5 exercises to strengthen your wrists
What's the story
Take a break from your leg day and make it a wrist day.
Wrist exercises are critical for muscle movement and flexibility, especially if your work involves a lot of typing.
Your wrist connects your forearm to your hand and that joint needs to stay loose.
Get yourself acquainted with these simple wrist exercises that you can do anytime anywhere.
Exercise 1
Opening and closing fists
Rest one arm on a table as you do for an arm wrestle. Then make a fist.
Slowly open your fist then extend your fingers as far as you can comfortably, then make a fist again.
Repeat this 10 times and then switch arms.
This exercise improves hand flexibility and strength while giving a tiny stretch to all your fingers.
Exercise 2
Wrist curls
You can perform this exercise with a dumbbell, or simply with bodily resistance.
Sit and hold your arm at 90 degrees with your palm facing up. You can rest your arm on your leg.
Curl your wrist up. Return the wrist to the starting position.
Repeat it 10 times and then switch arms.
Remember to keep your arm and shoulder still while doing it.
Exercise 3
Prayer stretch
Stand with your elbows bent and press your palms together, fingertips up, just below your chin, like you are praying.
Keeping your fingers together, lower them until you feel a stretch along the insides of your arms.
You can allow your palms to separate but do keep your fingers together. Hold it for 30 seconds.
Repeat two to four times.
Exercise 4
Rotations
Sit with your arms bent to 90 degrees, and forearms out in front of you with palms facing down.
Hold out your hand as if you were holding something.
Slowly rotate your hands so your palms face up. Then slowly rotate your palms back to the starting position. Repeat this 10 times.
You can also try this with dumbbells or resistance bands.
Exercise 5
Squeeze balls
This is another simple exercise that you can perform while sitting or standing.
Grab a tennis ball, stress ball, towel, hand grip exerciser, or anything that you can squeeze and hold it with your palms facing up.
Squeeze the stress ball as hard as you can for 3 seconds. Then slowly release your grip.
Repeat 10 times, then switch hands.