Does anyone work forearms independently? I might do some reverse curls with an e-z curl bar sometimes. I never use straps when I deadlift or do any back movements. Is there any need to work forearms seperately?
If you have small forearms and indirect work doesn’t work, then do direct work. Some people have naturally big forearms and they don’t do direct forearm work. Those are the people that probably say “You don’t need direct forearm training”.
Your body is your lab. Go for it! Try working your forearms all by themselves 
I did. There was a Nautical machine with Grip, Reverse curl and Wrist turns. I superset them with Bicep curls and Bench presses.
It worked for me at least, I packed on size in four weeks around my forearms.
Stand with your arms down, palms back, and a straight bar held BEHIND your legs. Then, curl your palm up.
Another forearm exercise I never see anyone doing is to sit upright, forearms on thighs with palms up and hands hanging over your knees (or end of bench). Curl a straight bar in as close as possible and then let your fingers extend as far as possible without dropping the bar.
Those two will kill your forearms.
I personally can’t train forearms at all. They barely recover from my daily routine and workouts. You may just have to experiment some.
[quote]4est wrote:
Stand with your arms down, palms back, and a straight bar held BEHIND your legs. Then, curl your palm up.
Another forearm exercise I never see anyone doing is to sit upright, forearms on thighs with palms up and hands hanging over your knees (or end of bench). Curl a straight bar in as close as possible and then let your fingers extend as far as possible without dropping the bar.
Those two will kill your forearms.
I personally can’t train forearms at all. They barely recover from my daily routine and workouts. You may just have to experiment some.[/quote]
You just described the best two forearm exercises ever IMHO.
I train grip independently because I play baseball where grip plays an important role. I think it depends on your goals and why you are training. Some people train there grip as a hobby. I love the COC grippers and my homemade wrist roller.
I 2nd that…
I use both methods… i have redonnkulously weak forearms… and within 3 months, i have veins popping… i also use a wrist roller.
My favorite forearms asswhuppin is to perform the exercise where you rest your arms on your legs and curl the bar (30 - 40 reps with 50 pounds), then immediatley jump to the wrist roller and roll up 15 pounds twice. Its a killer for me. I do that for 3 sets. I told you mine were weak.
[quote]miko wrote:
Does anyone work forearms independently? I might do some reverse curls with an e-z curl bar sometimes. I never use straps when I deadlift or do any back movements. Is there any need to work forearms seperately? [/quote]
Coach Poliquin’s Winning the Arms race book includes some very interesting forearm work, give it a look
The best two forearm workouts hands down are:
Rock climbing
Wrist roller
[quote]miko wrote:
Does anyone work forearms independently? I might do some reverse curls with an e-z curl bar sometimes. I never use straps when I deadlift or do any back movements. Is there any need to work forearms seperately? [/quote]
What i do is simply to do a set of behind the back wrist curls at the end of each set of behind the back Barbell shrugs…simply do a set of shrugs and before you put the bar down do a set of wrist curls for 15-20 reps…brutal,but effective, and, a great time saver…
[quote]HouseOfAtlas wrote:
If you have small forearms and indirect work doesn’t work, then do direct work. Some people have naturally big forearms and they don’t do direct forearm work. Those are the people that probably say “You don’t need direct forearm training”.
Your body is your lab. Go for it! Try working your forearms all by themselves :)[/quote]
Agreed. I think a lot is genetic. I remember kids in grade school and junior high who already had way bigger calves and forearms than the other kids, even if they weren’t really any more fit or muscular than anyone else otherwise.
For those not genetically primed to put on mass in the forearms, I think we have an especially hard road of it, as forearms, like calves, are constantly put under a huge amount workload compared to the other muscles in our bodies. Arnold had the same idea, and said you have to bomb the hell out of those body parts.
Compare it to the jaw muscle, which supposedly gets more workload than any other in the body. Some are bigger than others, but it’s pretty rare to see huge ones, even on people who eat constantly. You’re more likely to see huge ones on people who have some genetic propensity to get that area huge in the first place. Otherwise we’d be regularly calling fat people “tiger jaws” or something.
[quote]tmay11 wrote:
I train grip independently because I play baseball where grip plays an important role. I think it depends on your goals and why you are training. Some people train there grip as a hobby. I love the COC grippers and my homemade wrist roller.[/quote]
Same here. A good grip work-out puts me somewhat close to overtraining and often directly into it, and also sometimes kind of close to injury or at least requiring a long lay-off. Only contrast baths bring me back up to speed without wasting day after day in recuperation. I do forearm stuff separately so first of all I don’t cross the line into overtraining or injury, and second so I can really give my forearm work-outs full energy.