By: MuscleSports.net

Build big thick forearms as hard as steel!

19 year old Casey Viator showing massive arms & forearms after winning the Mr. Amerca title.

1971 AAU Mr. America
Casey Viator

Phenomenal development of a 19 year old Viator, with 18 inch forearms!

Building big thick forearms is a lost art these days for the most part in advanced bodybuilding. Most of the top guys have okay forearm developement but there is nothing spectacular. Some of the 212 competitors have great forearm development. David Henry has some really thick forearms that make his arms look even bigger. Some of the best forearms ever belong to guys from the past like Casey Viator, Tim Belknap, Bertil Fox and Dave Johns. All these guys had huge arms and equally big freaky forearms. The only recent pro competitor to crack my top 5 has been Ronnie Coleman but he's in evryones top 5. The guys arms were ridiclus and his forearms were f@ckijng gigantic.

Now that we have stop reminissing about the apst lets talk forearm trasining. Most guys you talk to say they dont train forearms because they squeeze the barbell or dumbbell hard when training biceps. They get worked all the time when you traing anything involving a barbellor dumbbell. Yeah you do use your forearm to help in traing other bodyparts but they don't get worked all the time throughout other body exercises because there's always a point of relaxation for the forearms during training and people use fucking straps for everything heavy which make the grip secondary. To traing hte forearms correctly and completely you really only need three exercises - Seated barbell wrist curls, reverse barbell curls and sometimes dumbbell hammer curls. These three exercises work you forearm in its entirety.

Excersises:

Seated Barbell Wrist Curls

Sitting on a flat bench with about a foot(12 Inches) sticking out in front, grab yourself a barbell into your hands with your palms facing upward. Make sure that your hands are close together during this exercise, maybe a one at the most 2 inches between them. Also, your elbows should be locked to the insides of your knees so they don't come off the bench. With your wrist hang over the edge of the bench and the weight on your fingertips, your hands should be pointing toward the floor as your wrist forms an angle of almost 90 degrees. Now roll your hands upward until your wrists are slightly bent back toward your body. Your forearms should be tight and hard. Slowly allow the weight to bring your hands back down to the starting position. Squeeze your forearms throughout the entire range of motion to keep the blood flowing. Repeat the motion, doing 8-10 repetitions for a set of three. This was Casey Viator favorite exercise when building his forearms and he got so good he was using a 225 lbs. Olympic barbell to do his wrist curls and build 18.5 inch forearms. Thats a huge damn forearm!

Seated Reverse Barbell Wrist Curls

This exercise is practically same as the barbell wrist curls with one exception. The palms are facing downward instead of upward. Sit on the bench and lock you elbows inside your knees. The weight should be down at your fingertips and your wrists bent toward the floor. Slowly roll the weight into your palms, lifting the weight upward, squeezing the forearm muscles the entire time. Bring your wrists up as far as they'll go, and then slowly bring the weight down to the starting position. These should really burn! Do three sets of 8-10 reps.

Arnold doing wrist curls.

Seated/Standing Hammer Curls

Sitting on a adjustable incline bench adjust the seat up until its almost at a 90° angle bench, allow your hands to hang down, a dumbbell in each, with your palms facing inwards toward your body. Maintain this forearm position throughout the curl. Keep the elbow still and slighty behind the body and curl the weight all the way up, then slowly lower it to the starting position. If standing repeat same movement keep you torso slighty tilted backward by about 5%. Do two-three sets of 10 reps.

Optional

Reverse Preacher Curls

Arnold liked to do these along with regular wrist curls for his forearms. Place your arms over a preacher bench. Take a barbell and hold it with a reverse grip, place your hands shoulder width apart. Allow the bar to hang so that your arms are fully extended. Curl the barbell upward, starting the exercise by first curling your wrist upward, then bringing the barbell up as far as possible toward your chin. Your position on the bench should be such that, at the top of the movement, your forearms have not come up completely to a perpendicular angle. At the top of the exercise, lower the weight slowly back down to the beginning of the movement.