Big arms are one of the most sought after body parts by gym-goers, but most people ignore the lower half of their arms completely in their training. They'll do multiple sets on a Bicep Machine, but neglect the forearm completely despite it being the most frequently visible part of the arm, as well as an important muscle group for many compound exercises.

Developed forearms not only greatly enhance the look of your physique, but they also increase your grip strength tremendously, leading to better performance on exercises like the deadlift, rows, and pull ups, as well as helping out in day-to-day life. It's a lot easier to carry a dozen bags of shopping home when you’ve been working on your forearm strength.

EZ Bar Reverse Curls

Reverse curls are a staple of forearm training, and for good reason. You're forced to grip the bar tight to stop it from slipping out of your hands as well as using the forearm muscles to curl the weight up. For an even more effective reverse curl variation use a thumbless grip on the bar.

• Hold an Ez Curl Bar with your palms facing towards you.

• Keep your elbows pinned to your sides and curl the weight up until your forearms are parallel with the floor.

• Control the weight on the way back down.

Wrist Curls

Wrist Curls are great because they can be easily done in between sets of other exercises while you rest. It's not a good idea to superset them with exercises that use the grip like deadlifts or lat pulldowns, but you can pair them with isolation movements like calf raises, sit ups and leg curls to save a lot of time. You can also perform reverse wrist curls with your palms facing the ceiling. The wrist joints can be fragile, start this exercise with a light weight - no more than 5kg dumbbells - and work up from there.

• Hold a dumbbell in each hand and sit on a weight bench.

• Place your arms on your legs with your hands hanging off the end over your knees so that you can bend your wrists freely.

• Bend your wrists down until your knuckles point towards the floor, then curl the weight back up.

Wrist Roller

The wrist roller is super compact and uses weight plates or kettlebells you likely already own, making it a great addition to any home gym. Raising the weight up uses the wrist extensors (top of the arm) and lowering it uses the wrist flexors (bottom of the arm), meaning you'll get a great workout for the whole forearm.

• Loop the strap through the plates and attach the carabiner to the hole in the strap.

• Hold the wrist roller out in front of you and twist it with your hands to wind the strap around the handle and lift the weight up.

• When the weight reaches the top, reverse the twisting motion to lower it back down to the floor.

Pinwheel Curls

Pinwheel Curls are great for working the brachioradialis, which is the largest extensor muscle in the forearm, so it's crucial to build this muscle if you want your forearms to look good.

• Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your arms down by your sides and your palms facing you.

• Curl one dumbbell in front of your body so that your hand is over your heart with your palm facing your chest at the end.

• Lower the weight back down and repeat with the other side.

Pinch Blocks

Pinch Blocks are a type of grip training tool used by athletes like rock climbers who rely on their grip strength to help them hang from rock faces and handholds on climbing walls.

• Use the strap to hang a weight plate or kettlebell from the block (your pinch grip will be much weaker than your palm grip, so choose a lighter weight. Our model is using an 8kg Kettlebell.)

• Pinch the block between your fingers and thumb.

• Hold onto it for as long as possible until your grip strength fails, and the pinch block starts to slip out of your hands.

Now you've got a selection of different forearm exercises to try out, using anything from a simple dumbbell to specialty grip training equipment. Try them all out and pick the ones that you like the most to add into your routine.

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Tags: Equipment > Dumbbells ; Exercise Type > Strength