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Is there anything you can do with your forearms if you don't have a barbell, a collar, a horizontal bar, nor a rope machine? I have dumbbells and a couple of bands, though.

I've been watching this video. The guy in the video said you could use a band in one exercise, but it's still attached to some machine. I sometimes fix it to a radiator for some exercises, but it seems it would be to low for this. He says that wrist curls are not good for you. The only thing I could do from that video is those farmer carries, but walking around my room with dumbbells would feel too stupid.

UPD: Instead of a mace, you can use a dumbbell loaded only from one side. It was a great discovery of mine

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    Note that "toning" is a marketing invention; you're either building muscle or losing fat. Is your question about getting bigger forearms or getting them stronger?
    – Luciano
    Commented Sep 7, 2022 at 15:12
  • "but walking around my room with dumbbells would feel too stupid", then don't, just do static holds. If you want to target your forearms, you don't need to walk around, you just need to hold the weights
    – Dark Hippo
    Commented Sep 12, 2022 at 9:27
  • Not an answer, but I would use powerball or gyro ball for those muscles. You can fit it in your pocket and it is really lightweight. It is developed for astronauts to keep their grip muscles in check in space and is especially good for the wrists.
    – speedyGonzales
    Commented Oct 17, 2022 at 10:13

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Yes.

Get a 3 kg macebell (or a hammer, or a longer stick etc.) and use it for moving your wrist in all directions under load. Given the torque, it is also very good for isometric holds. A good demonstration can be seen here. The idea here is not going extremely heavy, but to gain control with reasonable load.

A more standard way is to get an approx. 50 cm long stick with a rope and a few 5 and 2 kg weight plates and do wrist rolls. The eccentric part of the wrist roll is especially important.

In my experience, both approaches are good and I prefer to mix them. Both are also very space efficient and can be easily done in an apartment.

That said, almost every upper body exercise where you grip something also trains the forearms. Say, for example pull ups, if you want to make it more difficult for the forearms, you can get e.g. cannonball grips or hanging grips. These will keep your forearms challenged for a long time.

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  • The equipment you mentioned (a maceball, a stick) or implied (a horizontal bar) is not something I have access to. In fact, I said as much in the question body in the first place
    – Sergey Zolotarev
    Commented Sep 6, 2022 at 12:05
  • None of the equipment that I mentioned is overly expensive or needs a lot of space. I mean, really, you can not afford a wooden stick and a rope? Sorry, but with just dumbbells and a few bands you won't be able to do much as far as forearm specific training goes.
    – BKE
    Commented Sep 6, 2022 at 13:51
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Reverse curls (curls with palm-down) help with grip and forearm strength and are easily done with dumbbells.

Alternatively, if you aren't COMPLETELY limited to what you currently have on you, a grip strengthener would improve your forearms. The linked set also includes rubber bands that provide resistance in the opposite way (you force them open instead of grippers that you force them closed) to even it out.

I struggled with grip strength in my deadlifts until I started using one of these during the workday and have already noticed an improvement in both the appearance and functional use of my forearms.

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