Bodyweight Help with forearm hypertrophy!
- Thread starter Neagu George
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Neagu George
Level 4 Valued Member
Well, in the world of calisthenics I've seen lots of skinny guys that in 3-4 years got huge and jacked and they are ectomorphs. Mind you I am a mesomorph...can put muscle/fat just as easily as I can lose it. That first picture that I showed you is from 3 years ago. Those guys have gotten way bigger...even tho, the one in the left doesn't train for muscle mass, just for performance and he is a champion at what he does. He went in our country to a street workout competition and won 1st place and not just one competition, he goes whenever they host such a thing. I don't really agree with that "hardgainer" mentality. And below I'm going to put 2 pictures of the tall guy that looked skinnier compared to the guy with the black tank top to prove my point.
Look at this picture too of Lada Pridal (the blonde guy). Hardgainer, skinny, ectomorph, and now huge and jacked compared to what he was. You can't really say that metabolism can overcome hard a#@ work and if you're still not convinced I got lots and lots of other examples from the street workout/calisthenics world, but I just showed you the first picture with those 3 guys to show you that big forearms do have some impact and definitely make you look way bigger.
So I completely disagree with you on the metabolism part, that you can't put on muscle if you're skinny no matter what you do or that you can't put a considerable amount. I never believed that and I will never believe that and I know lots of real world examples. Another example, just a last one, are the Bar Brothers Lazar and Dusan and also Austin Dunham. Maybe this will change your mentality about bulking when you got a fast metabolism. Plus, I'm not in that position to be an ectomorph. We deviated from the forearms topic but I had to clarify the thing about metabolism. Tho I agree with the injury part that Baker said. It's good to know many people talk from their experience.
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Tarzan
Level 6 Valued Member
@Neagu George
Sorry if I hit a nerve there mate, I wasn't trying to suggest that ectomorphs can't make good gains and I thought I indicated that in my post. I've seen quite a few guys with a similar body composition pack on quite a bit of muscle in a relatively short time too. My post was more specific to forearm hypetrophy with that body type (even though I feel body type classification has some serious misgivings)
I wasn't trying to offend you in any way, just trying to exemplify the point that you can overdo forearm flexion work and it may not become apparent until you get a bit older. A lot of my recent clients are in the 40-50 age bracket with elbow tendonitis issues.
With your goal of 30 consecutive pullups the ancillary work could get a bit much as you close in on that goal, I just wanted to make the point that you can overdo things in that respect so you don't end up like some of the people that are coming to me for rehab when they get a bit older.
Peace bro.
Sorry if I hit a nerve there mate, I wasn't trying to suggest that ectomorphs can't make good gains and I thought I indicated that in my post. I've seen quite a few guys with a similar body composition pack on quite a bit of muscle in a relatively short time too. My post was more specific to forearm hypetrophy with that body type (even though I feel body type classification has some serious misgivings)
I wasn't trying to offend you in any way, just trying to exemplify the point that you can overdo forearm flexion work and it may not become apparent until you get a bit older. A lot of my recent clients are in the 40-50 age bracket with elbow tendonitis issues.
With your goal of 30 consecutive pullups the ancillary work could get a bit much as you close in on that goal, I just wanted to make the point that you can overdo things in that respect so you don't end up like some of the people that are coming to me for rehab when they get a bit older.
Peace bro.
Neagu George
Level 4 Valued Member
I didn't get offended, but I was trying to defend ectomorphs (even tho I am not one myself) because of the world examples I've seen, and there are A LOT of them. Because there are many people discouraging skinny people "Oh well, you can't put muscle because you are a hardgainer, you will never be big etc etc" which is not the case, so I'm sorry if I sounded offended, but I can assure you I was not, but I guess I misunderstood you.
Yes, you are right, since I do weighted pull-ups 5 times a day and only 1-5 reps.....and when 5 reps become easy then adding more weight, I am aware that it's going to be hard on my forearms. I kinda reasoned that I should not do forearm work till I get those 30 pull-ups, because I will get a bad tendinitis and I will progress slower to those 30 pull-ups. At least...after I get to those 30 pull-ups I will know how to train my forearms. Today after my 5th time doing pull-ups I kinda had a bit of tendinitis pain...also it may be from the fact that yesterday I did 5 sets to failure with my grippers and felt a weird sensation in my forearms...so I guess I stressed them a bit too much, so tomorrow will be a rest day. Thank you for taking the time to explain this to me. All the pieces of advice that I received in this thread are pure gold.
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John climber PT
Level 2 Valued Member
Ok just been reading this and it's sorta my field. Im a climber but also a martial artist and a PT.
Now.
1stly im not 100% on any of those pics, my instinct and experience tells me somethings off, so take with a grain of salt.
2ndly.
I must have seen countless people, climbing and in the gym, doing every conceivable routine. Can ectomorphs build big forearms?
Alot of the time, no. There is always the exception but no amount of pullups, climbing, rope climb, or any other crazy exercise or workout routine will add much size to forearms, some yes but not much. Strength yes, size not really.
The bigger your forearms start off, the bigger they are gonna look with just a little bit added.
At the end of the day, gd camera angles and editing, genetics and drugs make all the difference.
Hope this helps
Now.
1stly im not 100% on any of those pics, my instinct and experience tells me somethings off, so take with a grain of salt.
2ndly.
I must have seen countless people, climbing and in the gym, doing every conceivable routine. Can ectomorphs build big forearms?
Alot of the time, no. There is always the exception but no amount of pullups, climbing, rope climb, or any other crazy exercise or workout routine will add much size to forearms, some yes but not much. Strength yes, size not really.
The bigger your forearms start off, the bigger they are gonna look with just a little bit added.
At the end of the day, gd camera angles and editing, genetics and drugs make all the difference.
Hope this helps
Neagu George
Level 4 Valued Member
Well, you may not be 100% into those pics, but the real world examples show other things. The guy I showed you in those 2 pics has bigger forearms and he was skinny, worst genetics, because I know the guy personally, we are in the same city and I know him since he was way way younger, before he started working out...he doesn't use steroids or anything like that. Same thing about genetics with the blonde guy Lada Pridal. I still don't understand why people assume it's so hard for ectomorphs to build muscle(even the natural way) when clearly that is not the case. Plus, I am not an ectomorph so I am not worried about that, that is out of the question. All I needed in this thread was some piece of advice regarding workouts, because in the past my forearms were bigger(I wish I measured them back in the days to compare them to how they are now), but I am talking here about 5 years of not working out.
In the high school I really worked out like crazy with calisthenics and I was way bigger and had a lower percentage of bodyfat. After getting to those 30 pull-ups I will start serious calisthenics and I know I will get muscle mass fast, thanks to the muscle memory, which helped me in the past to recover my muscle mass, but lost it again because the lack of motivation and most important, discipline. Why am I telling you this? Because muscle gaining is not a problem for me, all I need is good forearm exercises that DO WORK, so I can have an idea on how to train them, which I received in this gold mine thread since I've heard lots of useful info.
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John climber PT
Level 2 Valued Member
Your overthinking this a little. Squeezing a bar whilst doing pullups is one exercise, doing flexion and extension using a bar is another, thats it.
Oh just remembered, rope climb is tremendous for grip strength, just make it incrementally harder, eg weight vest no legs ect ect.
If you cant afford one then plat one out of old rope, hang from tree or pullup bar indoors, or do towel pullups easy.
Oh just remembered, rope climb is tremendous for grip strength, just make it incrementally harder, eg weight vest no legs ect ect.
If you cant afford one then plat one out of old rope, hang from tree or pullup bar indoors, or do towel pullups easy.
User 6372
Guest
Remember most bodybuilders are on pharmaceuticals and have crazy good genetics.
Neagu George
Level 4 Valued Member
Yes, but I do saw good muscle mass results in the past with calisthenics, 5 sets to failure for any exercise, with 30-60 seconds rest between sets as a natural guy, but I thought I can build muscle with 5-10 minutes of rest with maybe 10 sets to failure and it seems....I misunderstood what Pavel said in his interview with Tim Ferriss. I don't wanna get huge....I HATE how bodybuilders look, too big for my taste.
My goals are 30 pull-ups, 50 push-ups and lose fat(10 kg), after which I'll start to train progressive street workout till I get a decent muscle mass(with a special focus on forearms), and then just train for performance and learn tricks like 360 muscle-up, front lever, human flag, etc.. It's gonna be a lengthy process....
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North Coast Miller
Level 9 Valued Member
Pretty much all conditioning type hypertrophic work is sub max. Restricting youself to some form of limit strength protocol is counterproductive. You want pump occlusion along with the volume. In my late teens am pretty sure my forearms were as big as my upper arms - near daily work with the stick and suspended weight, for about 5-10 minutes.
In my 30s also had pretty big forearms from doing long bouts of double stick drills until I couldn't be sure of my grip. Shake it off and repeat. Forearms, like their lower body cousins the calf muscles, are slow twitch dominant.
Its the really high tension single efforts that are liable to get the ball rolling toward tendonitis, not the submax volume. YMMV
Neagu George
Level 4 Valued Member
By stick with the weight you mean something like the wrist roller? I don't have one but I use the barbell to do my rolls. I hold it with both hands and just roll it in both directions and I get an awesome pump like I never did before. This is what I talk about when referring to barbell wrist rolls: Minute 4:00-4:08.
I did barbell wrist rolls in one direction till failure, then the other direction to failure, then farmer's walks to failure, all of these 3 without rest. Then after I finish the circuit, rest 30 seconds then repeat the circuit 2 more times, so in total I did 3 circuits. My forearms were blown. I prefer the barbell variation over the roller because I don't have a roller and because with the roller you kinda kill your shoulders so shoulders might fail before your forearms do, since with the roller you keep it in front of you...especially if you don't have a high place from which to do it.
I really wish you could give a bit more details about that "weight with a stick" and also, how frequent would you recommend me to train the forearms? One day rest and one of training? Or everyday since they can be quite stubborn to grow?
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North Coast Miller
Level 9 Valued Member
It was a roughly 2ft x 1inch dowel with a 10lb weight suspended by mason's string. Hold arms straight out and crank it up, resist it back out, reverse direction and repeat. The line was just long enough the weight didn't hit the floor.
I've bone barbell rolls and such, and othet exercises that did more for finger digging strength, but for forearm mass nothing else has come close to those roller workouts.
JohnDoeman
Level 3 Valued Member
I always liked barbell finger rolls. Hold a barbell in both hands, open your hands until the barbell nearly falls out, then close your hands again (this can also be done with some olympic rings or TRX handles). This is not the same as a wrist roll, the wrist does not move, only the hand opens and closes. I suggest hitting some hypertrophy work between sets of pull-ups. IF your single goal is forearm size, than try to incorporate several different suggestions here. I like fat gripz too. Do not just do crush-grip type exercises, do others that involve opening your hands too. Try a bucket of sand, stick your fingertips in and then open your hands under the resistance of the sand. Or try the rubber bands you can get from Ironmind, fingertip push-ups...etc.
Neagu George
Level 4 Valued Member
Okay then, it seems I'm screwed if those barbell rolls are quite ineffective for forearm mass compared to wrist rollers...even tho the pump is unrealistically amazing.
Time to get creative then. I think I'm going to take the broomstick, cut the end of it, suspend plates with a shoe lace...put fat gripz on it too and then just roll it.
Neagu George
Level 4 Valued Member
I will try your variation of barbell rolls too and see how it turns out, never tried it. I did fingertip push-ups in the past and it didn't do too much for my forearms.
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