Petar Klančir has been working hard since a snapped bicep tendon in 2022 halted his Olympia dreams, and has even recently competed in HYROX in addition to prepping his up and coming bodybuilding clients. The colossal Croatian certainly has plenty to offer when it comes to answering some of the most difficult questions about making gains, and while newbies were spending their summer asking how to get six-pack abs, some advanced gym-goers were seeking more illusive information like how to grow fuller forearms. Thankfully, Klančir got to grips with an awesome answer.
Why are forearm muscles hard to grow?
Frustrated with your forearm progress? Don’t worry, you are not alone. The starting size of our forearm muscles can be determined by genetics. Ever noticed that some people seem to be busting their wristwatch straps without even training? Then there’s another obstacle: the forearm is tough to isolate for exercise through resistance training because the muscles in your hands and upper arms will try and lessen the load. Still, it really is possible to target these illusive muscles as Petar Klančir demonstrated in a valuable Instagram post.
Grow Massive Forearms: 2 moves from Petar Klančir
In the accompanying video, Petar Klančir performs two moves. In the first, he kneels in front of a bench and lays a barbell on it. The bodybuilder then grabs the barbell and places his hands in an underhand, overhanging position on the bench. Then, he rolls the barbell across his palms in a downward motion towards the floor until he feels a “nice stretch” in the brachioradialis on the inside of his forearms. He then contracts his forearm flexors to lift the wrists back towards himself and holds the contraction at the top for a moment.
For the second move, Klančir targets the extensor muscles that make up the main outside body of the forearm. Kneeling with an overhand grip, he holds the barbell firmly and rolls his wrists up and down without moving his arms preventing them from being recruited.
Frequency of Forearm Training
“They are a really small muscle group to begin with, so this means that they can recover pretty fast,” explains Petar Klančir. “This type of isolation exercise, which I showed in the video, you can do 2-3 times per week if you think that your forearms are a little bit behind. Stick to a hypertrophy rep range 6-15 reps and you’ll be fine.” The IFBB pro even added a bonus tip for his followers: “If you want to accelerate your forearm development even more stop using lifting straps (during normal lifts) for some time.”
For more grip guidance from Petar Klančir follow him on Instagram.