Build a strong grip with these 5 intense forearm exercises you can do at home

You might have spent a lot of time strengthening your upper body, but did you know that it’s all pointless if you don’t pay enough attention to your forearms? Yes, it’s true. Not many realise that the forearm flexors (or wrist flexors) are the same muscles that help us develop a strong grip.

Think about it, we have to use our forearms to carry everything, from small bags to heavy furniture. If you don’t have enough grip strength, it will hamper your ability to pick things and move them around with relative ease. Unsurprisingly, it is most critical for weightlifters, but it is also important for others. You see, when you work on grip strength, the size of your forearms increases. 

Let’s first understand what exactly is the function of forearm muscles. 

The role of forearm muscles

Forearm muscles are actually a set of smaller muscles that move in four ways: 

• wrist flexion (bending your palm inward), 
• wrist extension (raising the back of your hand), 
• forearm pronation (rotating the palm down), and 
• forearm supination (rotating the palm up)

When all these muscles are worked, your grip gets strengthened.

What’s important to keep in mind is that the forearm muscles are pretty stiff. So, if you think working them out once a week is enough, then you’re wrong. You have to perform forearm exercises every alternate day to see maximum results. 

When you perform forearm exercises, both the number of repetitions as well as the pace of your movements are critical. A minimum of 15 to 20 reps is essential to see any visible effect. 

Now that you know all about this muscle group, let’s get down to some lean mean forearm exercises:

1. Isometric wall push

• Stand with your hands on the wall.
• Keep your arms straight, but without locking the elbows, press firmly into the wall for 30 seconds.
• Release and then, repeat 2 to 3 times.

2. Sphinx push-ups

• Start in a forearm plank position, either on your toes or on your knees.
• Press your hands down firmly and try to lift the forearms until your arms are straight.
• Lower the back with control.
• Release and repeat 2 to 3 times.

3. Pull-up bar hang

• Grip a pull-up bar with your hands about shoulder-distance apart, palms facing forward.
• Hang for up to 30 seconds, with arms straight and ankles crossed behind you.
• Release and repeat 2 to 3 times.

4. Push-ups

• Get down on all fours.
• Extend your legs behind you and place your arms under your shoulders. See to it that your body forms a straight line from your head to your heels.
• Keeping your toes fixed, lower your body by bending your elbows.
• Once you are close to the ground, push your body up to get back to the initial position.

5. Chair-ups

• Keep a chair in front of you, and lie down in front of it. Your torso needs to be on the floor.
• Extend your arms in front of you and grip one leg of the chair in each hand. Your elbows need to be firmly placed on the ground.
• Without raising your elbows, lift the chair just by using your wrists and forearms.
• Hold this position for 45 to 60 seconds.Lower the chair and repeat.

So, make sure you’re incorporating these exercises to your workouts for those strong forearms!