When spring hits, and the t-shirts start coming out of the dresser drawers, it becomes pretty apparent whether you’re happy with your forearm muscle development.
Most people will let their main workouts do the heavy lifting in targeting their forearms indirectly.
And it’s not necessarily a bad idea in theory. Heavy deadlifts, heavy pulls, and gripping everything in between does tax the muscles of your forearms.
However, like any bodybuilder knows, sometimes it’s a good idea to throw in a little isolation work here and there.
In this article, I am going to break down 5 different exercises/ways to give your forearms a little more love.
Every tip mentioned will focus on providing you with ways to work out forearms with dumbbells.
1. Dumbbell Farmer’s Carry
Exercise number one is a staple for anyone looking to beef up their forearms with dumbbells. Loaded carries are foundation exercise and notoriously good at challenging your grip strength as you fight to hold onto heavy dumbbells while walking a set distance.
Don’t believe me? Try picking up half your body weight in each hand and walking across the length of the gym. It’s a challenge, and one that is easy to progressively challenge yourself even more over time by trying to carry heavier and heavier weights.
To perform dumbbell farmer’s carries:
- Grab a set of dumbbells that you feel will provide an appropriate challenge.
- Hinge the weights into position by performing a dumbbell deadlift.
- Brace your core so that you maintain a neutral protected spine throughout the exercise.
- Walk for the desired distance or time.
- Repeat for the desired number of sets.
A good starting point for this exercise is 3 sets of whatever distance you can cover in 30 seconds. A good goal to work towards is 5 sets of 60 seconds. After you reach that goal while maintaining perfect form, you may consider increasing the weight you use.
2. Dumbbell Reverse Curl
Next up, we’ve got another exercise that will build solid forearm muscle and strength. Although, this one does not strictly target the forearms. It is a bicep exercise, one that is easy to add into a dumbbell arm workout to increase the stress placed on your forearms.
By grabbing the dumbbells with an overhand grip and maintaining that grip while curling, you fight the resistance of the dumbbell while working the brachioradialis. This is the front muscle of the forearm. One that will show with the right kind of muscular growth.
You also get the benefit of being able to lift a little bit heavier weight since the biceps will assist your forearms when completing the exercise.
To perform the dumbbell reverse curl:
- Select the weight you would like to use to perform the exercise.
- Grab a dumbbell in each hand using an overhead grip (palms down).
- Stand in a shoulder-width stance with your core braced.
- Maintain this grip as you contract your biceps to curl the weight towards the shoulder.
- Once you reach the top of the movement, reverse the movement slowly until you return to the starting position.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions and sets.
For this exercise, you’ll generally perform 2-4 sets of 8-15 repetitions. A good way to start is to perform 2 sets of 8 reps and progress in weight until you can no longer do so with proper form. Then add sets until you max out the sets you want to perform. Then consider increasing repetitions or weight again.
3. Seated Dumbbell Wrist Curl
Seated dumbbell wrist curls will target the forearms directly. However, I have found that this is really only necessary if you are already performing taxing workouts where adding the first two to your workout routine does not make sense from a recovery standpoint.
When that’s the case, these are a nice addition. Same goes for the exercise we will discuss in the next section.
To perform the seated dumbbell wrist curl:
- Select the dumbbell you would like to perform the exercise with and pick it up with an underhand grip.
- Find an area where you can sit (or kneel by)
- Rest your forearm with weight in hand along your knee (or the pad of the bench) so that your wrist hangs off partially.
- Curl the weight by contracting the muscles of your forearm.
- Once fully contracted, reverse the movement and return to the starting position letting your forearm muscle stretch.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
For this exercise, you’ll want to perform 2-3 sets of 10-20 repetitions. You could even go higher if you find 20 reps to be too easy after maxing out on the weight you are comfortable progressing to.
4. Seated Dumbbell Reverse Wrist Curl
The other seated dumbbell variation that targets the forearms well is the seated dumbbell reverse wrist curl.
This variation can also be performed on a preacher machine, which provides a nice setup for really focusing on contracting the muscles of your forearm.
To perform the seated dumbbell reverse wrist curl:
- Select the dumbbell you would like to perform the exercise with and pick it up with an overhand grip.
- Find an area where you can sit (or kneel by)
Rest your forearm with weight in hand along your knee (or the pad of the bench) so that your wrist hangs off partially. - Curl the weight by contracting the muscles of your forearm.
- Once fully contracted, reverse the movement and return to the starting position letting your forearm muscle stretch.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Like the other seated wrist curl variation, you’ll want to perform 2-3 sets of 10-20 repetitions, progressing in reps and weight as desired and needed.
5. Dumbbell Exercises with Fat Gripz
Last on our list isn’t an exercise, but a tool that can really help you build thicker forearms. That tool is fat gripz attachments (not an affiliate link). These blue (or orange) attachments are place around the grip of the bar to increase the circumference of where you hold the dumbbell. Doing so challenges your grip and builds your forearm muscles.
When my arms were the biggest they have ever been, I used fat gripz on every exercise I performed. However, if you are a bro-split lover, adding them to your arm days and back days will likely do wonders for the growth of your biceps.
Conclusion
There you have it, 5 exercises and training tips to help you work out forearms with dumbbells.
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