Many people go to the gym with the purpose of shaping their abs and glute muscles. Most often, forearm exercises are overlooked. Your forearm is an essential part of your body that also needs to be trained and strengthened since it serves several purposes such as:
- Powering your lifting and grip strength
- Aiding coordination of your hands, wrists, and fingers
- Helping you to move more weight
Performing forearm exercises also helps you reach your fitness goals. Even if the exercises are focused on training and developing your forearms, some of the forearm exercises involve your entire body. Don’t miss these forearm exercises that you can even do at home:
1. Push-ups
Push-ups are a common yet great forearm exercise that you can do with zero equipment. As long as you have enough space where you can perform it, you’re ready to go.
How to do push-ups:
Place your hands on the ground, raise your body with the support of your hands and your feet slightly apart. Make sure that your head is aligned with your back and hip. Start doing push-ups by lowering your body toward the ground, then push yourself up. Repeat this 10 times for three sets.
2. Chair-ups
In this forearm exercise, all you need is a chair which can be found in your home. Performing this exercise can help you develop thicker and stronger wrists which will lower your risk of sustaining wrist injuries.
How to do chair-ups:
Grab a chair and place it in front of you. Lie down on your stomach, face the chair in front and stretch your arms to grip the chair’s legs. Then try lifting the chair’s rear using your wrists. Repeat this 15 times for 3 sets.
3. Hand grip exercises
Hand grip exercises allow you to develop stronger forearms as well as improve your grip and dexterity, which diminish with aging. This exercise is easy enough to include in your daily exercise routine. You only need a hand gripper to perform this forearm exercise.
How to do hand grip exercises:
It’s quite simple. Just squeeze your hand gripper for as many sets as possible. You can even do this hand grip exercise while you are watching television, commuting, or even while you’re in the bathroom. Repeat this for as many times as you want.
4. Wrist circles
This is another type of forearm exercise that doesn’t require any equipment. All you need are your hands.
How to do wrist circles:
Stand with your feet apart. Extend your arms in front with your palms facing down. Then rotate your wrists in a circular motion. To increase intensity, you can hold small weights in your hands such as dumbbells or a bottled water.
5. Palms-up wrist curl
This forearm exercise makes the use of dumbbells. If you don’t have a pair of dumbbells, you can use a water bottle filled with sand.
How to do palms-up wrist curl:
While sitting on a chair, hold one dumbbell on each of your hand with your palms facing up. Raise the dumbbells and lower them slowly. Repeat this 10 times for 3 sets.
While you’re on the goal of having stronger forearms, you can maximize the results of exercises through the following fitness tips:
- Eat whole grains before you do your workout. Doing forearm exercises are also tiring so you need to fuel your body. Whole grain foods such as oatmeal and fruits contain fewer carbohydrates but are enough to energize your day.
- Portion your meals. Just because you want to attain a slimmer and stronger body, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t eat. Portion your meals and don’t eat too much before your workout since this can make your body feel sluggish.
- Drink plenty of water. Doing forearm exercises that involve the movement of your entire body is likely to make you sweat a lot. Replace your body’s lost fluids by drinking water or beverages that will also help replace your body’s electrolytes.
- Observe proper rest intervals. Have at least 10-15 minutes of rest for each set of exercise that you do. With proper rest, you’ll be able to rejuvenate your body and be energized to do the next set of exercise.
- Be consistent. If you want to build and strengthen your forearm muscles, you should also observe consistency. There’s no point in exercising if you don’t perform your exercise regularly.
- Gear up properly. When exercising, make sure that you are wearing the proper protective gear. For forearm exercises, wrist supports might be needed depending on the intensity.
If you want to perform a more intensive forearm exercise regimen, it is best to consult with a specialist, either your gym instructor, a doctor or a physiatrist, about what exercises and routines are appropriate for your body.
By: Joe Fleming
Joe Fleming is the President at ViveHealth.com. Interested in all things related to living a healthy lifestyle, he enjoys sharing and expressing his passion through writing. Working to motivate others and defeat aging stereotypes, Joe uses his writing to help all people overcome the obstacles of life. Covering topics that range from physical health, wellness, and aging all the way to social, news, and inspirational pieces…the goal is help others “rebel against age”.
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