by Roman Mustaccio
@rpefml
I wrote an article about some of the foot and ankle work I do after squat days, and in a similar vein, the forearms and wrists are very important to the bench press like feet/ankles are for the squat and deadlift. Unfortunately, and again like feet and ankles, it's very boring to train them directly. They are ultimately a necessary evil for many of us because the bench alone won't develop enough forearm strength to withstand huge benches, especially when talking about the insane carryovers of band shirt benches.
I'd also challenge you to name one truly big bencher without equally big forearms.
What can be done to catch the forearms up to the rest of your bench? Well, I have done a few things.
Hammer Curls
The low hanging fruit- everyone knows these. I like to do them mainly in two fashions with dumbbells- for very high reps when curling forwards, or heavy sets of 6-8 doing cross body hammer curls. You can also do these with a French bar or football bar if you don't have or are tired of dumbbells.
However, far and away the best way to do these is with Kettlebells. Hold the handle so the bell is forced outwards when curling. This makes the movement way harder due to the leverage change and is awfully humbling.
Bottoms Up Work
Speaking of Kettlebells, not only can we do hammer curls with them; but we can do all sorts of bottoms-up pressing movements. You can bench like this, overhead press, or whatever other angle of press your heart desires using one or both arms.
My personal favorite (and this is especially helpful if you're particularly unstable) is a one-arm bottoms-up floor press. Not only is it already a little less stable being unilateral, but hitting the floor- no matter how gently- can be enough to shake the bell right out of balance if you aren't absolutely crushing the handle into stability with all of your might.
Pronated Curls
Like hammer curls, we probably all know this one. I can't really do these on a straight bar without angering my elbows, but an EZ Curl bar makes them tolerable.
However, if you watched Jimmy Kolb's "The Press Command," you will know that the best way to do these is on the bow bar. Bill Gillespie brought this up, and it is one of the best forearm builders I've ever done. A Titan Yukon bar is a bit too aggressive, but something like an old school Buffalo bar like Rickey Dale Crain sells is perfect.
Extensor Work
Probably the least done of this whole article is extensor work. We all do lots of things that engage the flexors, but the extensors are often forgotten. My favorite way to target these is with some extensor trainers you can get almost anywhere for <$20. You can also do wrist extensions with a barbell, dumbbells, or cables.
High Boards/Reverse Bands
If you're confident in the static strength of your radius and ulna, another great way to build the forearms is high board work. 3, 4, or 5 boards depending on how long your arms are or heavy reverse band work can let you handle relatively colossal weights compared to what you can take to your chest or with straight weight. This prepares the forearms to better handle weights you actually can actually bench. I would not do this often, nor would I ever do it if I was having wrist or forearm bone-related issues/pain. Exercise good judgment if you wish to do these.
