Skinny wrists

[Sarduk]

I searched, I couldn't find anything (Except the "How big are your wrists" thread).

What exercises would thicken and more importantly (for me) strengthen my wrists? It seems they're not keeping up with the strength I am building in my arms through free-weight training

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

Same thing with me.

I can get my thumb and index finger around my wrist and it's constantly held me back.

These days I do wrist curl and rotation exercises with weights at the beginning of every session. Just twenty reps of each with a reasonably light weight.

Has taken some time, but it's worked very well for me.

 

[semi-pro waster]

A Powerball might help, supposed to be very good for forearm strength as well. You certainly feel the 'pump' after or at least I did until my flatmate nicked off with mine, the git.

 

[WantoN]

Id look into the types of grip you're using for excersises, do you vary it often?

I've found hammer and overhand grips excellent for improving wrist and grip strength Powerball is another excellent idea.

I don't consider wrist curls/rotations to be safe or sensible, so I'm not going to condone them

Ant

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

I don't consider wrist curls/rotations to be safe or sensible, so I'm not going to condone them

Even with reasonably light weight?

I'm not arguing, I'm after advice.

I use my powerball but I tend to find it's a sprint exercise rather than putting any stamina into my wrists and it was usually around the 8th rep (of 10) that my wrists would give out.

Edit: what's the issue with curls & rotations? It's the advice I was given by my former PT.

 

[Morba]

nothing wrong with sensible wrist curls and rotations.
they are great for the wrist, forearm and also then feeds into better curls and also back work :]

check this well old article from poliquin

 

[Irish_Tom]

I find that with things like deadlifts and benchpress I get 'the burn' in my wrists long before the rest of my muscles. This is good advice cheers.

Panzer

 

[Morba]

I find that with things like deadlifts and benchpress I get 'the burn' in my wrists long before the rest of my muscles. This is good advice cheers.

Panzer

I would be careful that thats not actually tendonitis

 

[Irish_Tom]

Could be right there mate, although it doesn't hurt during day-to-day activities. I've always assumed it was because my wrists were too skinny and couldn't keep up with the weight I was putting on the rest of my muscles... It's never been a problem when doing chins or press-ups just DL and BP... maybe it's poor technique but I hope not.

Panzer

 

[Badboy2k3]

You can't really make your wrists thicker as its all bone and not muscle, thats down to genetics. You can make your forearm bigger and improve your grip though.

 

[Sarduk]

You can't really make your wrists thicker as its all bone and not muscle, thats down to genetics. You can make your forearm bigger and improve your grip though.

Thanks for the reply, but I know this isn't true - a lot of individual run up (and down) your wrist.

 

[heeeed]

depends what you define as your wrist really. I would agree that there isn't much muscle mass at the wrist itself, its tendons etc that pass through the carpal tunnel. Obviously the distal forearm has muscle, but I would class that as forearm not wrist. A fat wrist is just that imo, fat.

 

[Mundu]

What about those captains of crunch some people have talked about on here. I can also put my index finger and thumb around my wrists.

 

[Archibald0]

when I started weightlifting I could place my hand round my wrist and my pinky and thumb could touch

But After months of deadlifting and bent over rows my wrists have thickened a good amount

 

[carvegio]

Why do you think your wrists are letting you down?

To be honest I doubt they are.

I would concentrate on big heavy compound movements and the wrists will take care of themselves. You will most likely just over train them with too many specific exercises.

Think of how much they are used in most pulling and pushing exercises. I mean how many guys do you know out there that lift big weights and have tiny wrists? Not many and to be fair most won't do that many wrist exercises.

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

Some of us just have thin wrists.

Mine were definately letting me down. If I was doing multiple sets I'd have to stop in say the second or third set of arm curls and stretch my forearms / wrist.

My wrists are still very thin and I can get my thumb and pinky around them , but my forearms have come on tremendously (considering I'm still not very big) and I don't have the problem any more.

 

[jamief]

Some of us just have thin wrists.

Mine were definately letting me down. If I was doing multiple sets I'd have to stop in say the second or third set of arm curls and stretch my forearms / wrist.

My wrists are still very thin and I can get my thumb and pinky around them , but my forearms have come on tremendously (considering I'm still not very big) and I don't have the problem any more.

Are you sure it isn't your grip which is letting you down? I.e. a combination of your forearm and hand strength? Your wrist itself is only a joint after all. Its like saying your elbows let you down when you're doing curls

 

[Ed]

I searched, I couldn't find anything (Except the "How big are your wrists" thread).

What exercises would thicken and more importantly (for me) strengthen my wrists? It seems they're not keeping up with the strength I am building in my arms through free-weight training

I'm assuming you're curling to build biceps and finding your thin wrists are struggling to cope with the weight your biceps can handle?!

You could isolate the exercise but you waste time not doing other, more productive things. Think laterally. Drop the curls and try bent over rows and close grip bench instead. You'll still develop your arms but not stress the wrist.

As with any joint, care is needed not to stress the supporting ligaments and tendons. Warm them up, stretch them, then work them (examples here). It's the forearm that will develop but it will use the wrist to support it and will get stronger accordingly.

Forget how big or small the wrist looks, focus on strength.

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

Are you sure it isn't your grip which is letting you down? I.e. a combination of your forearm and hand strength? Your wrist itself is only a joint after all. Its like saying your elbows let you down when you're doing curls

Yeah, it's forearm and grip, after all there is no muscle on your wrist (anyone feel free to correct me) but it's the ability to get my wrists to flex or remain stiff like I want them to that was the issue.

In this case differentiating between wrist and forearm is a little bit of semantics, the problem is the same, it's just people using different descriptions.

Anyway, if you've got problems with your wrists / forearms you need to exercise them one way or another until it's another thing that's holding you back.

 

[Sarduk]

I'm assuming you're curling to build biceps and finding your thin wrists are struggling to cope with the weight your biceps can handle?!

You could isolate the exercise but you waste time not doing other, more productive things. Think laterally. Drop the curls and try bent over rows and close grip bench instead. You'll still develop your arms but not stress the wrist.

As with any joint, care is needed not to stress the supporting ligaments and tendons. Warm them up, stretch them, then work them (examples here). It's the forearm that will develop but it will use the wrist to support it and will get stronger accordingly.

Forget how big or small the wrist looks, focus on strength.

Like I said in the first post, I feel like my wrists are getting left behind. Also, I am following Gordy's example training plain in the sticky.