Your forearm contains three key muscle groups which work to open and close your hand, move your wrist and supinate your forearm (rotate the palm of your hand upward). Having strong forearm muscles will help improve your overall upper body size and strength, because without strong wrists and a solid grip you will not be able to handle the heavier weights required to build size and strength in your upper body.

Even so, forearm exercises are rarely included in workout programs, likely because the majority of people train for aesthetic purposes (i.e. to look good) and big forearms are not at the top of their priority list. (In actual fact, forearm size is extremely difficult to develop because these muscles are composed primarily of Slow Twitch muscle fibres which have less capacity for size increase than Fast Twitch fibres.)

But unless you're a power lifter or competitive body builder you may not need to specifically train your forearms, because whenever you're holding onto a dumbbell you are in fact working your forearm muscles. Regardless of whether you're using dumbbells to work your chest, back, shoulders, arms or legs, your forearm muscles are being employed to keep your wrists straight and your grip strong.

However, if you find you're having problems properly gripping your dumbbells, particularly as you progress to using heavier weights, you may wish to incorporate these forearm-specific exercises into your workout routine. Aside from being able to work more safely with heavier weights, a stronger wrist and grip has practical advantages such as being able to open a jar of pickles or mayonnaise more easily.

Note re carpel tunnel syndrome: While range of motion stretching exercises have been shown to help prevent the type of carpel tunnel syndrome that is caused by repetitive overuse, overtraining your forearms might possibly exacerbate a pre-existing condition. If you feel any discomfort (pain, pressure, tingling) in your wrists or forearms when doing any of the forearm exercises outlined below, please stop immediately.

Dumbell wrist curls work the top side of the forearm along with the wrist flexor muscles (a group of six muscles on inner front side of the forearm that flex the wrist and close the fingers), which will strengthen your wrist and increase the power of your grip.

Although this exercise can be done standing, doing it sitting down will allow you to support your forearms by resting them against your thighs, allowing you to better focus on the exercise.

Here is the basic movement for a one arm dumbbell wrist curl in the seated position:

1. With dumbbell in hand, sit down on the edge of a weight bench or chair and rest your forearm against your thigh. Your wrist should extend just beyond your knees, palm facing upwards.
2. Slowly lower your wrist, allowing the dumbbell to roll out of your palm and down your fingers. Keep the tips of your fingers bent so that the dumbbell does not roll out of your hand completely and hit the floor. At this point your knuckles should be pointing towards the floor with your wrist bent somewhere between 45° and 90°. This is your start position.
   
   

   Start Position

   
   
3. Slowly roll your hand upward so that the dumbbell rolls back into the palm of your hand. Gripping the dumbbell, continue the upwards motion until your knuckles are pointing up as high as possible. This is the finish position.
   
   

   Finish Position

   
   
4. Barely pausing, lower the dumbbell back to the starting position in a controlled manner. Do not lower the dumbbell too quickly or it could roll past the end of your fingertips and hit the floor.
5. Breathe out as you lift the dumbbell and breathe in as you lower it back to the starting position.
6. Complete only as many repetitions as you can perform in a safe and controlled manner. Push yourself, but try not to go to complete failure. If your wrist flexor muscles were to suddenly give out and the weight of the dumbbell forced your wrist to bend past the 90° point, you could sprain your wrist.

Helpful Tips

• To maintain resistance throughout the entire range of motion, your forearm should be parallel to the floor so that your elbow and wrist are at the same height.
• Your free hand can be placed underneath your wrist to maintain stability when you're first trying this exercise, but make sure that it doesn't help your working wrist in any way.
• Your forearm should be stationary and only your wrist should move during the exercise.
• Use light to moderate weights and avoid overstretching your wrist in the starting position to prevent injury.
• If you have a workout bench, you can kneel down in front of it and rest your forearms on it instead of your knees.
• If you feel any pain, pressure or other discomfort when doing this exercise, stop immediately to avoid aggravating any underlying condition that has yet to be diagnosed. If you can not even comfortably perform this exercise using body weight only (i.e. perform the movement without a dumbbell in hand) , you may wish to have your wrists evaluated by a physician. If you, like so many women these days, spend a lot time on the computer, you should rule out the possibility of having the start of carpel tunnel or some other repetitive strain injury.

Dumbbell Wrist Curl - Seated

Resting Forearms On Knees
Start Position	Finish Position

Using a Weight Bench
Start Position	Finish Position

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Dumbbell Reverse Wrist Curls

Dumbell reverse wrist curls work the bottom side of the forearm along with the wrist extensor muscles (a group of 8 muscles on the back side of the forearm that open the hand and raise the knuckles). This exercise should be done in combination with the dumbbell wrist curl (see above exercise) to ensure equal development of the wrist flexor and wrist extensor muscles.

Although this exercise can be done standing, doing it sitting down will allow you to support your forearms by resting them against your thighs, allowing you to better focus on the exercise.

Here is the basic movement for a one arm dumbbell reverse wrist curl in the seated position:

1. With dumbbell in hand, sit down on the edge of a weight bench or chair and rest your forearm against your thigh. Your wrist should extend just beyond your knees, palm facing down.
2. Slowly lower your wrist, keeping a firm grip on the dumbbell (unlike the dumbbell wrist curl in the exercise above, you DO NOT open your fingers and let the dumbbell roll towards them). At this point your knuckles should be pointing towards the floor with your wrist bent somewhere between 45° and 90°. This is your start position.
   
   

   Start Position

   
   
3. Keeping a firm grip on the dumbbell, lift your wrist so that your knuckles point upward as high as possible. This is the finish position.
   
   

   Finish Position

   
   
4. Barely pausing, lower the dumbbell back to the starting position in a controlled manner.
5. Breathe out as you lift the dumbbell and breathe in as you lower it back to the starting position.
6. Complete only as many repetitions as you can perform in a safe and controlled manner. Push yourself, but try not to go to complete failure. If your wrist extensor muscles were to suddenly give out and the weight of the dumbbell forced your wrist to bend past the 90° point, you could sprain your wrist.

Helpful Tips

• To maintain resistance throughout the entire range of motion, your forearm should be parallel to the floor so that your elbow and wrist are at the same height.
• Your free hand can be placed underneath your wrist to maintain stability when you're first trying this exercise, but make sure that it doesn't help your working wrist in any way.
• Your forearm should be stationary and only your wrist should move during the exercise.
• Use light to moderate weights and avoid overstretching your wrist in the starting position to prevent injury.
• If you have a workout bench, you can kneel down in front of it and rest your forearms on it instead of your knees.
• If you feel any pain, pressure or other discomfort when doing this exercise, stop immediately to avoid aggravating any underlying condition that has yet to be diagnosed. If you can not even comfortably perform this exercise using body weight only (i.e. perform the movement without a dumbbell in hand) , you may wish to have your wrists evaluated by a physician. If you, like so many women these days, spend a lot time on the computer, you should rule out the possibility of having the start of carpel tunnel or some other repetitive strain injury.

Dumbbell Reverse Wrist Curl - Seated

Resting Forearms On Knees
Start Position	Finish Position

Using a Weight Bench
Start Position	Finish Position

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Hammer Curl

Hammer curls are generally classified as a biceps exercise, but they have the added benefit of working the brachioradialis muscle of the forearm. Rather than repeat this exercise in multiple places on this site, I have chosen to list it on one page only and you will find this exercise in the biceps workout section.

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Cross Body Hammer Curl

Cross body hammer curls are a variation of the hammer curl noted above which also works both the biceps and forearms muscles, but at a slightly different angle. Like the hammer curl exercise, you will find the cross body hammer curl described in the biceps workout section of this site.

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Zottman Curl

The Zottman curl is another great exercise for working both your biceps and forearms (brachioradialis) within the same exercise. The first half of the curl works your biceps and the second half targets your forearms. You will find Zottman curls outlined in the biceps workout section.

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