3 Guys Train Forearms Everyday - Only 1 Was Worth It

[00:00] Over the next 30 days, I'm turning this

[00:02] forearm into a powerhouse. Because after

[00:05] over 10 years of training, I always

[00:07] assumed my forearms would get jacked

[00:09] from normal lifting. But they didn't.

[00:11] And my forearms are now the second

[00:12] smallest part of my body. Even worse,

[00:14] people started noticing. And weak

[00:16] forearms don't just affect how you look.

[00:18] They can hold you back in the gym, are

[00:20] linked to shorter life expecties, and

[00:22] have even been shown to decrease your

[00:24] odds of being hired. So, I'm training my

[00:27] left forearm every single day using

[00:30] sciencebacked exercises, but I've also

[00:32] recruited two friends to test the most

[00:34] popular forearm protocols on the

[00:36] internet. So, by the end of the 30 days,

[00:38] we'll know which method and what

[00:40] exercises actually build the biggest,

[00:42] strongest forearms and wrists. But

[00:44] first, we need to get our baselines.

[00:46] Because all of us are right-handed,

[00:47] we're going to be training our left arms

[00:49] for the experiment with our right arm

[00:50] serving as a control. We're taking

[00:52] measurements across our lower, middle,

[00:54] and upper forearms to see if our

[00:56] different training programs grow some

[00:58] areas more than others.

[00:59] >> This is the smallest one I've ever

[01:01] measured.

[01:01] >> Shut up.

[01:02] >> And while for this experiment, size

[01:04] matters, what matters even more is who

[01:06] can last the longest.

[01:09] >> Does it count? What the

[01:12] >> This simple test measures your support

[01:14] grip, which is essential for rock

[01:16] climbing, deadlifting, and even bringing

[01:18] in your groceries. And for this one hang

[01:20] test, most beginners should be able to

[01:22] hang for 10 to 20 seconds with 90 plus

[01:24] seconds being elite.

[01:27] >> No, man. This is so hard.

[01:31] >> Keep going. Keep going.

[01:34] >> And with Robin holding on for a max of

[01:36] 12 seconds,

[01:37] >> 12 seconds.

[01:38] >> It's not.

[01:39] >> It was my turn. And while I'm hanging, I

[01:42] should probably explain this is just the

[01:43] first of multiple tests we'll be using

[01:45] to assess our grip strength, which can

[01:47] actually be broken down into three

[01:49] different types. And while I am feeling

[01:50] pretty good about my support grip,

[01:53] >> okay, 115.

[01:55] >> When it came to our next test, the

[01:57] results were a bit more humbling.

[02:02] >> Normal 121.4

[02:04] normal. I'm about to break this. This

[02:07] second test measures our crush grip.

[02:09] Think if you're trying to crush an apple

[02:10] with your bare hand. I felt your

[02:12] handshake. It's like a little girl.

[02:16] >> Oh, that was pretty high.

[02:18] >> 99.

[02:21] >> I still cannot hit three digits.

[02:24] >> That's as hard as he goes.

[02:27] To make Dennis feel better, multiple

[02:29] studies have found the average person's

[02:30] grip strength today is far weaker than

[02:33] it was even just 20 years ago. Which is

[02:35] problematic since grip strength is one

[02:37] of the best predictors of your overall

[02:39] strength and activity level, which

[02:41] explains why researchers found a strong

[02:43] correlation between weak grip and early

[02:45] death.

[02:48] >> Robin, don't pass out.

[02:50] >> Okay.

[02:51] >> 108.2. And for our final test, we're

[02:54] measuring finger and wrist strength by

[02:56] testing our pinch grip by attempted to

[02:58] hold three 10 lb plates between our

[03:00] fingers and thumb.

[03:09] >> Wow.

[03:10] >> And after struggling in our first two

[03:11] tests, this time Dennis just couldn't

[03:13] get it up.

[03:15] >> What the This is so embarrassing. I'm a

[03:18] fitness guy.

[03:20] >> Saturate. Saturate. Sentry, centrate,

[03:29] >> zero.

[03:30] >> But then it was Robin who put both

[03:32] myself and Dennis to shame.

[03:38] >> No way. My my foot will go your foot.

[03:43] >> That was pretty good. 6 seconds.

[03:45] >> Now for our training.

[03:47] >> Right.

[03:47] >> Oh, okay. This is going to be yours.

[03:50] You're going to be training your

[03:51] forearms just through grip gripping.

[03:54] >> There we go.

[03:55] >> Robin will be sticking to 100 reps every

[03:57] single day with a hand gripper as his

[03:59] only training. Meanwhile, Dennis will

[04:01] also be training daily, but he'll be

[04:03] using my leftover rice.

[04:06] >> Yes,

[04:07] >> Dennis is trying the rice bowl approach

[04:08] that I've seen everywhere online with

[04:10] people documenting some pretty crazy

[04:13] results. Robin and Dennis will be trying

[04:14] to compete against my science-based gym

[04:17] routine that I've designed to maximize

[04:19] growth. But in order to design the best

[04:21] workout possible, we need to understand

[04:23] the three main areas that make up your

[04:25] forearm. Starting with the most beefy

[04:27] part of your forearms, the flexors. To

[04:29] train them, it's pretty simple. Wrist

[04:31] curls. I'm going to try these with

[04:32] dumbbells, but also some cable

[04:34] variations to see what works best. But

[04:36] if you lift weights, your flexors are

[04:38] already trained indirectly. So, you're

[04:40] probably lacking a bit more in the next

[04:42] area, the extensors. These muscles sit

[04:44] on top of your forearm, creating some

[04:46] pretty crazy striations when you develop

[04:49] them, and may also help with elbow pain.

[04:51] Now, to train these, you just got to

[04:52] extend your wrist, which I'll be trying

[04:54] out with dumbbells, as well as this

[04:56] cable version. Last but not least is

[04:58] this big chunk of muscle that sits right

[05:00] around your elbow crease, which is, in

[05:02] my opinion, the most noticeable

[05:03] impressive forearm muscle. It's called

[05:05] the brachio radiialis. Now, unlike the

[05:08] two other muscle groups, this muscle

[05:10] doesn't cross over the wrist and won't

[05:12] be trained through wrist movements. It

[05:14] instead helps bend your elbows during

[05:15] curls, but so do your biceps. So, to

[05:18] target this muscle more, you want to

[05:20] first rotate your arm into a neutral

[05:22] hammer grip. If you do just this during

[05:24] regular curls, you'll already feel the

[05:26] difference, but you can take it a step

[05:28] further. So, I've been paying close

[05:29] attention to some really cool bicep

[05:31] studies, and it seems like placing your

[05:33] arm on an incline bench or preacher curl

[05:36] puts your biceps at a disadvantage and

[05:38] forces your break your radiialis to work

[05:40] harder and experience more growth. So,

[05:42] I'll be doing one exercise that applies

[05:44] that as well as reverse grip curls,

[05:46] which also seem to target this muscle

[05:48] well. I'm going to give all these

[05:50] exercises a shot, training each area of

[05:52] the forearm with three sets to failure

[05:54] every single day. And after 30 days of

[05:56] experimenting, I'm going to share what I

[05:58] think is the number one exercise for

[06:00] each area, plus give you a fully

[06:02] optimized forearm workout based on my

[06:04] findings. But by the time I had finished

[06:06] just my second workout on my new plan, I

[06:09] was already wondering if my forearms

[06:10] were even going to make it the full 30

[06:12] days. My forearms have never been this

[06:14] sore before. Clearly, I don't train

[06:16] them. I don't know if I'm going to be

[06:17] able to do this for 30 days.

[06:23] So, it's like hurting here and around

[06:25] the fingers. It's hurting a lot.

[06:27] >> First exercise, grab rice

[06:31] for two.

[06:33] >> And while Dennis doesn't have 100 reps

[06:35] to worry about like Robin,

[06:36] >> hey, no, no.

[06:38] >> He'll be following a popular rice

[06:39] training plan that we found online. Now,

[06:41] I always thought training a muscle every

[06:43] single day just wouldn't allow it to

[06:45] recover and grow bigger and stronger.

[06:47] But some new research is making me

[06:49] rethink that because in a recent study,

[06:51] strong, well-trained lifters bench

[06:53] pressed every single day for 34

[06:56] consecutive days. They did one set where

[06:58] they tried to lift as much as possible

[07:00] for one rep, and then afterwards, they

[07:02] did five lighter sets for volume. Now,

[07:04] you would expect training like this

[07:05] every single day would burn most lifters

[07:07] out. But by the end of the study, the

[07:09] lifters made insane strength gains,

[07:11] adding an average of 40 lbs to their one

[07:14] rep max, which for well-trained lifters

[07:16] would normally take easily over a year

[07:18] to accomplish. Now, while the study

[07:20] focused on bench press may not be the

[07:22] perfect model for how to grow your

[07:23] forearms, my hypothesis is that short

[07:26] daily training shouldn't be anything to

[07:28] worry about and if anything may end up

[07:30] getting me the fastest gains of my life.

[07:32] But by day three, I was already feeling

[07:34] a lot of discomfort.

[07:36] Not just through my forearm muscles, but

[07:38] in my actual wrist joint.

[07:41] Oh, that hurts. That's so uncomfortable.

[07:44] >> And when I checked in with Robin, he was

[07:46] having a similar struggle trying to hit

[07:48] 100 reps every day. In fact, the only

[07:50] person who wasn't struggling so far

[07:52] seemed to be Dennis.

[07:53] >> Feels kind of nice.

[07:55] >> Today I'm doing legs, so I'm doing

[07:58] Bulgarian split squats. Usually I wear

[08:00] wrist wraps on both. I'm only going to

[08:02] wear a wrist strap on the right side. If

[08:05] I'm being honest, I actually think

[08:06] relying too much on lifting straps is a

[08:08] major reason why my forearms have become

[08:10] underdeveloped. Because ever since I

[08:12] found out about a study that showed

[08:13] lifting straps instantly increase

[08:15] people's deadlifts by around 40 lbs, I

[08:17] started adding straps not just to my

[08:19] deadlifts, but to all my back and biceps

[08:21] exercises. And so my forearms just

[08:23] simply stopped getting challenged. So

[08:25] now I'm trying to make up for all that

[08:27] missing activation.

[08:29] But because a common issue beginners

[08:31] have is their forearms and grip giving

[08:33] out before their other muscles like

[08:34] biceps and back. I'm curious if Dennis,

[08:37] even with his rice training, will

[08:39] experience some benefit in his exercises

[08:41] where he typically gets forearm cramps.

[08:42] Which is why on day one, I also had

[08:45] Dennis, Robin, and myself, test our

[08:48] personal best on the incline biceps

[08:50] curl. And on day 30, we're going to

[08:52] retest to see if the forearm training of

[08:54] our left arm actually leads to better

[08:56] curling strength compared to our right.

[08:58] And since Dennis and I are already

[09:00] tracking our workouts through our Built

[09:01] with Science Plus app, we'll be able to

[09:03] see if there are any other strength

[09:04] jumps that happen as a result of this

[09:06] improved grip. Robin, on the other hand,

[09:08] he doesn't have a current workout plan,

[09:10] but he does have his own motivations.

[09:11] >> When I play piano, uh I'm not good with

[09:14] the left hand. I always play

[09:19] right hand more. I'm really excited also

[09:22] how this exercise will going to impact

[09:26] me playing with left hand.

[09:28] >> And while we'll have to wait to see if

[09:29] Robin's playing improves, his progress

[09:31] with his grip training is already

[09:32] improving. He's already smashed 100 reps

[09:35] on the lowest difficulty, which means he

[09:37] can start upping the resistance, which

[09:39] meant I was the only one who was

[09:41] continuing to struggle with the daily

[09:42] workouts. Okay. So, one thing I've

[09:44] noticed about a lot of forearm

[09:45] exercises, specifically for this guy

[09:47] right here, the brachioraiialis, I found

[09:50] that dumbbells, it's really hard to get

[09:53] the form down without aggravating the

[09:55] wrist and elbows. So, I'm going to

[09:57] experiment with cables. Keep my palm

[09:59] facing down.

[10:02] There we go. Way better than dumbbells.

[10:05] With some exercise swaps, my joint pain

[10:07] was no longer an issue. And I'd even

[10:09] found some home friendly exercises I

[10:11] could swap in when I didn't have a

[10:12] dumbbell. But the craziest improvement

[10:14] by far was the visual change I was

[10:17] already noticing.

[10:18] >> It actually feels like new beginnings

[10:20] again. Feels like I'm a beginner. Just

[10:22] like my muscles are growing super

[10:24] quickly, which is really motivating cuz

[10:27] I haven't had that since I started

[10:30] lifting. Even my wife seems shocked by

[10:32] my progress, asking me the one question

[10:34] every guy wants to hear. Why is it so

[10:37] big?

[10:38] >> What do you mean?

[10:39] >> Like, is your other one miniature now?

[10:41] Let me see your other one.

[10:43] >> But it feels pretty like it feels

[10:45] bigger.

[10:46] >> Well, it looks like it.

[10:49] >> But it feels pretty jacked though,

[10:50] right?

[10:50] >> Feeling. Yeah.

[10:51] >> But size doesn't mean much without

[10:53] functional strength. So, after 15 days

[10:55] of training, I wanted to see if each of

[10:57] us could pass a simple grip test. Today,

[10:59] we're going to do a general fitness

[11:01] test. Usually you take 100% of your body

[11:03] weight

[11:04] >> and you have to do a farmer carry for at

[11:06] least 30 seconds. But since we're only

[11:08] training one arm, we're going to divide

[11:09] that weight in half and we're going to

[11:11] do that for 30 seconds.

[11:12] >> 3 2 1.

[11:15] >> All right, walk. Oh, easy.

[11:19] >> Come on, Robin. This 30 second challenge

[11:22] is a pretty reliable benchmark for

[11:24] assessing your grip strength. If you can

[11:25] make it the full 30 seconds, your grip

[11:28] strength is performing as it should be.

[11:30] You pass. But if you fail,

[11:31] >> keep walking. Keep walking. Robin's

[11:33] down. Robin is down.

[11:35] >> You've got some serious work to do.

[11:38] >> No.

[11:40] >> You passed. Good job.

[11:42] >> Robin,

[11:43] >> he doesn't get a high bar. He didn't

[11:44] pass.

[11:44] >> He has a low pass.

[11:47] >> You have two weeks to pass this. Okay.

[11:49] >> And while Dennis and I did manage to

[11:51] complete a farmer's carries, Dennis's

[11:53] forearm has gotten so strong that

[11:55] regular rice is no longer challenging.

[11:57] Oh, I got these to increase the

[12:01] resistance. These are like metal bowls.

[12:03] So, I'm going to add them to the rice.

[12:05] Hopefully, when I do my workout, make it

[12:07] a little bit harder.

[12:08] >> We also got him a wooden spoon to make

[12:10] it more difficult.

[12:11] >> It's a lot heavier for sure. Ooh, I

[12:15] would say like five times more difficult

[12:18] to do.

[12:19] >> As for my own training, everything was

[12:20] going good until week three. I am

[12:23] frustrated. My lifts this week have been

[12:26] horrible. like my forearm strength has

[12:28] tanked. I'm a little worried because my

[12:30] forearms feel exhausted. I don't think

[12:32] they're recovering well, but I'm hopeful

[12:34] that in the final two weeks that my

[12:36] strength really starts to pick up.

[12:38] Fingers crossed. Seeing my strength

[12:40] start to dip was definitely concerning.

[12:42] But when I look closer at the data on

[12:43] the daily bench press study we talked

[12:45] about earlier, some days the people got

[12:47] stronger, some days they got weaker, and

[12:49] for many days it stayed the exact same.

[12:52] But by the end of the 34 days, all of

[12:54] them got significantly stronger than

[12:56] when they started. So, I'm hoping if I

[12:58] just stay the course, I should be able

[13:00] to break through this plateau before we

[13:03] get to the final tests.

[13:06] >> Every single day, I can see the

[13:09] progress. Basically, I'm able to

[13:11] comfortably do the exercise. Now, uh

[13:13] this exercise definitely helped me to

[13:15] basically learn this

[13:21] And after 30 days, Robin was getting

[13:24] stronger and stronger with his hand

[13:25] gripping, and he'd even made it to the

[13:27] hardest setting. Oh, I'm not sure the

[13:30] parking lot was the best place to do

[13:32] this. Meanwhile, Dennis couldn't wait to

[13:34] stop carrying his rice bucket everywhere

[13:36] he went.

[13:36] >> Even if I'm on vacation, my arms not

[13:39] going to be on vacation.

[13:41] >> As for me, I realized how much my arms

[13:43] benefit from direct forearm work. It

[13:45] took under 10 minutes a day and I could

[13:47] easily fit it in between sets. Plus, I

[13:50] started relying on straps less and my

[13:52] grip more. But here's what I didn't

[13:54] expect. After experimenting with dozens

[13:56] of exercises, there were only a few that

[13:58] didn't hurt my joints. So, I narrowed it

[14:00] down to my top three for growth and the

[14:03] exact workout I'm going to stick with

[14:05] after this. I'm going to show you all of

[14:06] that in a second. But first, let's see

[14:08] how my strength results compared to

[14:10] Dennis and Robert. And what they don't

[14:12] know is I've also prepared a bonus test.

[14:14] what Reddit claims is the world's

[14:16] hardest jar to open. But we'll save that

[14:18] for later. Up first is our crush grip.

[14:27] >> Oh my god.

[14:29] >> 13.

[14:30] >> 137.2.

[14:31] I can feel that, too.

[14:33] >> But for Dennis's rice training, show the

[14:36] camera. Show the camera. Okay, it

[14:39] doesn't count. It doesn't count.

[14:40] >> 86. One more time. One more chance. ONE

[14:42] MORE TIME.

[14:46] I THOUGHT he was going to break

[14:47] >> 6.4.

[14:49] >> What?

[14:50] >> Were you eating?

[14:54] >> I'm predicting that this is going to be

[14:55] the biggest strength increase for Robin

[14:58] because this is what he trained.

[15:02] >> No, wait. No,

[15:03] >> before

[15:05] was 108.

[15:07] >> No, no, no.

[15:09] One second.

[15:10] >> You got it. You got it. 1111.4.

[15:14] >> Yeah, but

[15:15] >> last time you were

[15:16] >> which meant round one is going to my

[15:18] science back gym plan. As for the dead

[15:20] hang

[15:25] 112.

[15:26] >> My time came in almost exactly the same

[15:29] as my day one time, which isn't the

[15:30] progress I was hoping for. And it means

[15:32] either Dennis or Robin have the chance

[15:34] to take the win.

[15:37] >> Let's go, Robin. Easy way.

[15:42] What the? Wait, wait, wait, wait. What

[15:44] is 6 seconds?

[15:46] >> 5.59.

[15:48] >> What was his last time?

[15:50] >> 12 seconds.

[15:51] >> Yeah.

[15:51] >> What happened?

[15:53] >> So, hand gripper does not help with your

[15:56] dead hang time.

[15:57] >> Which means it's down to just Dennis.

[15:59] And even though Dennis claims his rice

[16:01] bucket was barely a full workout, his

[16:03] single arm dead hang was already well

[16:05] past his day one time of just 5 seconds.

[16:10] Holding my breath, too.

[16:11] >> 14 seconds. What have you been doing?

[16:13] >> Holding my breath helped. Also, I'm

[16:15] sick, so I think that helped.

[16:17] >> What I think also helped Dennis is the

[16:18] fact that his rice workouts mainly

[16:20] challenged his grip endurance, building

[16:22] up to longer and longer sets of stirring

[16:24] the rice, plus the fact that he was

[16:26] regularly lifting weights throughout

[16:27] this process. But what really surprised

[16:29] me was what happened when we retested

[16:32] our biceps curl strength. Our rep

[16:34] performance on our left side increased

[16:36] more than our right sides did. something

[16:38] I was not expecting, especially for a

[16:39] well-trained lifter like myself,

[16:41] suggesting that stronger forearms may in

[16:44] fact lead to strength boost in other

[16:46] lifts as well. However, when we tested

[16:48] Robin, who doesn't lift any weights at

[16:50] all, his results hadn't changed. But

[16:52] when we got to the pinch test

[16:56] >> Oh,

[16:58] >> 20 seconds.

[16:59] >> Wow.

[17:00] >> Holy

[17:01] >> Let's go. Holy. And even though I did

[17:03] improve slightly from day one, compared

[17:05] to Robin, my extra second just doesn't

[17:07] feel very impressive.

[17:10] >> Six seconds.

[17:13] >> Yo, how'd you do that? 20 seconds.

[17:17] >> So, across the three tests we ran, it

[17:19] seems like each method of training did a

[17:21] better job at improving different areas

[17:23] of grip strength. However, when it came

[17:25] to our bonus test

[17:30] >> Oh no. Again.

[17:30] >> Oh my god. again. Same expression.

[17:34] >> I swear it's the

[17:36] >> You can't do none of this funny stuff.

[17:39] God,

[17:41] look at it. It's so painful.

[17:43] >> Now, it won't be this painful if you're

[17:45] following the right workout plan using

[17:46] our Build with Science Plus app. With

[17:48] it, you're going to get a completely

[17:50] customized workout routine based on your

[17:52] body. And not just for your forearms,

[17:54] but for every single muscle. That way,

[17:56] you're not going to be embarrassed the

[17:57] next time you try to open a lid or even

[17:59] take your shirt off at the beach.

[18:01] I had high hopes for you.

[18:08] >> Really? You can't hold it? You're not

[18:09] joking?

[18:11] >> It also guides you with your diet and

[18:13] lets you track your nutrition with a

[18:15] snap of a picture. You can try it for 2

[18:17] weeks free over at billwithcience.com or

[18:19] by scanning this QR code right here.

[18:21] Right.

[18:22] >> Yeah. Yo, I'm nervous. I don't know if I

[18:24] can publish this video if

[18:28] >> what?

[18:31] >> Oh wow, look at this.

[18:33] >> You guys want some jab?

[18:35] >> But now let's talk about growth. So when

[18:37] we measured the average growth across

[18:39] all three measurement points, third

[18:41] place went to Dennis's rice training,

[18:44] leading to modest growth through his

[18:45] upper forearm, but no growth through his

[18:47] middle and lower forearm, followed in

[18:49] second place by me. While my forearms

[18:52] experienced a ton of growth through the

[18:53] upper and middle of my forearm, the

[18:55] lower part around my wrist stayed

[18:57] exactly the same. Robin, on the other

[18:59] hand, he had barely changed his upper

[19:00] forearm, but the highest growth around

[19:02] his middle and lower forearm. However,

[19:05] because of his training experience, he

[19:07] probably experienced the biggest newbie

[19:09] gains out of all of us.

[19:10] >> First time in my life I did any

[19:13] exercise.

[19:14] >> This is the first time in your whole

[19:15] life you've done exercise.

[19:17] >> Yeah. Hopefully, these gains convince

[19:18] Robin to commit to something more than

[19:20] just gripping. But based on my data and

[19:22] my own 30-day experience, here are my

[19:25] picks for the top three forearm

[19:27] exercises. And I've even added all of

[19:29] these forearm exercises to our Build

[19:30] with Science Plus app. I will say

[19:32] farmer's carries as a bonus at the end

[19:34] of your workouts is a great idea,

[19:36] especially for beginners. And as we saw

[19:38] with Robin, simply getting a hand

[19:40] gripper is an easy, low barrier to entry

[19:42] way to get started and might even grow

[19:44] the lower forearm a little bit more. And

[19:46] here is the workout I'm personally going

[19:48] to be sticking with going forward, doing

[19:50] it twice a week on my leg days or rest

[19:52] days. And if you want to pair your

[19:54] forearm training with a full body

[19:56] workout plan that hits every single

[19:58] muscle, then check out this video next.

[19:59] Thank you so much for watching and I'll

[20:01] see you next