By Jason Greenberg, personal trainer

I have a few clients and business contacts who have been coming to me recently to express their woes about the size of their forearms. Though the muscles of the forearms are instrumental in grip strength, at a superficial level, it would appear that most workouts gloss over all exercises that target them.

But this is a fallacy. If a program is devoid of isolation exercises for the forearms, that doesn’t mean that the forearms aren’t getting worked! Check your workouts to make sure you have any of these three key compound exercises, all of which benefit the forearms.

#1. Deadlift
This exercise is a bit more on the complex side, but it’s very advantageous (once mastered) for almost the entire body. While the posterior chain—the back, the glutes, and the hamstrings—is the primary beneficiary, it’s important to not downplay the crucial role of the forearms in the movement. If you’re planning on repeatedly moving a hundred pounds or three off the ground, you’re going to need a strong grip!
Unfortunately, there are many lifters who opt for quantity over quality, using lifting straps and other means in order to lift more weight. There’s nothing wrong with this—it’s important to continue challenging the prime mover muscles—but making such an accommodation comes at the detriment of forearm strength.

#2. Farmer’s Walk
During my time at Equinox, I was told once that there are seven basic types of movements: vertical pull, vertical push, horizontal pull, horizontal push, squat, hinge, and locomotion. Though the first six of those movements feature prominently in every workout program, locomotion is usually overlooked. This is a pity, as locomotion-based exercises are key to functional training.
Exercises such as the farmer’s walk (and its sibling, the more demanding walking lunge) mirror everyday activities, hence their usefulness. The farmer’s walk is essentially the same as a regular stroll—the only difference being that the gymgoer holds weights in both hands. And it’s the prolonged carrying of weight that challenges the forearms.

#3. Pull-up
The brachioradialis (literally, “relating to the arm’s radius”) is one of the major superficial muscles of the forearm, and it’s used whenever a person bends his or her elbow, just like the biceps. What this means is that any exercise involving the biceps muscles also strengthens the forearms. I chose the pull-up as the prime example of a compound exercise targeting the biceps and brachioradialis, but any vertical or horizontal pulling movement would suffice.
With pull-ups, the forearms both help to move the body towards the bar and to stabilize the body throughout the movement. And unlike most back training exercises, there is no contact with the ground, which increases the exercise’s complexity.