Hey this is Rick Kaselj from ExercisesForInjuries.com. I got a question that ended up coming through customer support, “What to do if you get wrist pain when bench pressing”.
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There are three things that I recommend that you do. The first is starting off with some wrist mobility exercises and I will get Orsy to demonstrate the three of them.
Start off with circles or wrist circles.
#1 – Wrist Circles
Begin with small circles and moving to larger circles, going clockwise and counter clockwise with the mobility exercises in the wrist. Do this 5 times in each direction.
Wrist Circles
The second mobility exercise is going through flexion extensions.
#2 – Flexion & Extensions
Moving forward and back with the wrist. Extension or wrist back is the position that the bench press ends up putting the wrist in. Do this 5 times in each direction.
Flexion Extensions
#3 – Up & Down Wrist Movement
The third one ends up being just moving that wrist up (radial deviation) and down (ulnar deviation). Do this for 5 repetitions.
Up & Down Wrist Movements
With these 3 movements, we have loosened up that wrist and all the ranges of motion, now the wrist can move into a better position when doing the bench press.
The second thing that you can do is stretch out the forearms, I do two different stretches when it comes to the forearms.
#4 – Forearm Stretch
The arm is straight, then bring the wrist back, you are stretching out the forearm area. When it comes to stretching, I end up doing a 20 second hold and going through it twice and looking for a light stretch.
Forearm Stretch
#5 – Bent Arm Stretch
For the next stretch, bend your arm at the elbow and then bring the wrist back and stretch out the forearm. I find it targets the forearm muscles differently with the elbow straight than with that elbow bent.
#6 – Swap Out the Bar
The third thing that you can do with wrist pain and the bench press, is swapping out the regular bench press with the bar and swapping it out with a dumb bell bench press. The dumb bells allows your wrist to move into a better position which is less stressful on the wrist.
There you go! If you get wrist pain when doing the bench press give those three things a go. Work on the mobility in the wrist, work on stretching out the forearms and swap out the regular bar bench press with a dumb bell bench press.
This is Rick Kaselj from ExercisesForInjuries.com, saying take care and bye.
If you want to learn how to get back to pain free work outs check out Safe & Strong Seated Workout here:
Rick Kaselj, MS
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