Forearms and Grip: My Favorite Exercises

[fat_wilhelm]

I know that this topic has been widely covered, but I wanted to consolidate my own favorites into a thread. Most of these are old and reliable, but there may be a few fresh ideas here to help some of you mix it up a bit.

Forearms and Grip: My Favorite Exercises

Towel pullups: Hang a short towel over a pullup bar, grab the towel ends and go to work. Vary grip by using fewer fingers or go thumbless. Change between overhand and underhand.

Reverse curls: Self explanatory. Variate between regular barbell and thick bar. If you don

 

[Diligent]

This is what I really like:

Rolling Thunder (2.5 inch thick handle) - addicting and awesome for grip, esp. in regards to grappling. Slap some weight on this baby and then clamp onto your opponent's wrist like it's nuthin' (don't forget to keylock them).

Pinch Grip - awesome for thumb strength and stuff. But I did too much of these last week and it ripped a big chunk of skin off of my palm, so me and my pinch grip are taking a break in our relationship.

Grippers - they're grippers ... that work you grip ... mhm.

Levering - awesome for wrist strength and work yer grip, too.

Towel pullups - towel pullups pwn.

 

[Duncon76]

Towell pullups/Deadlifts
Finger Deadlifts/pullups
CLubbells
Bending
Wrist Curls
Grippers
Deadlift Lockouts
Pinch Gripping Plates/curls/wcurls/Throws&Catches
Thick Dumbells
Olympic Lifting

 

[BackBrainKick]

Might be a dumb question, but I haven't found any references in my research...(yes, I've read "you have pussy hands" and "bitch wrists" threads; I suffer from both)

...what frequency is best for forearm exercises? Daily or like all other weight training, with rest days?

 

[Henry Swanson]

...what frequency is best for forearm exercises? Daily or like all other weight training, with rest days?

Certain people can handle different amounts of volume/frequency just like any other type of training. The best thing is to experiment and see what works for you.

Using grippers as an example, the schedules guys follow are all over the map. The KTA program is insane when it comes to high volume/frequency. Guys like Rick Walker, Bill Piche and Dave Morton all use higher volume (although Dave has said that he does cut back when he's bending a lot). On the other end of the spectrum, Kurtis Bowler trains once every 10 days. All of these guys are Certified Captain's of Crush and all use different parameters when it comes to training. Through my reading, most guys fall in between these two extremes going 3-4 times a week.

 

[philthy]

my favorites are:

bucket o-rice
wrist roller
grippers
eagle loops
rubber bands
2" heavy handle
pony clamps

 

[Urban]

my favorites are:

bucket o-rice
wrist roller
grippers
eagle loops
rubber bands
2" heavy handle
pony clamps

Hey Phil, are you a COC?

As far as my favorite forearm and grip exercises:
Blockweights - nothing you can't do with them
Bending - incredible expression of lower arm strength
Rolling thunder - that fucker's tough to hold on to
2" handled KB - bottoms up presses, and swing and catches aint easy.
Grippers - they're just so addictive.

 

[philthy]

No, just someone trying to work up to be one. Right now i'm probably a week or two out from closing a hg300

 

[Henry Swanson]

No, just someone trying to work up to be one. Right now i'm probably a week or two out from closing a hg300

What's the spread on your HG300?

 

[AxeGrinder]

Grippers
Wrist Roller
pinch blocks (or just regular stone blocks)
Sledge work and levering
bending stuff
Thickbar

 

[Placebo_]

Anything with a fatbar...

 

[Annsofia]

there are a lot of exercises for the forearms, but you must really burn them to get the results you want

 

[Henry Swanson]

I also like barbell plate pinching. Throw a few 10's or 5's on each side of a barbell and pinch. You can do rows, deadlifts, cleans, snatches etc.

 

[Bizarro]

One that is kind of fun is taking a plate and throwing it up in the air and catching it by the edge. So for example you take a 25 lb plate and hold onto it with your fingertips, then swing it up and let it rotate all the way around and grab onto it.

 

[Henry Swanson]

Nobody mentioned plate curls and plate wrist curls either.

 

[philthy]

Sonny: it's about a 2 1/2" spread it's not fully seasoned yet i've probably only closed it maybe 50 or 60 times

 

[salboski]

Sonny, nice barbell plate pinches, I'll have to try that.

I like things with a fat bar, pull ups, curls, hammer curls etc. put a thick towel through the eye of a plate and do hammer curls. and also regular plate pinches.

 

[Henry Swanson]

Sonny, nice barbell plate pinches, I'll have to try that.

Definitely, but I recommend a shorter bar for obvious reasons.

 

[Duncon76]

I also like barbell plate pinching. Throw a few 10's or 5's on each side of a barbell and pinch. You can do rows, deadlifts, cleans, snatches etc.


I forgot about those..pinch grip deads, etc..awesome stuff!!!

 

[Placebo_]

Recent favorites:

1 Hand Farmer's
Sledgehammer work
Gi Pullups

With the first two also being excellent for the core as well.