MUSCLE MAGAZINE

 

 

HERCULEAN FOREARMS

The forearms are our most exposed body part.  When developed to their fullest they are spellbinding.  Their dense fibrous structure can sometimes resemble the Rocky Mountains with their deep cavernous design.  In public, bodybuilders with well developed symmetrical forearms stand out among the crowd, letting everyone know they're real honest-to-goodness He-men.  Unfortunately, most bodybuilders neglect their forearm training.  This could be due to a lack of time, energy or desire.  The result is forearm development resembling a pair of Bic pens; slim and fragile without any thickness.  I say, ''Build Baseball Bats''!

When on the physique stage, the forearms are continually viewed by the audience and judges as the muscle artist displays his creation from every angle imaginable.  No matter how large or cut your biceps may be, they cannot compensate for weak shallow forearms.  Your whole physical development will appear distorted if the lower arms are not in harmonic proportion with the rest of your physique.  Another factor which is equally important is the grip.  When working out heavy your grip can either make or break you.  How many deadlifts, chins or rows have you missed?  How many times have you failed to add on extra weight to an exercise for fear that your grip would give out.  Remember those times?

Well now you can start dreaming about the future and start planning super workouts.  By following the advice in this column you can't help but succeed.  Forearm training is not as complicated or difficult as a chest, legs, or upper arm routine.  A few basic exercises are all that's needed to get you on your way towards championship development.  The forearms are a stubborn muscle group designed to withstand a lot of hard intense work.  When training them, bomb the overall area hard, sparing their deep fibrous tissue no mercy.

Before outlining the actually exercise program, it is important to emphasize that the forearms are worked a great deal through indirect exercises.  These exercises include pulling type movements such as curls, rowing and power cleans.  These type of movements help create mass and strength over much of the lower arm area, helping to build a strong foundation for the following isolation exercises.

The reverse curl is the most basic lower arm exercise, packing slabs of muscle all across the forearms, especially the top area.  The exercise is best performed using a straight bar with a thumb-less grip, and placing your hands about shoulder width apart.  Keeping your knees bent and upper-body straight, begin to move the bar up slowly while keeping your elbows close to your sides not allowing them to sway.  A slight extension forward is permissible.  Curl the bar as far up to the chin as possible.  Now squeeze the bar tight and feel the blood being pumped through their veins.  Feels good, doesn't it?  Begin to lower the bar, making sure that the elbows remain stationed at the sides.  When you reach bottom push down on the bar.  This will help to create new shape and symmetry throughout your forearms, developing the big brachioradialis muscle to its maximum.

Another exercise which I use to shock my forearms is the thumbs-up-curl.  This helps build the area between the bicep and forearm.  Begin by grabbing a dumbbell in each hand.  You may stand or sit during the exercise.  The important thing to remember is to use strict form and complete range of motion.  This movement is similar to the alternate dumbbell curl, with the difference being your palms are now facing each other instead of upwards.  This exercise will not only create a new dimension in your forearm development, but will also help to build the brachialis of your biceps.  It is important that you extend your arms straight down at the bottom of the movement while bringing your elbows forward at the top.  This will provide you with complete benefit from the exercise.

The favorite and most widely used exercise for the top and underside part of the forearms is the wrist curl.  Wrist curls will stress and stimulate the forearms into new areas of growth.  They will increase your gripping power like a vise.  Wrist curls are a simple exercise working the muscle directly.  While sitting, rest your forearms on a bench or over your knees and place your hands about 6-8 inches apart, with elbows close together and your palms facing upward using a thumb-less grip.  Moving only your wrist, start by letting the weight hang at your finger tips.  Begin the movement by closing the bar into your grip and move the weight up slowly while contracting the forearms.  As the bar begins to reach the top position be sure to tense the forearm hard.  This will gorge the muscle with a fresh supply of oxygenated blood for a super pump.

Exercises alone do not build muscle; you must know how to use them.  Factors such as repetitions, sets, resting periods, heavy vs. light weights, etc. have to be put into the right combination to ensure maximum results.  This is a major reason why many bodybuilders never realize their full potential.  They know the exercises and maybe how each body part works, but they don't know how to sequence the tools given for best results.

I have found through studies with my students that forearms respond amazingly well with the following system:  First, work your forearms twice weekly.  Begin your forearm workout with reverse curls, performing 4 sets of 10 repetitions.  Keep the exercise slow and strict, striving for a deep burn in the muscle.  On all exercises use your first set as a warm-up and increase the weight gradually with the remaining sets.  Thumbs-up curls are the next exercise.  Remember to perform a complete range of motion, using a heavy weight perform 4 sets of 8 repetitions with each arm.  The final exercise in your forearm workout is the wrist curl.  Since blood has already been pumped into the lower arms, 4 sets of 12 repetitions should produce a deep burn exploding your forearms into new dimensions.

Here are some additional points:  Rest 45-60 seconds between sets.  Between each set of exercises be sure to flex and tense the forearms hard for about ten seconds.  Open and close your fist, moving your arms up and down as if posing in front of a mirror.  If you start to over-pump just shake your hands to lessen the effect.  Well, there you have it, the keys to your forearm workout.  Done correctly, they will unlock the door for you to enter the realm of ''Herculean Forearms''!

Exercise photos of Mario Strong by Denie