I've been following SS and some extras on and off for about 7 months now. Some of you unfortunate souls may recall with aghast my pictures where I looked reminiscent of a concentration camp victim following the atkins diet.

I've put on about 25 pounds since then. I don't look hugely different in pictures but 'in person' the difference is huge... I am no longer skin and bones and actually have muscle definition.

My back has responded tremendously, as have my traps. My delts are also noticeably thicker. biceps have grown, I fill out my t-shirt a little now but nothing special, bit disappointed with those. My main beef though is my twig like forearms. They have grown but they still look embarassingly thin. Once a week I do hammer curls, wrist curls and a barbell routine. After I finish I feel like ripping my forearms off. They are veiny as hell but just not growing much.. I'm not even sure they are growing any more now.

Does anyone have a tried and tested forearm routine I can use??

I have 4 meals a day with 30g protein in each minimum and also a protein bar too. On days I work out I have an extra protein bar.

Deadlifting heavy with a double overhand grip will build forearms afaik

yeah, overhand DLs, Captains of Crush hand grippers, plate holds, wrist curls, reverse wrist curls, all kinds of stuff like that will get them stronger. Its possible that you might not be able to make them big due to genetics, but you can definitely get them stronger.

spinach, afaik

Try getting some anchor tattoos as well

reverse sled drag, farmers walks

I am also incapable of growing my forearms. I've done a lot of captains of crush grip work and have a very strong DL grip, but my forearms look like I've never lifted a weight. On the plus side, adding in more forearm hypertrophy work is unlikely to hinder recovery much while on SS, so there's no harm in keeping at it if it bothers you.

Doug, have you tried doing reverse sled drags and farmer's walks? Also there is MA championship strong man competition in Boston next Saturday I am thinking about going to, you interested?

I have the same problem. i've gone from 5'9 130 to 5'9 155. My body is bigger, my arms look more toned, but they are basically the same size as before just with more definition.

On a serious note, start to refinish furniture and perform all the sanding by hand, no machine. The Karate Kid routine, wax on, wax off, sand floor etc works incredibly well. I spent the summer after graduating high school building fiberglass moulds for boats. Every square inch had to be sanded with escalating grades of finer paper from 180 grit to 1000 fine. Then 2 grades of cut polish followed by 8 coats of mould release paste wax, all hand rubbed.

The popeye jokes have followed me ever since.

how much u double overhand?

Can I ask you the same question miles? I'm genuinely interested.

i have slacked on training it much (was doing fat bar holds for a little which help a lot imo) but every time i deadlift i do my 365 warmup with an overhand grip and it's solid. 405 is the most i've done, but i couldn't totally lock out because it was slipping, so probably ~395.

Righto. I'm reaching a weight now (240lb) where I have to alternate my grip and am now wondering if my grip strength is ever going to able to "catch up" to what my back can dead lift at any given time. Is it a case of once you reach that point your (5RM PR) work sets are always done with an alternate grip?

same problem i used to try forearm exercises they didnt work. but now i kinda like being the skinny looking guy who benches more than the guy who has forearms the size of my biceps.

yeah because the overhand grip is the weakest grip and it is very easy to train your body to lift more weight than your hands can hold like that. but as long as you keep doing as many warmups as you can with an overhand grip there will be a training effect. i had to start using a mixed grip at about 265.

Okay, thanks miles. Sorry for the hijack OP.

Agreed. I can almost double overhand 405 and I only warmup with the double overhand grip. I guess I do speed DLs and rack pulls with the double overhand grip sometimes, so maybe that helps. And the chin-ups perhaps?

U mean you're the same height? I'd change your program if I were you

We have some 100 lb plates with thick grips that I've FWed from time to time.

Never tried heavier than 385. Got some fat gripz today so looking forward to implementing them occasionally when my gym reopens on Wednesday.

I've been always using my warmups with double overhand, then do mixed-grip for my workset. I figure my warmups will increase over time so that will help get my grip better but I don't limit myself in deadlifts by my grip. Perhaps this logic is wrong, but I've made decent progress.

This is exactly what Rip says in the book

Just keep lifting and eating. From what I've heard, forearm size is mainly due to genetics (not saying you still can't grow them though).

I've never tried isolating my forearms in an exercise but they always feel particularly tired after heavy dumbbell chest exercises.