Latest Exercises

Your forearms are involved in nearly every upper body exercise — pulling, rowing, carrying — but rarely get dedicated training. Building them at home is straightforward: forearm work requires grip, which you can load with household objects, resistance bands, or your own bodyweight. Barbells and cables help but aren’t required.

The seven exercises below cover the main forearm muscle groups: the flexors (underside, responsible for grip closing and wrist flexion), the extensors (topside, responsible for wrist extension), and the brachioradialis (the thick outer muscle that bridges forearm and upper arm).

The 7 Exercises

1. Wrist Curl

Target: Forearm flexors
Sit on a chair. Rest your forearms on your thighs, wrists just beyond your knees, palms up. Hold a household weight — a water bottle, a soup can, a filled bag, or a dumbbell. Curl your wrists up, lower slowly.
Sets and reps: 3 sets of 15 to 20
No-equipment alternative: Use a resistance band looped around your palm, stepping on the other end.

2. Reverse Wrist Curl

Target: Forearm extensors
Same position, but palms face down. Raise the back of your hand toward the ceiling, lower slowly. This side of the forearm is weaker than the flexor side — expect to use less weight.
Sets and reps: 3 sets of 12 to 15

3. Farmer’s Carry

Target: Grip strength, forearm flexors, carrying endurance
Grab two heavy household objects — filled water jugs, paint cans, heavy grocery bags. Walk with them for 30 to 60 seconds while keeping shoulders back and core engaged. No leaning to one side.
Sets: 3 rounds of 30 to 60 seconds
Why this matters: Farmer’s carries train grip endurance — the ability to hold something heavy for time — more specifically than any isolation exercise. Real grip strength is about duration, not just peak force.

4. Towel Hang

Target: Crushing grip strength
Drape a thick towel over a pull-up bar or a secure overhead surface. Grab both ends of the towel and hang from it. The instability of cloth dramatically increases grip demand compared to gripping a rigid bar.
Sets: 3 sets, hang until grip failure
No-bar alternative: Loop a towel over the top of a sturdy door. Hold both sides of the towel, lean back into a supported row position, and hold or row.

5. Towel Pull-Up or Row

Target: Grip and forearm during pulling movements
Same towel setup. Perform a pull-up or row if you’re able. The grip demand is significantly higher than a standard bar because you’re gripping cloth rather than a rigid surface.
Sets and reps: 3 sets of max reps

6. Book Pinch (or Plate Pinch)

Target: Pinch grip strength
Hold a heavy book pinched between your thumb and four fingers, arm at your side. Hold until your grip fails. This trains pinch grip, which is different from the crushing grip used in most other exercises and produces more complete forearm development.
Sets: 3 holds to failure

7. Ball or Putty Squeeze

Target: Forearm flexor endurance
Squeeze a stress ball, tennis ball, or therapy putty (a few dollars at a pharmacy) 30 times per hand. Higher rep range than weight exercises, which builds endurance in the forearm flexors.
Sets and reps: 3 sets of 30 squeezes per hand

A Weekly Forearm Routine

Add forearm work at the end of any upper body session — the forearms are already partially fatigued from pulling movements, so finishing with isolation work is efficient rather than redundant.

Sample 15-minute add-on, 2 to 3 times per week:

1. Wrist curl — 3 x 15
2. Reverse wrist curl — 3 x 12
3. Farmer’s carry — 3 x 45 seconds
4. Towel hang — 3 x to grip failure
5. Ball squeeze — 3 x 30 per hand

Realistic Timeline

Forearm muscles are smaller than the major muscle groups and contain a high proportion of slow-twitch endurance fibers. With consistent training 2 to 3 times per week: grip strength improvement is noticeable in 2 to 4 weeks; visible forearm size change takes 8 to 12 weeks. Progress faster by also prioritizing compound pulling movements — rows, pull-ups, deadlifts — which heavily recruit the forearms alongside isolation work.

The inner thigh muscles — your adductors — pull your legs toward the midline of your body. They’re involved in walking, running, squatting, and most lower body movements, but rarely get direct training in general fitness programs.

The exercises below target them specifically. Some require no equipment at all. A resistance band ($10 to $15) expands your options. None require gym machines.

A Brief Anatomy Note

The adductor group includes five muscles: adductor magnus, adductor longus, adductor brevis, pectineus, and gracilis. The adductor magnus is the largest and most powerful — it also assists the hamstrings in hip extension. The exercises below create meaningful tension across this whole group, particularly when the hip is in different positions of flexion and extension.

The 6 Exercises

1. Sumo Squat

Stand with feet significantly wider than shoulder-width, toes turned out 30 to 45 degrees. Squat down, keeping knees tracking over toes throughout. The wide stance and external hip rotation increase adductor demand compared to a standard squat.
Sets and reps: 3 sets of 15
Progression: Pause 3 seconds at the bottom, or hold a weight at your chest. A filled backpack or water jug works.

2. Side-Lying Hip Adduction

Lie on your side. Cross the top leg in front of you, foot flat on the floor for stability. The bottom leg is straight. Lift the bottom leg upward as high as you comfortably can, lower slowly. This directly isolates the adductors with minimal involvement from other muscles.
Sets and reps: 3 sets of 15 per side
Progression: An ankle weight of 2 to 3 lbs makes this substantially harder.

3. Copenhagen Plank

This is the most effective adductor exercise without a gym machine, but it requires a surface — a couch, low coffee table, or sturdy ottoman. Set up in a side plank. Place your top foot on the surface. Lift your bottom leg up toward it and hold. The adductor of the top leg works isometrically to press down into the surface.
Sets and reps: 3 sets of 20 to 30 seconds per side
Progression: Lift and lower the bottom leg in a small controlled range rather than holding static.

4. Lateral Lunge

Stand with feet together. Step directly to the right, keeping your left leg straight. Sink into the right hip, driving it back. The adductors of the straight left leg work eccentrically to control the lateral movement. Return to standing and repeat.
Sets and reps: 3 sets of 12 per side
Progression: Add a weight held at chest level.

5. Resistance Band Adduction

Attach a resistance band to a fixed point at ankle height — a table leg or door anchor. Loop the band around one ankle. Stand perpendicular to the anchor and step away to create tension. Pull your anchored leg across your body, return with control. This closely mimics a cable hip adduction machine.
Sets and reps: 3 sets of 15 per side
Equipment needed: A mini resistance band or loop band, approximately $10 to $15

6. Plie Squat Pulse

Wide-stance squat with feet turned out 45 to 60 degrees. Sink to the bottom position. From there, pulse a few inches up and down, staying in the range of motion where the adductors are under constant tension. Unlike a full range squat, you never reach the top where tension releases.
Sets and reps: 3 sets of 30 seconds
Progression: Add a held weight at chest level.

What Won’t Work for Inner Thighs

The inner thigh squeeze machine (hip adduction machine) at a gym is effective. The closest home bodyweight equivalent is the Copenhagen plank. Many online “inner thigh exercises” — certain leg raises and floor movements — target the hip flexors more than the adductors. The six exercises above are selected specifically because they create genuine load on the adductor group through a meaningful range.

Training Frequency

Two to three times per week. Include adductor work at the end of a lower body session or as part of a hip stability and mobility routine. They recover quickly relative to larger leg muscles and respond well to moderate volume rather than heavy loads.