Forearm workout: grip and forearms for people who lift

The forearm holds two groups of muscles that matter to a lifter: the ones that close your hand and move your wrist, and the brachioradialis, on the thumb side, which helps bend the elbow. Every pull you do trains the first group, because you can't row a weight you can't hold. What a lifting week trains less is the wrist itself, and on heavy pulls your grip can tire before the muscles the lift is for.

This page covers both: grip as the limit on pulls, and a short block of forearm exercises. It's training for lifters; the curls themselves are on the arm workout.

Grip as the limit on heavy pulls

Lifters often report that their grip gives out first on deadlifts and other pulls, which is what lifting straps are for.¹ The trials that tested straps point to the deadlift:

• In 16 men doing four sets of four deadlifts at 80% of their no-straps max, straps kept grip strength up better, made the bar move faster and made the sets feel easier.²
• In 10 women with about three years of lifting, three sets of as many deadlifts as possible at 80% of their max gave more reps with straps, with less loss of grip strength and no change in bar speed.³
• On the lat pulldown, they didn't help: in 12 trained men, straps didn't change the one-rep max, the reps done at 70% of it or lat activity.⁴

A 2026 review reaches the same split: straps can help maximal strength and the feeling of a secure grip, show no consistent effect on pulling exercises for the back, and have no evidence yet for what they do over a training program.¹ So straps are a tool for the heaviest deadlift sets, not for every pull.

Training the grip itself can also move a lift. In an eight-week trial, 30 physically inactive young men trained pull-ups twice a week; the group that added forearm training gained the most pull-up reps, grip strength and hang time.⁵ (How to get your first pull-up.)

Your grip choice counts too. In 29 trained athletes deadlifting at 50%, 70% and 90% of their max, the mixed grip (one palm forward, one back) produced the least activity in the forearm muscles measured and was rated the easiest; the double-overhand and hook grips worked the forearm more.⁶ A common way to use that: double-overhand on warm-ups and lighter sets, to train the grip, and mixed grip or straps only on the heaviest ones. Deadlift form covers the rest of the setup.

The forearm exercises

Which curl grip works the brachioradialis most? Two small studies disagree. In 16 healthy adults bending the elbow slowly, the brachioradialis was more active palms down than palms up or thumbs up, while biceps activity stayed the same.⁷ In 10 competitive bodybuilders curling an 8-rep-max load, it was slightly more active with palms up than with palms down or thumbs up.⁸ Neither trained anyone over weeks. One trial that did: in 21 untrained adults over 12 weeks, preacher dumbbell curls grew the brachioradialis more than incline curls, 17.6% against 13.5%.⁹ Since the grips don't settle it, use both a reverse curl and a hammer curl across the week, and let ordinary curls count too.

How much direct work after rows and deadlifts

Less than you'd think, because every row, pulldown, pull-up, deadlift and carry already loads your grip for the whole set. Most lifters need only a short block:

• Two or three sets each of a wrist curl and a reverse or hammer curl, once or twice a week. The American College of Sports Medicine's 2026 position stand advises at least two sets per exercise.¹⁰
• 12 to 20 reps, stopping one or two short of failure. Wrist curls move a short distance with light weights, so higher reps suit them. (How to judge reps left.)
• One heavy hold or carry, two or three sets, at the end of a pull or lower-body day.
• At the end of the session, after the pulls. Tired forearms make every pull after them harder.

If your grip already outlasts your back on every pull, the holds can go; keep the wrist curls if you want the forearm work. If it gives out first, put the holds and carries on two days a week and use double-overhand longer before reaching for straps.

Where it fits in a week

• On a pull day: rows and pulldowns as usual, then a reverse curl and a wrist curl, two sets of 12 to 20 each.
• On a lower-body day: deadlift warm-ups with a double-overhand grip, a mixed grip or straps only on the heaviest sets if you need them, then two or three farmer's carries.
• In a full-body week: one forearm exercise at the end of each session, rotating the wrist curl, the hammer curl and a hold.

Add weight to wrist curls in the smallest steps you have: a jump that's small on a curl is large for a wrist. When the smallest step is too big, add reps first.

At home, with dumbbells, cables or bands

• Dumbbells: every exercise in the table works with one pair, wrist curls one arm at a time.
• Cables: the reverse curl with a bar and the hammer curl with a rope keep tension at the bottom. (The cable workout has the rest of a session.)
• No weights: a dead hang from a bar, or towel rows in a door, and a heavy bag held at your side for a carry.

Common mistakes

• Training forearms before the pulls. They go last.
• Moving the elbow on wrist curls. Only the wrist moves; the forearm stays on the bench.
• Going too heavy on reverse wrist curls. The back of the forearm is weaker; start well below your wrist-curl weight.
• Strapping every set. Save straps for the heaviest pulls, or your grip never catches up.
• Pushing through pain. Sharp pain is not soreness. Stop, and see a doctor.

If you'd rather not plan it alone

The block above takes ten minutes; knowing whether your grip or your back is what's holding a pull back is the part a page can't see. Coaching is the version where your workouts are built around the days you actually have, and a weekly call looks at the week you just had and rebuilds the next one. Coaching to build muscle explains how that works, and here's how to apply. Otherwise: add two sets of wrist curls and one heavy hold to the end of your next pull day.