This is my forearms exercise deal list. Let me show you how to get big juicy forearms. Before we get into the exercises, I need to tell you one very important thing that is going to affect the way I rate these exercises.
I'm not going to rank exercises like deadlift and rows very highly. Because the main purpose of these exercises is not to train forearms, but to train back. And when I hear people say, you will have big forearms if you just don't use straps, I just have to facepalm every time. Yes, that statement is partially true, but the problem is that you are just actively sabotaging your back training. If you are for example doing rows and your grip fails before your back does, you are literally screwing yourself over.
And for what? To train forearms? That just makes no sense. If you need to use straps, then use straps. You are trying to grow your back, so stop putting forearms into the mix.
You will be surprised how much of a difference it will make in your back workout when you are not limited by your grip. If you want to train forearms, then do it directly, with isolation exercises that I will show you later. The secret to getting big forearms is to take advantage of the forearm isolation exercises that are not very taxing.
That's why you will not do something like a deadlift for your forearms, because it will completely wreck you and you will get almost zero forearm gains from it. But when you use isolation exercises that are not very taxing for your whole body, you can basically train forearms every day. And because forearms recover very quickly, it's the perfect way of training them. Well, I kind of got sidetracked so let's finally start with the exercises.
So for the reasons I mentioned a second ago, I will put the deadlifts and rows into the D tier. Now let's take a look at all the wrist curl variations. But before we do so, keep in mind that you should do the wrist curl variation that is the most comfortable for you, no matter how I personally rank it, because there is no point in doing something that causes you discomfort.
With that being said, the first variation is the classic wrist curl. This in my opinion is the best wrist curl variation. You can do it with a barbell, dumbbell or even a cable.
The most important thing about this exercise and all the other wrist curl variations is that you don't ego lift. You want to be very gentle with exercises like this, because in this case less is actually more. So focus on full range of motion with lighter weight instead of trying to impress your outer ego. The classic wrist curl is going into the S tier.
The next wrist curl variation is the wrist extension. The difference between a wrist curl and a wrist extension is the position of your palms. When you are doing the wrist curl, your palms are facing upwards, but when you are doing the wrist extension, your palms are facing downwards. I'm personally not that big of a fan of the wrist extension, but it can for sure still be used.
I will put it in the B tier. And the last wrist curl variation is the behind the back wrist curl. In my mind, this is the worst wrist curl variation. just because of the limited range of motion and how awkward it can get at times if you got big glutes and hamstrings. But as I said at the start, the wrist curl variations are all about your preference.
So don't get discouraged to try something that is little bit lower on the list. I will put the behind the back wrist curl into the C tier. I'm pretty sure that you have never heard of this next exercise that I will talk about.
It's the rice bucket training. Stop looking at your calendar. I know that it's not April Fools just yet, but this is something that will really change your life, so pay attention.
Hey, even you David, I know that you got me on a second monitor right now, you can't fool me. Alright, now that everyone is paying attention, let me tell you what this rice bucket training is all about. And by the way, I already talked about this in my newsletter, so if you want to stay up to date on awesome techniques like this, you should definitely join up, link is in the description.
So the rice bucket training is basically about putting your hands in a bucket of rice and doing various movements like opening and closing your hands, twisting your hands or even squeezing the rice itself. Just by doing this you can get some serious gains. And that's not only forearm gains, that also includes your whole hands and fingers. And the best part about it is that anyone can do it.
All you need is a bucket, like 10 pounds of rice and 5 minutes of your time. There is literally no excuse to not do this. After you finish watching this video, I highly recommend you to watch this video and follow the routine. I will put the link to it in the description. You might get sore from the first couple of rice bucket sessions, but once you get accustomed to it, you can pretty much do it every day.
It doesn't matter who you are, you should be doing the rice bucket training. Not only for the gains, but also to improve the health of your wrists. So write it down on your bucket list. The rice bucket training goes into the S tier. Next up we have grippers.
I personally use grippers a lot. The best part about them is that you don't have to be in the gym to get some work done. Whilst the exercise is not perfect, I value the convenience very highly. It can be perfect if you are a truck driver or someone who is constantly on the move.
That's why I'm going to put the grippers in 80. Next exercise is the dead hang. This exercise is not only great for your forearms, but also for decompressing your spine. And if you want to increase the difficulty of the exercise, you can add in a towel.
If you have never tried deadhangs, I highly recommend you to do so. The deadhang is going into the A tier. Next up, farmer's walk.
This is definitely a good exercise. The only problem that it has is that your whole body is going to get involved, which means that it's going to tax your body a lot. And that means that you can't simply do this every day.
And as we have learned earlier, training forearms is mainly about high frequency, which can't really be achieved by the farmer's walk. But it can be a nice addition in combination with some forearm isolation exercise like the rice bucket training. So the farmer's walk is going into the B tier.
Next exercise is the Zotman curl. If you have been watching this channel for a while, you already know how it usually is with exercises that try to combine multiple exercises into one. Yeah, I just don't see a world in which you would want to do this exercise over any other one.
And if you say, hey, it also targets the biceps man. Well, yeah. but the next two exercises on the list also target the biceps, and they are way better than the Zottman curl.
So forget about this exercise, science based theory it is. So as I said, the next two exercises target both the forearms and the biceps. It's the hammer curl and the reverse curl. You should 100% have one of these exercises in your routine, as it is just irreplaceable.
Even if you don't isolate your forearms at all, you should at least add one of these exercises into the day that you train your arms on. Because increasing the size of your brachioradialis is crucial if you want to make your arms look massive. Both the hammer curl and the reverse curl go into the S tier.
The next thing on the list is not necessarily an exercise, but it's very useful. It's called fat grips. When you put it on a barbell or a dumbbell, it will make the handle way thicker, which is going to make it way harder to grip, thus activating your forearms even more. It's a brilliant choice for the hammer or reverse curl, but please don't use it for rows. or deadlifts or anything of that nature?
It's as I said in the beginning. You don't want to sabotage your back training just to get a tiny bit of forearm gains. The fat grips are going in the right direction.
Next exercise is the wrist roller. This exercise is awesome. That is just one thing you need to know about it.
Don't extend your hands like this while doing the exercise. I don't know why but even if you google wrist roller every single picture is with the arms extended like that. But this is not a front delt exercise, it makes no sense to do it like that.
The proper way of doing it is like this. When done correctly, this is one of the best forearm exercises. S-tier. This concludes my forearms exercise tier list.
Let me know what you think about it in the comments below. And if you are interested in effective and easy to understand training plans that use all the S-tier exercises, check out my website, link in the description. And as always, a big thanks to all the supporters on my Patreon.
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