It is nearly impossible to overstate the importance of wrist mobility and strength. Without a strong, mobile wrist that can fluidly operate in multiple planes, our ability to grab and manipulate things with our hands would be nearly useless. Without mobile wrists, our manual dexterity doesn’t really exist—our arms become the pincers that people use to pick up trash.
You need adequate wrist mobility whether you work keyboards for a living (carpal tunnel syndrome), hold barbells in the rack position, throw projectiles, nurse babies, work on cars, cook , drink coffee from the mug, say goodbye, play ultimate frisbee, or shoot hoops (with good follow through). If you plan on giving awesome high fives or becoming a dominant arm wrestler or engaging with the physical world at all, you definitely need mobile, strong, durable wrists.
Seriously, though, adequate mobility of the wrist is important for everyday life and intense exercise alike.
And yet the wrist is a common weak link. Who is doing active wrist training? There is no “wrist day” at the gym. Today that changes. Today you learn the proper way to improve wrist mobility and strength.
1. Wrist Roll
Wrist rolls are simple. Clasp your fingers together and put your wrists through every possible range of motion, using plenty of opposing force. rotation, flexion, extension, adduction, abduction – just make sure you’re completely Expansion of And fully flexing And Fully spinning. Roll them through all ranges of motion.
If you work in front of a computer, I recommend doing a few sets of these before and after the work day.
2. Prayer pulls
Wrist prayer stretches are static stretches that increase in intensity. Place your hands in front of your face in prayer position: palms and fingers flat against each other, fingers pointing toward the ceiling (or the sun, or the sky).
Then, keeping your hands together and fingers still pointing up, bring your hands down toward your navel. Keep going down until you can’t keep your palms touching anymore, then hold it there for 3-5 seconds. Repeat, each time trying to go down. 12 reps.
3. Palm Lifts
On your hands and knees, place hands flat on the floor and directly under your shoulders (so your arms are in a straight line with the floor). Slowly lift your palms off the floor, keeping your fingers flat on the ground. At the top, your wrist should be directly above your hand. Try to keep your arm perpendicular to the floor. Hold for 2-3 seconds, then slowly lower your palm down to the floor. 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps.
4. Back-facing wrist stretches with palms facing up
Lie on your hands and knees with the back of your hands flat on the floor, palms facing up and your fingers pointing toward you. This keeps your wrists in flexion, and by shifting your body weight back onto your calves, you go deeper into wrist flexion. Do this carefully and slowly. 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps. Avoid the pain, but the discomfort is okay.
5. Stretch the back of the palms down to the wrists
Get on your hands and knees, your palms flat on the floor and your fingers pointing back at you. This puts your wrists in extension, and by shifting your body weight backward onto your calves, you go into further extension. As with the last stretch, be careful, move slowly and avoid pain. 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps.
6. Weighted Wrist Extension/Flexion
Weighted wrist extension and flexion strengthen the primary movements our wrists perform. However, many people are biased toward either flexibility or extension, and training both patterns with weights can help balance our strength and mobility.
For extension:
- Grab a dumbbell and place your forearm on the surface with your wrist and hand extended out to the side.
- Your palm should be facing the floor.
- Your wrists should hang down, flexed in passive flexion.
- Bring your wrists to full extension against the resistance of the weights.
- Hold for half a second, then slowly lower back down. Repeat.
For Flexibility:
- Grab a dumbbell and place your forearm on the surface with your wrist and hand extended out to the side.
- Your palm should be facing the ceiling.
- Your wrist should hang in extension.
- Rotate your wrists to full flexion against the resistance of the weight.
- Pause for half a second, then slowly lower it back. Repeat.
For both movements, use light dumbbells. This is not a movement for massive weight. You’re training small but essential movement patterns. 3 sets of 12-15 reps, each wrist.
7. Loaded Propellant / Installation
In addition to just extension and flexion, the wrist can also perform pronation and supination. These are rotational movements at the wrist, used to perform tasks such as handling a screwdriver, turning a door handle, or throwing an object. They are important to be strong, because doing so can give you the kind of “peasant strength” that many people are missing these days.
Supination is rotating your wrist in a clockwise rotation-external rotation. Palms down palms up. Pronation is rotating your wrist counterclockwise—internal rotation. Palms up, palms down. You need to train both movements, and the best way I’ve found is to do it with a heavy mace, club, or hammer in your hands. this is easy.
- Hold the shaft in front of you with your elbow bent at 90 degrees.
- Slowly alternate between raising and pronating your wrists. Rotate the object counterclockwise, then back up clockwise.
- Control the speed. Don’t be in a hurry to move.
Don’t go too heavy. If the object is too heavy, you can always shift your grip towards the head to shorten the lever. As you get stronger and progress in the movement, you can slide your grip down the shaft to lengthen the lever.
2 sets of 6 reps with each arm (3 in each direction).
8. Weighted Radial / Ulnar Deviation
Radial and ulnar deviation refer to the movement of the wrist from side to side. Flexion and extension of the “edge” of the wrist joint, as when you open or screw on the lid of a pickle jar. Here’s how to train it:
Grab the same object that you used for supari/pronunciation practice. Your arm should be straight and perpendicular with the ground.
For radial deviation, the mace head will be facing you. Leaning at the edge of your wrist, lift the mace head up, as if you are raising a flag to the sky. For ulnar deviation, the head of the mace is behind you. Raise the head of the mace behind you, leaning on the other side of the wrist. Again, you can adjust your grip to shorten or lengthen the levers and change the resistance.
2 sets of 6 reps with each arm (3 in each direction).
9. Static Hold
The wrist is also a stabilizer. A wrist that can maintain its position even when gravity and outside forces try to destabilize it is a strong wrist. If you throw a punch, catch a wrist lock, or take something heavy, you want a stable wrist.
The best way to train wrist stability is to do static holds with the same objects you did for the previous two exercises. You’ll hold the mace/hammer/rod in front of you with your elbow bent 90°, and that’s all you do. Just hold that position.
That’s it! You don’t have to do all these exercises all the time. They are auxiliary exercises, not primary ones. But keep them in your back pocket because whenever you have a few minutes to train, be consistent, and in no time you’ll see your wrist mobility and strength improve and your performance in other areas as well. .
Take care, everyone.
About the Author
Click here if you want to add an avatar to all your comments!
