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Hey everyone. I have always had trouble with the lack of strength in my forearm, wrists and ankles. I've tried push ups and dumbbells, which helped my biceps a lot and my shoulders a bit, but nothing for my forearms or wrists. Not sure what could help strengthen my ankles. Any ideas?
..or, as an alternative if you are not in the "Joe Wieder" mode of working out:
Pull ups - wrists and forearms (as well as biceps, back, and shoulders).
Power cleans (heavy) - wrists and forearms (as well as the entire body).
Plyometric jumping (explosive jumps from the floor onto a bench, chair, or platform) - ankles (and entire leg and core muscles).
Sports that incorporate quick lateral movements (tennis, basketball, racquetball) - ankles (etc.).
Working out with any heavier weight that you have to control will benefit your grip strength - wrists and forearms. Even when you do heavy triceps extensions, you should feel a burn in your forearms before long. You may or may not be able to significantly strengthen your grip by doing individual wrist curls though - especially if the goal is to help you be able to grip heavy weights for things like dead lifts or pull ups. I always had a weak grip until I started doing power cleans and pull ups routinely. Just the act of gripping and controlling a heavy weight is enough to build those muscles quickly.
You can also strengthen your ankles by doing calf raises, wearing a weight vest while climbing stairs, or by endurance exercises that engage your calves (running, cycling, etc.). Calves and other leg muscles are used to the load of your body weight, so you would need to load a weight machine accordingly to get an additional benefit.
It is more difficult to build up the wrists and ankles specifically, and there really is no bulky musculature in these areas. The muscles in the wrists and ankles are mostly used to stabilize the joint instead of move a weight through a certain range of motion.
I second Gymbys suggestion of doing pullups and plyometrics.
Another alternative that I highly recommend is Vinyasa Sun Salutations "A" and "B". Learn these bad boys and get to the point where you do 20 Sun Salutation As, then 20 Sun Salutation Bs and you'll be good.
Sun Salutations are basically designed to strengthen your ENTIRE BODY but the practice of them will definitely improve your wrist and forearm strength.
Loaded carries like farmers walk, suitcase walk and waiters walk. According to Dan John, these are some of the most neglected exercises out there, but they can't be beat for strengthening your arms and your core. Be prepared for weird stares at the gym when you do them, but they whip you into shape better than most other lifts people are trying to do at the gym.
If you can't do full pull ups or more than a few try holding the pullup halfway down as long as you can. Same with weights. That really helped me progress faster when I had to start from scratch or up the effort and couldn't do more reps.
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