You want to improve your grip strength and wonder how to train the forearms? And what is it good for anyway? You can find the best tips and tricks here.
I love bouldering and climbing. Anyone who has tried it knows that at the beginning it is mainly the strength in the fingers and forearms that is lacking. No wonder, these are hardly used in everyday life.
If you want to get better at lifting dumbbells, doing pull-ups or climbing, you need to train your forearms.
The more grip strength you have, the easier it will soon become. You will make great progress in a very short time.
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Do not be afraid of too muscular forearms
As a woman, I don't want to have such huge muscle packs on my tender forearms, so should I work out anyway? Yes. Because you don't have to be afraid of mountains of muscle in the first place. For that you would have to train very hard and very much.
If you do a few exercises regularly, it's pretty much impossible. However, you will find that your arms will become toned and you will be able to prevent angle arms. But let's look at the benefits in detail.
These 14 exercises will tone your upper arms!
Why you should train your forearms
Is it really worth spending a lot of time training the forearms? After all, the muscles make up less than 5% of the entire body.
Yes, it's actually worth it. You benefit from it on a whole level.
When doing deadlifts, you can suddenly lift more weight, after 10 pull-ups you don't slip off the bar, and when bouldering you suddenly succeed even on the difficult routes.
In very many people, the strength in the hands is very weak. Especially those who do little work with their hands. This can lead to a lack of progress despite training and to simply falling by the wayside in some exercises.
A powerful handshake
Surely you've had a handshake that felt like a dead squishy fish. Cold, soft and anything but confident. We associate it with shyness, unreliability and weakness.
When someone shakes our hand and grips it properly, it commands respect from the very first moment. They radiate self-confidence, reliability and security.
Like it or not, the handshake is an essential part of the first impression.
More power in everyday life
Strong forearms make your life easier. You can carry shopping bags, mineral water, washing powder and other heavy objects without feeling like your fingers are about to fall off.
Strong forearms help you hold weight for a long time - even when working out.
More effective training
Have you been working out for a while and want to take your workout to the next level? Then you can't avoid training your forearms. Better grip strength makes heavy training possible. Be it on the climbing wall or with the barbell. You will also benefit from it when doing pull-ups.
And let's face it: nice, toned forearms are pretty sexy on both women and men.
This is the best exercise against flabby arms!
What the grip strength says
How strong can you actually grip and how long can you hold the object? Grip strength starts in the fingers, moves to the forearm and finally to the upper arm.
All the muscle fibers of your forearm are responsible for your grip strength. From the fingers to the elbows, you need to strengthen all muscles if you want to train your forearms. Without trained fingers the strongest forearms will not help you and vice versa.
The muscles of the forearm run along the front and back of the forearm, then pass through the wrist and into the fingertips.
You will certainly notice that your dominant arm is stronger than the other. For me, it's clearly the right arm. I notice this very strongly, especially when bouldering. The muscles in the forearms are exactly those that become very hard and burn after a short time for beginners. I often had a lot of pain there. But fortunately that gets better after a while. Climbing strengthens the forearms quite incidentally.
Before we go into detail about how to train your forearms, you should know that men have about twice as much grip strength as women. But let's not let that deter us, right ladies?
Because, fortunately, you can strengthen the grip strength and train the forearms.
How to train your forearms
Is it useful to train forearms? We now know that the answer is yes. Here come great exercises that you can do with or without equipment.
#1 Get stuck on the pull-up bar
It takes a lot of strength, especially as a beginner, to just hold yourself up on the pull-up bar.
- Grasp the pull-up bar with both hands. The back of the hand faces you.
- Keep your arms extended and just hold yourself on the bar.
- If you want, you can also do very light pull-ups. However, it's not about pulling your body upwards, but purely about the strength in your fingers and forearms.
- Repeat the exercise by gripping differently. Now the back of your hand points away from you.
So you finally manage your first pull-up!
#2 One-handed hanging on pull-up bar
Similar to the forearm exercise before, you can also use this to strengthen your grip strength.
- You start with both hands as in the exercise before.
- Release the grip with one hand and stay on the pull-up bar with the other.
- Important: Don't let yourself sag, but build up a little tension in your shoulder to keep you reasonably upright.
- Hold on to the bar for as long as you can before switching arms. Moderately trained can do 30 seconds.
Not suitable for beginners!
#3 Hold weight discs with fingers
For this exercise you need to disassemble a barbell or a dumbbell.
- Stand up straight.
- Hold the weights in your hands so that you grip them with your fingertips only.
- You have two options: You can hold the weights statically or pull them up slightly.
- Increase the weight from time to time and watch how long your fingers play along.
Attention to the feet! A weight plate on the toes is very painful!
#4 Hold a ball
Sounds easy, doesn't it? But it's really exhausting for the fingers.
- Grab a ball. If you have a lot of strength, use a medicine ball. Otherwise, another larger ball will do.
- Open your hand and place it on your open hand.
- Grasp the ball with your fingers and squeeze it tightly.
- Now slowly turn your hand inward and hold the ball at the point where you find it most difficult. At first this will only be a slight turn, later you can hold it when the ball is pointing down.
Try these 14 dumbbell exercises!
#5 Carry the dumbbell or barbell
This is one of those forearm exercises that I started with. You improve arm strength and strengthen the torso.
- Grab two dumbbells.
- Tense the torso firmly and take slow and small steps forward and back.
- The arms are not fully extended, but slightly bent.
- You hold the dumbbell with your fingers only.
#6 Use thick dumbbell bars
You are already a real pull-up fan and can do at least 10? Then you will like this exercise.
- Instead of the traditional pull-up bar, you now take a thicker one.
- This is particularly challenging for the fingers and forearms.
- If you don't have a thicker one, just grab a tree or the frame of a swing at the playground.
- Do your pull-ups on this bar from now on. You can also practice static hanging intensively.
That's why bouldering is so incredibly healthy!
#7 Upper Grip Forearm Curls
You need a dumbbell for this exercise. You train all finger and hand extensors that enclose the wrist. Mega effective!
- Take a dumbbell. Sit on an armchair, a weight bench or the sofa table. It is important that the legs form a right angle.
- Rest the forearm on the thigh. The wrists protrude above the knees.
- The back of the hand faces you. Tilt the upper body forward.
- Lower the dumbbell down over the wrist.
- Now slowly raise them above the wrist only. The forearms remain on the thigh.
#8 The Finger Dumbbell
Those who have no weights and no pull-up bar need not despair. Because the forearms can also be trained with a finger dumbbell.
- You can choose from different difficulty levels. From beginner to professional.
- All you have to do with it is compress the steel spring over and over again. This greatly improves muscle strength in the forearms and fingers.
- You can already see progress very quickly.
How often you should exercise your forearms
Now that you know the best exercises to strengthen your grip strength, the question remains: how often is it useful?
It all depends on how often you work out. If you have completely neglected your forearms until now, then just 5 minutes 1-2 times a week is enough to start the workout.
Later you can slowly increase. But do not overdo it. Your tendons, ligaments and muscles have to get used to the training slowly.
If you are more advanced, try 10 minutes 1-2 times a week. Listen to your body and you will quickly realize when it's enough.
If you regularly do bodyweight exercises - whether on the pull-up bar or push-ups - you automatically strengthen your forearms a little as well. But that alone is usually not enough to get more grip strength. A few special exercises for training the forearms are needed.
Our conclusion
Strengthening the grip strength makes for sexy arms. If you want to train your forearms, you can do it with the help of a pull-up bar, weight plates and dumbbells in your living room. If you don't have any tools at your disposal, you can buy a dumbbell for little money.
Have fun with the training!
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