all arms Day sessions around the world mean nothing if you’re walking around with toothpick-sized forearms for overdeveloped bis and tries. If you’re neglecting your forearm workouts, you don’t have to need a marathon session to be like Popeye.Effectiveness and efficiency should be your goal.But list your forearm workouts he curls If you rely solely on his one exercise, you lose both.
Before most people learned better, most weight room warriors looked only to wrist curls (and their endless, mostly useless variations) as their only means of forearm training. Little did you know that all the sets of flexing your wrists with the barbell behind your back or on the edge of a bench, no matter how much you feel the burn, would provide little real benefit to your forearms.
Today, some of us have plenty of better options than this old-school waste of workout time, but never let go of wrist curls. According to Forzaglia, NFPT, CPT, founder of Forzag Fitness.
“When I started working out without any education, [wrist curls] was a problem,” says Forzaglia. “We do workouts – back wrist curls, arms on the bench, wrist curls – but really we’re only training one dimension of the forearm and we’re translating it into another. Or when it comes to everyday life and training, I’m not very good at positions other than wrist curls.”
Why are wrist curls overrated? For many reasons, including these:
Why You Should Avoid Wrist Curl
Wrist curls train bad curling form
Whether you realize it or not, your typical arm day routine plays a more important role in forearm development than what one-dimensional wrist curls provide. Standard biceps curls (dumbbell curls, barbell curls, almost any type of curl) are best done with the wrists held in each set from a neutral position. Wrist curls strengthen your wrist flexion. It’s a standard curl bad practice because it takes the focus away from the target muscle.
Train wrist flexion only
Why are wrist curls one-dimensional? There’s more to forearm training than flexion. You should also focus on the forearm extension and stabilization that you get from many other exercises. Keeping your wrist curled and not working your other forearm muscles properly can be a potential recipe for tendinitis and other long-term tendon-related problems, says Samuel.
You can load more on your forearms
Sure, hitting a few plates of a barbell and flexing your wrists for dozens of repetitions might seem like hard work to some. , meaning that you can sometimes put heavier weights on your forearms to challenge both your forearms and your grip strength in a more effective way.
3 alternative exercises to strengthen your forearms
biceps and hammer curl
3 sets of 10-12 reps
Yes, curls don’t just blow up your biceps. By maintaining a strong, firm and neutral grip with each curl rep, you’ll get a ton of forearm work to go along with your regular bicep workout. Two curls in particular, the Hammer Curl and the EZ-Bar Reverse Curl, target areas of the forearm that are often ignored in wrist curls. So, during your next biceps session (and all subsequent workouts), squeeze “intentionally.”
“Your forearm is working at different points throughout the curl,” Samuel says. Forearm pumps work well because they can be more work for you and you’re pumping your biceps, biceps, or whatever you’re working.
Bottom-up clean and twist
3 sets of 6-8 reps
This kettlebell move not only requires you to focus on forearm strength, but it also works on increasing shoulder stability. Well worth the time. When the kettlebell is held upside down, the swinging weight keeps the wrists in a vertical position and the bell upright. You need good forearm strength to accomplish this. A twist from this position adds a dynamic and fun forearm challenge that you can’t get with curls.
Farmer’s Walk
3 sets of 40 second walks (or holds)
Anyone who completes their conditioning by doing a few sets of this exercise knows that the grip is usually the first force to be exerted. Best of all, farm walks can be done with just about any piece of equipment: barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, trap bars. ) and move as far as possible for the set time or distance, or until you can no longer hold.
“I always think about how this carries over to anything in life,” says Forzaglia. “And there’s a lot in life that it brings, and it’s going to help you in the long run.”
Jeff Tomko is a freelance fitness writer with articles for Muscle and Fitness, Men’s Fitness and Men’s Health.
