# weak wrists



## #22

Hey guys, all my life i've had pretty weak wrists, but this has'nt really affected me untill lately. When im doing weight lifting, im usually fine, but lately i've been having a real nasty pain in my left wrist while im using dumbells, so i have to lower the weight to stop it from hurting, but then im not really getting anything out of my workout. So i was just wandering is there anything i can do about this? Any techniques i could use while using dumbells or excercises which would help my wrists to be stronger (enter the ****ing jokes), as im heading into the stage where im lifting pretty heavy weights i would'nt want to badly damage them. All advise appretiated, #22


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## Guest

Do you use wrist supports?


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## #22

May sound stupid but no, do they make a big difference?


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## Desdicado

#22 this is exactly the problem I had 4 years ago when I started to train with heavier weights.

1st thing I'd say is really be carefull, as my left wrist wasn't 100% for at least a year.

What really helped me was working on strengthening my forearms and wrists, not something that any of my friends do which I still find strange. I train them every week without fail.

The 2 main excercises I do are forearm and reverse forearm curls.

Get a bench, put the seat straight up and rest the back of your forearm on it with a weight of your choice held in the hand. Then just curl using only the wirst, I go 15 reps, 12, 10 12, 12, 12 alternating arms as you go.

Then do the same with the front of your forearm resting on the seat, same reps, less weight. Curling the wrist backwards.

You can also do this seated using a bar with the forearms resting on your legs.

This has helped me a lot, no more wrist pains even on heavy weights and my forearms look better too.


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## #22

Thanks Desdicado, sounds just like what i need, if i do Barbell curls, then it hurts my forearm's a little aswell. It's worst with preacher curls though, which caused me to stop doing them. Hopefully i'll be able to sort them out now, thanks for the advice!


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## hackskii

Hey 22 is there any numbness in the fingers? If not then I would do what Desdicado does and then wrap them on the exercises that bother you.

But let me know if there is any numbness involved in the fingers as this could be carpal tunnel syndorme.


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## OnePack

my wrists are pretty thin compared to the rest of my arm, how can i work the wrist area to make them bigger? often, my tri/bis can last longer (do more reps) before my wrists get a bit painful and give up.


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## Aftershock

My wrists are very narrow.... I think the onlt option is to wrap then fro your heavy sets.........I get wrist pain especially when doing side laterals if i dont.....


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## Panthro

i use wrist wraps. Really good, and make a massive difference. Will defo stick a few KG onto your bnench too


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## Greyphantom

I am not a big fan of any sort of wrap as it weakens the area further... Desdicado has hit the nail on the head there... make your wrists stronger through ex... happened to me and after a month or so my wrists got stronger...


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## DB

MatracaBergFan said:


> my wrists are pretty thin compared to the rest of my arm, how can i work the wrist area to make them bigger? often, my tri/bis can last longer (do more reps) before my wrists get a bit painful and give up.


The size of your wrist is genetic mate, but forearm curls will increase the muscle and a smaller wrist is better for big forearms as it gives u a bigger taper up the arm IMO, those grip squeezer things work a treat aswell if u do loads of em


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## OnePack

whats a taper?


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## lewisa

how does it make them weaker? im having the same problem &considering buying them.


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## powerU

they'll get weaker because they'll have all the work done for them by the straps, unless you're huge and lifting really heavy I wouldn't bother yet, same with belts and gloves.


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## megatron

I have weak wrists too (compared to the rest of my arms) and got some dodgy pains when i stepped up in wieght. My physiotherapist said to buy a squash ball and practice squeesing it in different ways:

between thumb + forefinger

thumb + all fingers

palm + thumb

palm + fingers

It realy did the trick for me - but then my pain was muscular nothing else.


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## Panthro

i do my warm ups and intermediate weight without wrist wraps, but then on my heavy weights i use the wraps, to protect my wrists. dont rely on them too much, but they can help, esp as when i bench heavy, i get bad pains sometimes...


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## Greyphantom

Cant believe no one has said "buy more porn"... lol...


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## Killerkeane

i have same problem whilst doing barbell curls, enormous stabbing pain to my left wrist, seems to have gone now though. I would rather laying off the weight for a little while then straining my joints+muscles and being out for a couple of months


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## Panthro

is that with a flat barbell james? not an EZ bar? I know a lot of people (me included) find a flat barbel curls very uncomfortable on the wrists. so use an EZ bar or dumbells if poss mate.


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## Killerkeane

yeah panth, i do flat ones. I will use the ez bars now mate. I only do 3 sets of them, but they do kill my wrists....


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## hackskii

Flat bar jacks me up too.

EZ curl or dumbbell or preacher machine curls.

Reverse curls dont hurt at all for me.


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## T-man

I have very weak wrists. I have had then broken a couple of times neadeing full casts up to my shoulder for 8 weeks a time and my one of my arms is an inch shorter because of it.

After that I used to wear wrist supports all day everyday for ages as I did not want to hurt them again which made my wrists even weaker. I think when I was fully grow height wise at 16 my wrists were only 5 inches they are now only 7 1/8 inches and still very thin but that is still an improvement.

The funny thing is my wrists pump up well over 1/2 an inch after a workout which you would not think is possible because it is mainly bone there but my watch never fits after a workout.

I used to find flat bar curls painfull and so used to use the ez bar because you can use more weight also, but I have persevered with the flat bar and do think it is better overall as your wrist is more supinated.


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## hackskii

I agree with you t-man. Strait bar will isolate the inner bicep more than e-z curl bar.

Damn Impressive observation bro. That is good, you have a good mind.

I like that. All the reason for me to go back to them and stop being such a pussy on my wrists.


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## Killerkeane

hehe, you know the famous moto, no pain no gain


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## winger

In all the pictures of Arnold doing bies he always had a wide grip and a straight bar. The straight bar hurts my wrists too.  Makes for a good change though. I dont like straps eather. You become reliant on them. You cant take them to a powerlifting meet so what is the point.  The chain is only as strong as its weakest link.


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