How much to lift and when to stop?

[Highler]

My forearms are skinny to the bone; i can fit most of my fingers round my wrist so i'm going to lift some weights to make them bigger.

I have decided to use things at home for my weights as i can't afford to buy them, so a few bricks from the garage or bottles of liquid will do!

Thing is, i don't know how many 'lifts' to do or when to stop lifting them. Does the burning mean you stop or keep going?

And how often do i do the excercises for and when do i stop?

P.S. I'm 29 so not a boy who's still to grow!

Thank you

[bushido_man96]

Well, for starters, making your forearms bigger is not likely to make your wrists thicker. That's just your body's build, and lifting weights isn't going to change the size of your frame.

Now, with that said, you can strengthen your forearms. One thing you could do is take your brick, tie a length of string to it, and then tie this length of string to a dowel rod, broom handle, or something like that. Then, you roll the string up around the dowel by twisting the stick, like reeling in a kite. Repeat as many times as you feel the need to.

Wrist curls will help, as well. Hold the bricks or bottles in your hands, palms up or down, and then flex only the wrists in a curling motion. The more weight you use, the fewer reps it'll take to get tired. As far as I know, you can work the forearms quite a bit, because they work a lot as it is; whenever you use your fingers, you work them some.

Which reminds me of another exercise....stand with your arms extended out in front of you, locking the arms. Open your hand all the way out, then quickly close them into fists, then open the fingers up again, and keep repeating. To make it worse, er, better, do this in squatting in a sitting/horse stance. Keep doing it until your arms burn.

[Kuma]

Here's some great at-home grip exercises that will add some size to your forearms as well as give you a grip that will make people sob when you grab them:

(1) Fill up a bucket with a light amount of weight to start. Take an old belt or piece of webbing and connect it to the handle. Then take a pair of pliers, hold it upside down in your hand, close the pliers on the webbing/belt, and lift the bucket. You can do reps or holds for time, and each time you use it make it a teeny bit heavier.

(2) Try stacking the bricks up together in a row on the ground, then crush them together and stand up with them. Now, crushing them together as tightly as possible, you can do curls and presses with them which will also seriously work your chest and biceps.

(3) The wrist roller idea is a good one too.

(4) Get a pair of decent-sized jars (empty protein jars work best) and fill them up with a decent amount of weight. You now have a pair of homemade nigiri game (gripping jars). Pick them up with the tips of your fingers and walk in Sanchin. You can also assume a horse stance and do alternating front and side raises with them.

(5) Easiest one yet. Get a tennis ball and squeeze it all day every day.

[sperki]

Bushido-Man is right on about changing wrist size; there's not much muscle superficial to the wrist, so you won't be able to bulk that area up much. The good news is that it will make any additional muscle on your forearms look larger! Another exercise to try: just hang on a door jam. They're typically only about .5-1" deep, so you'll only be able to get your fingers on there. Try holding on for 15 second intervals and do a few reps if you can.

[tallgeese]

Yeah, bushido man is right. Not much you can do on the wrist diameter itself. I too am cursed with small handles for people to grab on to.

Everyone has made some good suggestions. Increasing the strength, and therefore size, of your forearms will make manipulations and control easier.

[BDPulver]

Everyone else pretty much gave good examples that I have used in the past.

Two of my favorite was wrist roller and what I called wrist rotator. Basically its a good size dowel of either wood or metal and a couple of small weights screwed on the end. It would look something like a dumbell without weights on other end.

Just be careful not to snap the wrist using that. I sprained mine bad when I thought I was getting good. Doing a competition with sais and taped wrist is not fun, came in fifth due to that.

[white owl]

Everyone has gave good advice and it true you can not change your bone size.

[Highler]

Another exercise to try: just hang on a door jam. They're typically only about .5-1" deep, so you'll only be able to get your fingers on there. Try holding on for 15 second intervals and do a few reps if you can.

I'm sorry but i have no idea what a door jam is?

[Highler]

But what about timeframes; how long do i lift for? how many times do i lift? do i lift everyday?

I basically have no prior knowledge of this type of thing before. I am but a mere novice.

Thank you

[BDPulver]

Well that depends on what your after. I do the iso type lifting which means no bulk but stay strong sorta speak.

When I lift, I concentrate on my breathing at same time. You dont want to go super fast though.

Take the curl for example. now lifting is also down in a break down manner. I usually do upper body 3 days, lower 3 days and rest 1 day. typically 3 to 5 sets of roughly 10 to 15 reps depending on what I am working on.

A typical lifting session for me is roughly 45 to 60 mins not counting warmup and cooldown.

You might be able to youtube some professions that can actually show you how to do it by visual