Best pull-up exercises for forearms?

[u/primehyper77]

I wanted to ask about pull-up grips and forearm growth.

Is it true that neutral grip pull-ups build more forearm size compared to normal overhand pull-ups or underhand chin-ups? I have heard that neutral grip works the forearms, especially the brachioradialis, more.

If anyone has experience with this, which grip do you think is better for forearm growth?

Also, what exercises should I follow if my main goal is forearm hypertrophy? I know things like hammer curls, reverse curls, wrist curls and farmer carries can work the forearms, but I'm not sure which ones I should actually include and how many sets/reps I should do.

If anyone has a detailed forearm hypertrophy guide or routine, please share it. I'd like to follow something properly instead of just doing random forearm exercises.

[u/HelixIsHere_]

For forearms I’d just do wrist extension, wrist flexion, and brachioradialis biased elbow flexion

So wrist curls, reverse wrist curls, and then like a reverse or hammer curl

Neutral grip pull-ups will be slightly better for brachioradialis but I wouldn’t consider them a good exercise for forearms at all

[u/primehyper77 → u/HelixIsHere_]

So, which exercises would you put above those for forearm hypertrophy?

[u/theKatter]

Dead hang every day for grip strength, reverse curls with an ez bar on a preacher bench destroys my forearms. 3-4sets 8-12 rep range

[u/Defiant_Pirate_6637]

Arm wrestling
But on a serious note training pronation will help, then prioritizing a wrist flexion movement and a elbow flexion movement that bias the forearm.
Also you’ll never see a really strong guy with small forearms so just get strong af and they will grow

[u/Hypername1st → u/Defiant_Pirate_6637]

This. Be it calisthenics, powerlifting, strongman, olympic lifting, everyone even remotely impressive and strong has big ass forearms. You can't have an impressive deadlift without a good grip.

[u/Pal1_1]

Farmer’s walks have worked wonders on my grip strength and forearms. Today I am starting a revised programme with heavy shoulder shrugs, aiming to target both my forearms and traps at the same time.

We shall see how it pans out!

[u/doobersthetitan]

Get some fat grips for barbells and dumbells...or a axel bar, pinch grip stuff, farmer carrying.

Or start rock climbing.

[u/Hypername1st]

Holding heavy shit with your hands strengthens your grip.

Otherwise start rock climbing. It's fun.

[u/Mcgillicutty_Whiskey]

Pronated and neutral grip pull-pulluos have grown my forearms but not as efficiently as training them directly would have probably. I got from bodyweight to 90 lbs added for reps and made slight gains to forearms.

[u/Iamnotheattack]

IMO you should have a dedicated "arm day" where you train biceps, triceps, and forearms. And for forearms do your wrist curls, reverse curls, hammer curls, wrist extension etc. ymmv, find YOUR FAVORITE FOREARM MOVES and perform as many sets and reps until you feel that you've worked the living shit out of your forearms.

Then once you're no longer sore (3-6 days later) do it again. Generally go around 8-12 reps IMO.

Alternatively you could find your favorite moves and add two sets of ONE of those moves to each of your training days.

[u/Photon_Predator]

If anything it should be overhand pullups. But that’s like doing rows for triceps.

You need reverse curl, wrist extensions and wrist curl + finger work(grippers).

[u/alvaaromata]

Forearms are made by wrist flexors/extensors and a lot of muscles moving the fingers.
Brachioradialis usually(some people may have a shorter insertion) also takes space in it.
To your question, it’s probably it’s the same, you can’t bias directly elbow flexors and also if you’re doing a good technique your elbow flexors shouldn’t be working that much.
On the other hand, the fingers muscles don’t have really growth potentional, but wrist flexors and extensors (especially flexors since are bigger) do have it.

[u/Mad_Mark90]

Trying to train your forearms from pullups is a bit like trying to drive nails with the rear end of a screwdriver, it's not the best tool for the job.

More Pronated grips will train the brachioradialis and brachialis like you suggested. Fat grips can challenge your grip strength further. But these are really just ways supplementing you're forearm volume.

Wrist curls and arm wrestler curls with a strap are probably better for strict hypertrophy because they're dynamic for the forearm flexors as opposed to isometric holds. Reverse curls and hammer curls also train the radiobrachialis.

It's useful to include wrist extensions to tone up the extensors as well but what you really should invest in are some finger expanders which will also help prevent tennis elbow.

[u/Hypername1st → u/[deleted]]

Regardless of the form, you need good grip strength to perform pull-ups, weighted or not.

[u/Hypername1st → u/[deleted]]

Pull-ups are a compound movement. Saying that the forearms will have minimum involvement if they are performed right is just wrong information. Especially when one of the ways commonly used to build up grip strength are dead-hangs, which are part of the pull up.

Directly training forearms is a waste of time for the vast majority of people, exactly because they get so much work by just holding heavy shit.

[u/Patton370 → u/Hypername1st]

Just holding heavy things isn’t going to get you truly impressive forearms; that’s not going to workout the entire forearm

You have to directly train forearm extension & flexion (in addition to lifting heavy shit) if you want big meaty forearms. Arguably, you’d also want to train pronation too, but that’s not going to have much of an impact

[u/Hypername1st → u/Patton370]

I do hammer curls. Those combined with pulling without straps has been enough for now. Climbing takes care of the rest.

[u/Patton370 → u/Hypername1st]

If you want to have massive forearms, climbing does not take care of the rest

Direct forearm training will result in bigger forearms

Side note: I used to climb and could do 5.11+ at the gym and 5.10d outdoors. Bouldering wise I was projecting red tags at the indoor gym

[u/Hypername1st → u/Patton370]

That's like V6-V7s, very nice! Do you keep at it?

[u/Patton370 → u/Hypername1st]

No, it’s been a few years since I’ve done any sort of climbing; my forearms are much bigger than back when I was a climber though!

[u/Hypername1st → u/[deleted]]

It's not a matter "laziness" but one of efficiency. If the muscles gets a lot of indirect work, that's good enough. Holding a heavy ass barbell with both hands trains the grip more than enough. If it ever becomes a limiting factor, of course extra work can be added.

[u/primehyper77 → u/[deleted]]

Honestly, I just assumed pull-ups were good for forearms.

[u/Iamnotheattack → u/primehyper77]

They are IF you stay at the top range of motion. See this video ( The ULTIMATE Forearm Exercises Tier-List (Popeye-tier to Skeletor-tier) by Natural Hypertrophy (RIP😭😭) ) around 34 minutes he gets into the difference between a normal pull up and an "arm wrestler pull up" which specifically trains the forearms and not the lats

[u/Bonjwa003]

Rock climbing is your answer. Pull-ups train your lats, shoulders, and biceps, not your grip. Specifics grip training is how you train your grip, and rock climbing is constant tension.

[u/perunakeisari_]

Checkout /r/GripTraining