads side has huge calves, and skinny forearms. And so do I. I NEVER used wrist wraps until well, yesterday and I have still have tiny ass forearms.
edit: I have 16.5-17" calves and 11.5" forearms. And I don’t consistently train calves. probably 2-3 times a month
According to Zatiorsky, the muscles of the forearm recover so quickly the can be trained twice a day (to failure).
So I’d say you should do some work on them, at home, every day. Check this out
ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/ironmind/GripTips/GripTip49.html
As regards to what you include in your workout…
If something works for you, then it works for you.
[quote]Erasmus wrote:
And what Prof X said lose the wrist wraps in all excercises except on very heavy deadlifts, never use them on latpulldowns![/quote]
Starting today I’m doing this exact thing, I use straps on most of my back exercises because it helps me focus more on the muscles I am trying to hit… But I figure if I can bring my forearms up considerably it will help with everything from back work, to bicep work, to chest work. So I’ll sacrifice a few pounds/reps now for more later. Hopefully it pays dividends.
[quote]pumped340 wrote:
well yea im wondering why everyone is suggesting grip work, i know that would make them stronger but would it really help growth more?
[/quote]
Don’t get me wrong, grip work will definitely help, but if you’re going to invest time directly into developing forearms, time would be better spent strengthening the wrist. I’ve put a little over 2 inches on my forearm doing the things I listed and some grip work, and in my experience, they grew more while trying to strengthen the wrist.
This would probably be fine, although I would HIGHLY recommend throwing in some sledge twists, it seems to hit your forearm in different places than the wc/rwc, you’ll thank me later.
how could i do the sledge twists in a normal gym?
DEADLIFTS & DB ROWS!!!
Weighted chins and pinwheel curls.
[quote]esk221 wrote:
pinwheel curls.[/quote]
These are DC lift right? I was planning on switching between these and preachers or just both when I’m done with my current cycle.
How do you like them?
[quote]pumped340 wrote:
how could i do the sledge twists in a normal gym?[/quote]
You can’t, I just always did them when I got home.
You could use a curling bar if you really needed to be in a gym to do them.
[quote]MytchBucanan wrote:
I noticed some growth lately once I started going heavier on wrist curls. I let me reps drop down to 6 - 8 and have noticed a huge pump and some decent gains.
Most people do lots of reps with light or moderate weight, but going heavier did it for me.[/quote]
Yup, going heavy works better for me on most exercises.