How to train the forearm muscles

How to strengthen and grow the forearms muscles with weight training, and even in under 15 minutes a week.

The forearm muscles are located between the elbow and wrist of the lower arms. These muscles are a crucial part of the chain in any work you do where the hands must secure something, like weights for training. They are too easily bruised or injured if the work you are making them do is too hard or the weight is too heavy, especially in a precariously leveraged position.

Three chief exercises

There are three chief exercises for training the forearms with weights: The Wrist Roller, The Reverse Forearm Curl and what can be called The Preacher Forearm Shrug for lack of a better name.

The Wrist Roller, one of the most traditional exercises, is done by securing a weight to one end of a strong rope and the other through a hole in a dowel rod. Extending the arms straight out and secure, you curl the rod winding the rope around it, lifting the weight thusly to shoulder level with only the exertion of the forearm muscles. You will see right away why it is recommended to start with a very light weight. Roll the weight back down again. Perform this exercise slowly, keeping the arms straight out in front of you. Be careful not to use a weight that forces your arms to droop. To slowly strengthen the forearms (and the hands and wrists) and for safety sake, work up to heavier weights gradually after performing this routine several times. You can begin by performing this routine once, and only once or twice a week.

When you are ready for more, try The Reverse Forearm Curl. Simply grasp an easy curl bar overhand. Then curl the weight upward, back toward your chest, using the forearms. Use a much lighter weight than you normally would for biceps curls; even a fourth that much or less, whatever is comfortable. Do one set twice a week to exhaustion, then two and three when it feels natural. After a few months of exercise you can opt to use more weight and do fewer reps for strength. Until then, use a weight that puts you in the 8-12 rep range for exhaustion.

We will follow the same set and rep formula for the Preacher Forearm Shrug. Holding a straight bar, rest your forearms on a preacher curl bench. Bending only at the wrists, shrug the weight upward and down again. This should look and feel a bit like the wrist roller, except you don’t turn or let go of the bar. Do one set of 8 to 10 till two or three sets feels comfortable.

Two seven-minute workouts a week or one fifteen-minute workout will be plenty till you are ready to do more.