Weak wrists/hands are hindering my lifts

[maddie121]

Hey all! I just want to introduce myself and say that these boards are sooo informative! If the general population were as interested in or dedicated to lifting as you all are, i think we'd have some happier/healthier people in this world!
Okay, enough of that...my problem is that my wrists seem to get really tired and start to hurt when I do exercises like bench press or bicep curls. They just feel really weak and start to affect my ability to press or curl the weights. I try to use proper form and i don't know what's up. Is this just my imagination or am I doing something stupid that's making this happen? Lol! I've been working on incr. my forearms w/ hammer curls using 3 diff grip positions. I'm not sure if this is gonna help or what.. Does this make any sense?

 

[MrMuscle]

i have weak wrists as well. i have them because of my job. they get stressed very much. so what ive done is eliminated all pressing movments with a barbell, because it puts a stress on my wrists that make it hurt. and ive started soing alot of wrist curls and reverse wrist curls. to work up the strenght and movability of the wrists. also, wear a wrist support of some sort when you train. to keep the ligaments and joints warm.

 

[Heavy Weight Champ]

I'm with Mr. Muscle on this. Do wrist curls, regular and reverse and start off light. do 3 sets of 12 with one day on 2 days off. You should notice a considerable difference in about a month or so. How long have you been training?

 

[maddie121]

i have weak wrists as well.

Aw geez! I thought it was something I was doing and not that i had "weak" wrists.

So what ive done is eliminated all pressing movments with a barbell, because it puts a stress on my wrists that make it hurt.

So you don't do E-Z bar curls or any type of bench press? What do you do instead?

 

[MrMuscle]

I do all my pressing movments with dumbbels instead..somehow this doesnt affect my wrists at all. i also do alot of curls with dumbbels, and instead of ez bar i use a regular barbell.

 

[maddie121]

I'm with Mr. Muscle on this. Do wrist curls, regular and reverse and start off light. do 3 sets of 12 with one day on 2 days off. You should notice a considerable difference in about a month or so. How long have you been training?

Well, I AM gonna get some wrist supports like Mr. Muscle suggested. And I guess I'll have to add the wrist curls to my workouts. A guy at the gym said the hammer curls would help and since I already do them...I thought I was set.

I started lifting last august and this wrist pain only pops up every once in a while. I've not been drinking enough water lately and today I was dehydrated and weak so my lifts weren't that great. Usually I ignore the wrist pain and just focus on the muscle I'm working, but weakness+wrist pain= Lol!

 

[MrMuscle]

wrist pains are the worst, cuz they limit you so badly. ive had mine a long while now..but i got laid off this week..so now im hoping they will heal faster.

 

[bignate73]

im curious to see how dbells make a difference over a straight bar. unless you are taking an overly wide grip on the bar. if you truly have weak wrists...then dbells should wear you out more due a dbell having the ability to rotate, twist, wobble etc, whereas a straight bar doesnt have as many planes it can move in.

get some wrist supports if you must, but keep in mind, you wont be signaling to your body that it needs to adapt. just delaying the process.

 

[ZZuluZ]

Start doing Deadlifts and Chins if you're not doing them....they'll give you a killer grip.

Farmer's hold and Bar hangs work very well as well.

Forearm curls will do little for your hand strength.

-Zulu

 

[Realgains]

Try doing pintch grip holds with a 45 pound plate...and hold very heavy D.B.'s for as long as possible

 

[gettinlarger]

my wrists will hurt a little doing straight bar curls as well. work on your form. make it perfect. im still tweaking mine a bit, and the wrist pain has gone down considerably, almost to none.