Wrist Strengthening
Best Wrist Strengthening Exercises
There are a number of reasons why you may have the need for wrist strengthening exercises. Wrists are a highly used part of your body that starts working as soon as you turn your alarm clock off in the morning and they do not stop working until you finally fall asleep at night.
Wrist injuries or weakness can occur because of an accident, sports, slip and fall, repetitive actions or simply doing a lot of typing. Overuse of the hands is fairly common in musicians, computer operators and carpenters and can result in tendonitis or carpel tunnel syndrome. Both of these conditions can produce numbness, pain and tingling in the wrists, fingers and hands.
Exercises
If you are recovering from injury or simply overusing your hands on a daily basis, there are a few wrist strengthening exercises that you can easily add to your daily routine.
- Newspaper Roll – Top on the list of wrist strengthening exercises for many experts is the newspaper roll. You simply remove one page out of your newspaper and use one hand to hold onto it. Using only the tips of your fingers and not the rest of your hand, you will roll up the page into a tiny, tight ball. You will repeat the newspaper roll on each hand 10 times.
- Wrist Circles – These are an extremely effective wrist strengthening exercise. You will hold your arms out at shoulder height directly in front of you. Here you will make very large circles using your hands, taking caution to not move your arms at all. Repeat 25 repetitions one way and then another 25 repetitions in the opposite direction.
- Reverse Curls – A barbell is needed for these wrist strengthening exercises. You will begin by standing with your feet in line with your shoulders. Hold the barbell flat across your thighs and lift up the bar, aiming to meet your bicep with your forearm. Lower back down and repeat 2 sets of 10.
- Grabbers – Holding your arms at shoulder level out in front of you, open your fingers and then close them as quickly as you can. You should aim to begin with 20 repetitions to start and increase this daily until you reach 100 repetitions.
- Forearm Extension – This wrist strengthening exercise requires the use of a dumbbell. Place yourself on an exercise bench in a seated position and rest your left forearm on your left thigh. The dumbbell will ideally be hanging right over your knee. Without moving your forearm from your thigh, use your wrist muscles to raise the dumbbell up, pause and then lower back down. Aim to do 15 of these on each side.
- Forearm Flex – To perform these exercises you will want to assume the same seated position on the bench that you had for the forearm extension, only this time the palm of your hand will face upward instead. Be sure to not lift your arm up off of your thigh. Lower the dumbbell down as far as you can, pause and return back to the starting position. You will also aim to complete 15 of these on each side.
- Balls and Bands – There are many little gizmos on the market that are available to help with wrist strengthening. Even tennis balls, hand grips and rubber bands can be easily made into an exercise tool while you are at work sitting at your desk or home watching television.
A wrist strengthening exercise routine should be completed at least three times per week. Also, once you can comfortably complete the recommended repetitions, you can increase the number weekly.