What do you do first after a heavy duty biceps workout? If you answered, “struggle to reach back and take off my sweating soaked t-shirt,” we like your training intensity but regret to inform you that you’ve skipped a step. Nothing goes better with big arms than big forearms. If your guns are smoking, it’s time to bring up your forearms as well, doing three exercises that you can simply tag onto the end of your biceps routine. Although back and biceps exercises work your grip and forearms to some degree, they don’t replace dedicated lower arm training, especially if you want to pull the big weights on back or traps days and you regularly use wrist straps.

 Remember that no single exercises hits all the areas of the lower arms effectively. You’ve got movements that work around both the wrist and elbow joints. Some involve flexion while others target extension, meaning the exercises move the joint in different directions. You need to focus on three different areas—the muscles that flex your wrist, the muscles that extend your wrist, and the muscles below the elbow that assist in flexing it—to build size and strength in your forearms.

 A complete forearm workout consists of three distinct types of exercises, each targeting a slightly different area.

 Reverse curls: This movement involves flexing the elbow joint in a similar manner to a biceps curl, but here you use an overhand rather than underhand grip. That grip shifts much of the emphasis to the brachioradialis as well as the brachialis, which sit atop of the forearm near the elbow and underneath the biceps. The EZ-curl bar may be more comfortable on the wrists than a barbell.

 Wrist curls: The flexors, located on the underside of your arms near your wrists, allow you to curl your wrist down. Target wrist flexors with dumbbell or a barbell while resting your forearms on a bench, palms facing up. Lift the back of your hand as high as you can off the surface.

 Reverse Wrist curls: The muscles that allow you to curl your wrist upwards are the extensors, which attach to the wrist on the topside of the forearms. To train them, rest your forearms on a flat surface or on your thighs with your palms facing down. Holding a barbell or dumbbell, extend the hand backwards as far as possible.

 The forearm workout I am about to announce below does all three in a moderate rep range because the muscles of the forearms, like those of the calves, contain more slow twitch, fatigue resistant muscle fibers. That also means you can train a little more frequently, but never do so before training a larger body part in which a strong grip is vital.

Power Forearms Routine:

Reverse Curls: 4×15

Wrist Curls: 3×15

Reverse Wrist Curls: 3×15