How do you build buff forearms, and strong fingers?

[Darkius]

Sqeeze ball? Something else?

[GrouchyUSMC]

Farmer's walks, plate pinching, heavy grippers, and using thick handled barbells or dumbbells (you can get sleeves to cover a regular bar).

As a nice side effect, working on grip and forearm strength has some carryover to increasing your upper arms as well.

[BeginnerGainz]

+1 for plate pinches

[TheShadowMan]

Farmer's walks should be prioritized, and wouldn't hurt to have a clean somewhere in the routine either. Wrist rolling also effective here.

[Softworn]

Sqeeze ball? Something else?

I just CashApp'd one of the mods $500 for a lifting split because they are all so helpful and knowledgeable

[Darkius]

I'll probably get this wrist roller for $13.54.
https://www.amazon.com/Yes4All-Wrist...7YLHPYQ9&psc=1

I found these wide $12 grips:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07XB...rb_top?ie=UTF8
I read they limit heavy pulls too much and should be saved for farner walks and hammer head curls. Not sure if I should bring them to the gym with me. Might work fine with my small dumbbells at home.

I shopped for squeeze balls, but there is so little info on just how soft they are. Most are not nearly soft enough if they do state numbers. I still want some but prefer to try first. Also most are too small for palm squeeze and too big for between the fingers.

I bought some rubber bands at the store for finger opening. 99 cents. But I might get the 5 finger ones on amazon as a time saver. Got to strengthen the smaller muscles as part of my joint rehab.



Forearms are the most visible muscle. One of my thin friends, a rock climber, has some big ones. They make mine look prepubescent. I want to change that. Puny ones do not look manly.

[adamsz]

deadlifts

[EliKoehn]

deadlifts

Primarily this IMO, but the other suggestions will help too.

[TolerantLactose]

OP answers his own question and ignores virtually all the other suggestions.

[Darkius]

OP answers his own question and ignores virtually all the other suggestions.

I pick the ones that match the equipment I have and the injuries I'm working around.

[TolerantLactose]

I pick the ones that match the equipment I have and the injuries I'm working around.

Would help people answering if this was raised in the OP. Good luck with the rubber bands and stress balls.

[air2fakie]

Would help people answering if this was raised in the OP. Good luck with the rubber bands and stress balls.

I like stress balls with animal faces on them.

[Darkius]

deadlifts

Makes sense that pulling helps more than pushing.

[Darkius]

My forearms are now sore. I used a road or held the dumbbell different angles during my usual workout. Also open and closed my hand several times under water.

Tricep work can also work the forearms, so...

I'm contrmplating a 4 day split. Push, legs, pull, rest. That way the forearms get rest every other day. But even my leg day has me hanging onto stuff.


I wonder how forearms grow when they are worked almost every day.



My hesitancy with deadlifts is my strained lower back muscles from a mistake years ago. They flare up again now and then. Also a tendon in my left elbow that complains when I pull more than half my body weight.

My wrists hurt if I do barbell bench press either. And my knees hurt if I do body weight near 90 degrees. So that is why I go for other exercises.

Maybe I can try full body every other day or every third day. Hard I don't know how much stimulus I really need since I'm doing higher reps.

[Darkius]

One of the perks of a bad knee:
When I pull on the TRX strap to lighten my squat, my forearms are definitely activated.

Also if I do curls one arm full set at a time, the other hand can get the farmer walk effect, though other people might want that weight.

[EliKoehn]

Another good option OP would be bodyweight (or weighted, if you're strong enough) pullups. Take a lot of grip strength and should pose no problem to your lower back.

[GrouchyUSMC]

Another good option OP would be bodyweight (or weighted, if you're strong enough) pullups. Take a lot of grip strength and should pose no problem to your lower back.

If you can't do pull ups, do power hangs. Grab the bar (using the thumb, not just fingers over top), squeeze, and hold as long as possible as you hang.

For extra work, put an Olympic barbell on the highest part of the power rack and hang from that instead. You can even add a weight belt/vest after a while.

[Darkius]

You've all given great replies. Due to my hunch back I want to fix, I think I'll only do 2 sets of chest presses per workout and 4 of wide grip rowing.

Pulling exercises build grip and forearms. I've done too many pushups and bench press but almost no back work. I did chin ups, but that is more lats.

Ill do other stuff too.

Farmers walks are good for the mid deltoid, too. I will also do belly up hanging planks. And face pulls.

Oh, I also did way too many crunches my whole life. I need to find out what opposite muscles need working and what goals are balanced.


I did buy a twist cable bar for forearms. But before I get into it, Ill see how my forearms feel from lots of pulling.

I can also do shrugs for my traps. Yep, lots of pulling focus ahead. I'll cut back on push sets and maybe situps.

[Pterodactyl314]

Harbinger bar grips

[Darkius]

Today I did bent leg deadlift to give my hamstrings a rest, and was encouraged by my trainer to keep increasing the weight each set. My lower back handled it well.

It was my left forearm that first started struggling, and my left hand after that. A few more sets and I knew the deadlift is indeed a good forearm builder.

[TheShadowMan]

I think one of the problems with forearms is they have so many parts and functions to address. You need something for flexors and extensors(wrist rolling works both), radial and ulnar deviation(grabbing a hammer/half loaded dumbbell with a neutral grip and going up and down), pronators and supinators(zottman curls or rotation of an object like mentioned before), and then the grip strength element too(hangs or holds of some sort, these are even more challenging if you're gripping onto the object with towels). It's a lot to get to if you want them completely worked.

[mdonnelly80]

Pick up heavy chit (deads), walk with heavy chit (farmer's walks), pull heavy chit (rows/pull ups/pull downs). Do those without straps, toss in some plate pinchers and you're golden.

[paulinkansas]

I made this to do forward and reverse wrist curls. It gets heavier as you go.