Exercises You Can Do at Home to Strengthen Your Forearms

During quarantine, there are many ways to adapt your exercise routine. Today, we'll take a look at exercises you can do at home to strengthen your forearms.
Exercises You Can Do at Home to Strengthen Your Forearms

Last update: 30 April, 2020

When we talk about exercise, we refer to the legs, upper arms, glutes, and abdomen, since those are the areas that are “easier” to work on. However, all of the muscle groups in our body need exercise. Therefore, strengthening your forearms should be a priority when it comes to your home workout routine.

Under normal conditions, every athlete should establish an arm routine in order to strengthen the muscle groups in our upper extremities. However, with these exercises, the muscles located between the shoulder and elbow tends to grab most of our attention .

The objective revolves around strengthening your forearms while at home, especially helpful during the quarantine period. With this in mind, we suggest you try the following:

At-home exercises for your forearms

All of the muscle groups in our bodies are important since they all possess a vital action related to muscle tone. Therefore, keeping them all in good condition is something we all must strive to do .

When it comes to the muscles in your forearms, their importance lies in maintaining stability in the joints of your wrist and elbow. In other words, your distal radial ulnar joint, radiocarpal joint, ulnohumeral joint, radiohumeral joint, and proximal radio-ulnar joint.

It’s important to work on these muscles constantly. And the practical exercises below are helpful when it comes to strengthening your forearms while at home.

Wrist flexes

There are many types of exercises related to flexing your wrists. Starting from the most basic is a good way to avoid injuries and the appearance of undesired pain. In order to strengthen your forearms at home with wrist flexes, you should lean against a wall.

A girl leaning against a wall to exercise.

Once you’re in position, start to push with the padding of your fingers, attempting to distance yourself from the wall. This causes the wrist to move over and over, which activates the muscles in your forearms, as well as blood flow .

With the passing of time and as movement improves in this exercise, you can increase repetitions and inclination. Speaking of repetitions, their increase should be gradual without going overboard. As for inclination, you can look for walls that are lower or use a table and take advantage of your own body weight .

Picking up a chair

In order to perform this exercise, your body should be lying down, face down, in the prone position. Stretch your arms above your head. Once you’re in the starting position, grab a chair by the back legs, and try to lift it up from the floor as high as possible.

Once your body becomes used to this movement, strengthening your forearms at home will become simpler. Ideally, you should use a chair that’s fairly light. That way, you’ll avoid injury to your wrists and the distal regions of your forearm. 

Exercises with dumbbells

One of the basic objects you can use to exercise at home is dumbbells. Even if you don’t own any, you can find objects around your house that will serve as alternatives. For example, plastic bottles filled with water or sand.

In order to perform exercises with dumbbells, use a table or other means of support that’s at chest high. Extend your arms on the surface with your palms facing up and a dumbbell in each hand.

A man llifting weights.
Using a barbell is another way that you can exercise your forearms.

The exercise will consist of flexing your wrists while lifting the dumbbells without lifting your forearms from the support surface.

Exercises without dumbbells

The above exercises for strengthening your forearms with dumbbells can also be performed without them. The idea is simply to imitate the movements in order to gradually improve.

This is especially wise when you still haven’t developed a habit of exercising. Or, during the time when you’re trying to adapt your forearms to physical exercise.

One very practical exercise involves getting in a starting position, either standing or seated. Extend your arms forward at 90 degrees with your palms facing upward. Then, gently rotate your arms in circles .

Your forearms also deserve a workout!

Neglecting certain parts of your body will lead to negative repercussions for your body. Therefore, strengthening your forearms at home is a very convenient way to improve your overall physical condition.

What’s more, there are many variables that you can apply when it comes to executing the exercises we mentioned above. Ideally, you should continue to investigate and take advantage of this time of confinement to achieve positive results.


All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.


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  • Rojas-Martínez, M., García, M., Francesc Alonso, J., Marín, J., & Ángel Mañanas, M. (2011). Evaluación de la Función Neuromuscular del Antebrazo durante contracciones isométricas mediante Electromiografía de Superficie Multicanal. Revista Iberoamericana de Automática e Informática Industrial RIAI. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1697-7912(11)70024-3
  • Kaliski, S. (2005). Dolor en Extremidades Superiores. Reumatología.

This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.