Best ways to increase forearm strength/size

[SociallyChallenged]

I'm curious on this as well but I have a specific question. Does static motions on your forearms like deadlifts, farmer's walk, pull-ups, chin-ups work better to increase strength compared to movement motions like forearm curls and crush grippers?

If the forearm is just like any other muscle, logic would say lifting with full ROM will increase strength and size better than static holds.

Thoughts?

Gaining size and strength actually doesn't have much to do with full ROM. It has to do with the amount of fore a muscle produces and the resulting physiologic healing strategies. For example, people like to say full ROM, concetric+eccentric motions are most effective. That's not true. Technically, eccentric exercise alone through the ROM that requires the greatest muscle demand is going to be most effective for exercise adaptations. Isometric exercises are only slightly less useful if you're using heavy enough weight. The only downside with them though is that you pretty much strangle the blood vessels delivering blood to the musculature working. For people with vascular or heart issues, this is not recommended.

So, in essence, isometric holds are highly effective, even moreso than concentric-only work (based on the force-velocity relationship) if you go heavy enough. Personally, I'd suggest using the hand-grippers because you can easily do eccentric work with them without any real extra trouble (close with two hands, slowly release with one). However, eccentric exercises do increase the amount of demand and damage afterwards so eating enough and allowing proper rest for the forearm musculature is essential to avoiding injury.

 

[KIAman]

But if strength is a function of power/time, how does doing static holds, or even eccentric movements improve your muscle's ability to increase power/time? In my mind, I think of explosive strength, but static holds seem the opposite.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

But if strength is a function of power/time, how does doing static holds, or even eccentric movements improve your muscle's ability to increase power/time? In my mind, I think of explosive strength, but static holds seem the opposite.

Strength is not a function of power/time. Strength is maximum force generated. Just force. Explosive strength is power, which is time dependent. Power = work/time. Work = force x distance. Since isometric exercises don't have a distance component, you don't technically even generate power. However, the force generated by the musculature requires significant effort and energy to be completed. This results in slight damage to the musculature (microtears). When recovering, the body repairs the microtears with a little extra gusto (extra collagen deposition, satellite cells begin generating more muscle fibers in parallel with weeks of stimulus). Extra cross-sectional area of muscle means more force is able to be produced. In addition, your nervous system learns how to fire those muscles more effectively via practice (long term potentiation). Better ability to elicit contraction = more effective force production.

 

[alkemyst]

posted in my gym:

 

[Plugers]

Finish concrete 🙂

When I use to finish concrete for a living I had huge forearms. They are still decent.

I'm not sure equivalent workout motion.

 

[Emultra]

Compound lifts in general, supplemented by wrist curls?

 

[Rudee]

[FONT=&quot]If you want to get bigger and stronger forearm don’t forget to work out your triceps. The triceps make up the largest muscle group on your arm.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
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That's absurd and so wrong!

 

[Auric]

Hmm, I'm bicurious whether increasing size may primarily be a factor of bone rather than meat and thus measured in years. :hmm:

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Hmm, I'm bicurious whether increasing size may primarily be a factor of bone rather than meat and thus measured in years. :hmm:

Bone size (volume) does not increase once you're past your mid 20s. Forearm size is obviously (when you see it in cadavers) mostly musculature. Bone density is typically the thing you change in bone properties when you exercise and that actually tends to decrease as you age. So your theory probably won't play out IRL.