How to Get Buff Forearms

There are two ways to get buff, burly and chiseled forearms:

1) The right exercises, done the right way, and

2) Keeping your body fat percentage low enough.

I'm a certified personal trainer and very few clients actually request forearm alterations. But forearms are very visible parts of the body, and you don't want to forget about them.

All middle-back weight routines recruit some forearm activity. There is no escaping it. For example, the following exercises involve some forearm work: seated rows (cable or selectorized equipment), bent-over dumbbell rows, lat pull-downs, chin-ups, pull-ups, and any kind of rowing variation, such as standing bent over at the hips, and pulling a barbell to your chest for repetitions.

If you're doing these routines, and your forearms don't have a steely, sinewy or defined appearance, it's because you're not using heavy enough weight, and/or you're not pumping to muscle failure (that wicked burn), and/or you have too much body fat between your skin and the muscle.

To add forearm recruitment to any of the above drills, hold the peak-contraction phase of the routine for a 2-count before releasing the weight. For example, when doing seated cable rows, hold the handle to your chest for two seconds before releasing it. Another trick is to go slowly, and with control, on the release. Do not let the weight fly back. This often occurs during lat pull-downs. The person will let the bar fly up instead of releasing it with control. A controlled release will force work upon the forearms.

You can also do forearm-specific exercises, such as reverse barbell curls. Instead of your palms facing you as you curl up the barbell with your biceps, your palms are facing downward. This recruits less of the biceps and more of the forearms. Use control on the lowering of the barbell. The "negative" or release portion of the lift is just as important as the raising up of the weight.

Wrist routines will always call upon forearms. Wrist flexion and extension require forearm muscles. This is why some of the forearm muscles are actually called "extensors" and "flexors". They extend or flex what? The wrist, of course.