How to Get WIDER Forearms (WORKS EVERY TIME!)

By ATHLEAN-X

SAFE & EFFECTIVE TRAINING THAT YIELDS UNDENIABLE RESULTS

How to Get WIDER Forearms (WORKS EVERY TIME!)

Source: YouTube
Jul 28, 2022
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About This Class

If you want to get wider forearms you have to train the muscles in the forearm that are most responsible for their size. Often times, people fill their forearm workouts with nothing more than wrist curls and reverse wrist curls. This is just not going to cut it when it comes to building wide, muscular forearms. The biggest reason is, this approach doesn’t even account for the muscles of the forearm that have no impact on the motion of the wrist.

In this video, I’m going to show you the best forearm exercises to build thicker, wider forearms. Most of all, I’ll show you how to focus on the muscles of the forearm that are most easily able to add size and width due to their orientation in the lower arm.

But first, it’s important that you measure your forearms accurately. In other words, before you look at your skinny wrists and deem your ability to build big forearms as compromised, realize that the muscles of the lower arm become largely just tendons as you get close to the wrist. This means, even if you did all the right things with your workout for forearms, if you had small bones you wouldn’t have large wrists.The good news however is that if you do the right exercises for forearms you will see thicker, wider forearms.

That said, it’s time to build big forearms the right way.

If you want to build up the extensor component of the lower arm you need to perform the exercises that work both the ECR or extensor carpi radialis, and the brachioradialis. The irony behind these muscles is that the latter isn’t even technically a forearm muscle. Even more ironic is the fact that the brachioradialis is responsible for the majority of the size of the forearm in the extensor component. It traditionally is viewed as an elbow flexor muscle that works well with the brachialis and biceps.

So in order to accomplish growth here, you’re going to want to perform an exercise that involves elbow flexion. Ideally, you’ll want to do this from a pronated forearm position. This leads us to the reverse barbell curl. With the pronated arm position, the biceps is most diminished in the exercise, leaving the brachioradialis and brachialis to do more of the work.

The issue with this exercise is that it can be a tough position for some to get into due to limited wrist mobility. In this case, the EZ bar variation is ideal. It places the forearm into a less pronated, but still not supinated position that keeps the focus on the brachioradialis. But just doing this exercise for forearms isn’t enough since we can easily incorporate the ECR by just extending the wrists at the top of the rep.

As far as the range of motion of the reverse curl, there is something you want to consider here as well. First, in the fully lengthened position, the brachioradialis does not have as effective a line of pull as it does when the elbow is partially flexed. So, if you want to target this forearm muscle better, you’ll want to initiate each rep from a partially flexed elbow position.

The best way to do this is with the bar starting at the waistline and dragging it up the body as if doing a drag curl. This is going to produce an intense contraction in the brachioradialis and ECR all the way through the limited, but more effective range of motion of the rep.

In order to hit the underside of the forearm and get wider forearms from side to side you’re going to want to also perform another exercise. One of my favorites to do this is with the top down wrist curl. Here you let the cable handle (or band if you’re doing this at home) drift into the ends of your fingers. Start by clenching your hand and making a fist against the resistance of the weight. From here, continue the downward motion by performing a wrist curl.

You’ll find that by performing this in this way, you get an even more intense contraction than you would from the standard dumbbell wrist curls performed with the forearm resting on a bench.

If you want to build bigger forearms, the key is knowing which forearm exercises do the best job of targeting the most “space occupying” muscles of the lower arm. With these two moves you have a quick but effective combination that will help you get wider forearms and say goodbye to skinny arms once and for all.

For a complete program that puts the science into every exercise selection so you can build muscle and burn fat faster, be sure to visit athleanx.com via the link below.

Meet Your Teacher

ATHLEAN-X

SAFE & EFFECTIVE TRAINING THAT YIELDS UNDENIABLE RESULTS

THE ATHLEAN-X CREATOR JEFF CAVALIERE

Jeff Cavaliere MSPT, CSCS served as both the Head Physical Therapist and Assistant Strength Coach for the New York Mets during the National League East Championship 2006, 2007 and 2008 seasons and coached some of the game’s most accomplished players including future hall of fame pitchers Tom Glavine and Pedro Martinez, and perennial all-stars Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Billy Wagner to name just a few. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).

TRAINING AND EDUCATION

Jeff received his Masters Degree in Physical Therapy and Bachelor of Science in Physioneurobiology / Premedicine from the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT (one of the top 5 universities in the country in physical therapy and sports medicine). Off the field, Cavaliere is a much sought after author and lecturer, speaking on the topics of baseball injury prevention and sport specific conditioning and has appeared numerous times in print media writing (including many of the top Fitness Magazines) on the topics of sports training, injury rehabilitation and prevention. Consistent with his desire to leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of creating the “complete and functional athlete”, Cavaliere also possesses an extensive knowledge of nutrition that he has simplified for the masses and both practices and preaches with outstanding results.

PUTTING THE SCIENCE BACK IN STRENGTH

In the weight room Jeff is known for his unique and cutting edge approaches to functional strength and conditioning and has been called the actual “brains behind the brawn” for putting real muscle science back into training. Cavaliere’s physical therapy background is his greatest asset and what separates him from most all other trainers, as it provides him with the ability to apply his knowledge of bio mechanics, muscle anatomy and function in order to create some of the most effective (and often never before seen) exercise combos and programs around…while prioritizing safety and injury prevention always. His creativity and credentials are second to none in the game. When the goal is reaching peak performance and maximizing all that the body has to offer, Jeff is at the very top of the game.

OUTSIDE THE WEIGHT ROOM WALLS

Outside the gym, Cavaliere is an accomplished author having penned both the Major League Insider Training Manual (a strength and conditioning must for all professional baseball players and aspiring pros alike) and the Teen Sports Nutrition Blueprint (an insightful look at the worrying state of youth nutrition and childhood obesity…and more importantly…solutions to change this!)

Amongst his peers, Jeff is recognized as a respected authority who never lets ego stand in the way of education and continued learning which helps him to stay on the cutting edge of his field of expertise.

ATHLEAN IN EVERYONE

Cavaliere realizes that not everyone that steps into a gym has athletic aspirations, but finds that there isn’t a guy around that wouldn’t want to have a ripped, athletic body. Taking the exact methods and techniques used to forge some of the greatest, most explosive and strongest physiques in pro sports and now applying it to you…Jeff has now made it possible for everyone to look like athletes with his complete ATHLEAN-X Training System. If you want to unleash your inner athlete, build sculpted muscle head to toe, and finally get that shredded core…then it’s time to join the rest of TEAM ATHLEAN and get started today.

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