How To Strengthen Wrists | 12 Wrist Exercises For Quick Pain Relief & Bigger Muscles

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Have you been looking to improve and maintain the strength of your wrists? Choosing a wrist exercise program is the key. We have a list of step-by-step guide with simple exercises that you can perform comfortably in your home. Some of the exercises require just a small weight and a table where to place your forearm. Others are just basic stretches that need no equipment at all.

If you have wrist pains, and just want quick recovery perhaps, from surgery, exercise to flex can help. If you’ve got weak wrists or skinny forearms for fitness, and you dread holding up objects, we’ll show various wrist exercises you need.

Read through and learn how to strengthen wrists for fitness, quicken pain relief, even after you undergo wrist or hand surgery or grow wrist and forearm muscles. If you consider the many reasons why people have small wrists, you’ll know how important they need wrists exercises.

how to strengthen wrists - wrist exercises to make wrist stronger — wrist exercises to make wrist stronger

We have seen how finger stretches and hand exercises can make you get big hands for basketball, boxing, improved flexibility and reduce pains from arthritis. While some finger exercises and hand workouts strengthen and grow hand size, they also work on the muscles around the wrists.

Stretching and exercising of the muscles around the wrists will make your wrists more flexible and strong while eliminating stress injuries. Some fitness enthusiast has painful experience after working out or training. Their knuckles, fingers, and sometimes wrists pain after workouts.

People and experts who have had such hand or wrists injuries , have confirmed that wrist exercises and stretches can help you quickly recover your wrist range of motion and flexibility.

What is get purpose of wrist exercises?

Why should you do wrist exercises? Summarily, wrist exercises are an awesome way to increase and improve forearm, hand, finger and wrist flexibility. Wrist workouts also eliminate the risk of injuries and offers pain relief.

Exercises for wrist is something that I can’t recommend for people with serious inflammation, joint damages. Just think about the benefits of strong wrists –

Human wrists are made of very complex joints, with bones, tendons, muscles, and nerves. The hand, the fingers and the wrists movements are controlled right from forearms muscles. If these bones and muscles are weaker, you can strengthen them with exercises.

Some of the wrist exercises are perfect choice if you just suffered extremity painful injury or surgery and require physical therapy for quick recovery.

To actually be certain which wrist workout is best, meet your physical therapist to recommend some wrist strengthening exercises depending on the severity of your hand, wrist or forearm injury. At the least, this will help you to regain normal wrist and arm function.

To warm up or loosen up before workout
To increase wrist size if you have small wrists and can’t find suitable and best watches
To building wrist strength if you have weak wrists
Improve or recover your range of motion
Wrist workout builds or tone ore arm muscles and those around the wrists
Eases wrist pains from tougher gym training
Some exercises for wrists are cheaper than gym training. No need for expensive equipment.
Healthy joints – Both stretching and exercising increase the production of synovial fluid, which lubricates your wrist joints and helps improve their function.
Most wrists workouts contribute to making your forearm muscles mass larger. Here are other ways how to thicken forearms and get power biceps and triceps for fitness.

Wrists exercises for pain as a preventive measure

Some conditions can render the west weaker, less flexible, and with little range of motions, in addition to incessant pains. Exercises are one of the ways how to fix wrist pain. Wrist exercises help to prevent wrist and hands from:

Carpal tunnel syndrome
Ulnar tunnel syndrome
Sprains and tendonitis of finger, hand, wrist and forearm muscles
Boxer’s fracture
Smith’s fracture
Humerus fracture
Colles’ fracture
After shoulder, elbow, or wrist surgery

Doing wrists exercises after carpal tunnel surgery can facilitate recovery. If you understand the physiotherapy of wrist pain, you will acknowledge how effective wrist strengthening exercises after injury can be.

So can I do wrist exercises every day? Yes, doing wrist exercises and stretches daily will help prevent you from suffering most of the infections named above. Good wrist workouts and stretches will just prevent them from occurring.

Related: How to measure wrist size for watches, bracelet, bangles and smartwatch

wrist strengthening exercises — Img: Guide how to strengthen wrist for fitness, painful injury, wrestling, boxing

Tips when doing wrist exercises

Beginners should start with some simple stretches. The advantage is that the exercises can be done repeatedly and anywhere, with no additional equipment.

To avoid bruises during wrist exercises that require holding heavier or pulling objects, use wrist wraps.

People with inflammations and joint damages should meet doctors and health experts before engaging in any wrist exercises or stretches.

How often should you do wrist exercises?

On each wrist workout session, 5 repetitions of a single exercise is absolutely ok. You may progress to 7-10 repetitions as your artist strength increases. You can do 2-3 sessions each day continuously for 3-5 days in a week. The frequency depends on how comfortable you feel after each wrist training session.

When you engage in fitness exercises at home on how to make wrist stronger, you need to exercise patience, else you may give up too early. This goes same with working out to lose weight. You might be doing your fitness workout the wrong way and not getting any progressive results.

When you come up with a weekly schedule for your wrist training, stick to the wrist workout plan. If possible, consult a fitness expert.

How can I improve my wrist strength for fitness?

Exercises and stretches of your hands, forearm also improve wrist strength. The exercises tone the biceps, triceps forearm muscles which control wrist movement. Hand and finger bones are connected to the wrist too, so hand and finger exercises places additional flexibility on the wrist, while increasing its range of motion.

The good thing is that, these workouts do not just help you thicken your wrists muscles, they also make your wrist stronger. Wrists exercises are great ways how to strengthen wrists for boxing, rock climbing, basketball and general wrestling sports.

More importantly also, one of the benefits of strong wrist is evident in areas of lifting of weights. Strong wrist is helpful when doing gym squat, Dumbbells weight workouts, pulling or pushing rope exercises as you see in cable machine.

What are some wrist exercises?

Let us now check some of the best wrist workouts how to make your wrist strong. We have looked through, did extensive homework and here are good wrists workouts for you. What to do here is that you start up with wrist training that need no tools or equipment.

According to the morphology of your arm, Your wrist bones is connected to your hand and to your forearm. The exercises for wrist don’t depend of your wrist size, or bone length.

Your Wrist movements is significantly controlled by the forearm muscles and any weight you lift, any stretches or resistance you overcome with the hand or wrists, work greatly on forearm muscles.

If you have weak wrists and want to strengthen them, your every wrist exercise works a group of 18 forearm muscles. Not all of these muscles are torched a once, but each muscle in the forearm will be worked under some specific conditions.

How to make your wrist strong with wrist stretches — Img: Guide how to improve wrist strength with Wrist stretching exercises.

Stretch exercises – wrist strengthening exercises without equipment

looking for ways How to increase wrist strength at home or in the office, without equipment? Stretch Exercise to strengthen wrist are the cheapest, you are required not to buy any tool. Although they look pretty basic, they are great for warm-up before boxing games.

Performing this stretchy exercises work muscles around your wrist. This is a gentle way How to increase wrist size at home with no need for lifting weights or using forearm machines. Here are few stretch Exercises for wrists

1. Wrist flexor stretch

Extend your arm in front
Let the palm be open
Bend your wrist, such that your hand and fingers point downward to the floor
Bend the wrist farther until you start feeling a moderate stretch in your forearm
Hold the wrist in that bent position for 10-20 seconds
Repeat it for 3-5 times in one arm
try the same stretch on the other arm

2. Range of motion

Some exercises require repetitive motion of the hand. Range of motion is a kind of wrist stretching exercise to warm up. This can be pretty good prior to boxing games. You can do this range of motion exercises even for relaxation break.

Take a seat in a comfortable position
At the elbow, bend your arm
Rest the upper part of your arm, on your leg, table off workout bench.
Make a fist
Flex up your hand at the wrist, as far as you can, and flex down as far as you can comfortably try.
Repeat it 10 times, moving just your wrist back and forth, while making the motion smooth and continuous .
Maintain your hand in same position
Make wrist movement to the right, and then to the left as fast you can. Be careful not to be moving but your arm
Do the wrist move to let and right, up to 10 times, in as others, continuous motion.
Switch to your other hand and do the same set of exercises.

If these tools aren’t available, place the upper arm in your other hand. Note that you can also do this holding your hand in the air, with no support under your arm.

3. Loosen-up stretch

This is another ones the basic wrist workouts to flex fingers. The loosen up stretch is also another wrist training to loosen up your hands before start of exercising. Here is how take a good break to relax your wrists and hands with this stretch

Take a seating position comfortably
Bend your right arm at the elbow in a right angle.
Make a fist,
Slowly open the arm while spreading and stretching your fingers apart.
Repeat it 5-10 times
Do the same wrist stretch exercise on your left arm

4. Prayer stretch

On both arms, Ben the elbows
Bring your palms together like in a prayer session
Let your fingertips point up just below your chin
Lower your hand together, towards your waists
Stand with your elbows bent and palms together, fingertips pointing up at a level that’s just below your chin.
Lower your hands toward your waist, keeping your hands pressed together and close to your stomach.
When you feel a moderate stretch in the underside of your forearms, hold the pose for 30 seconds.
Repeat 2 to 4 times.

You’ll feel this stretch more if you can keep your fingers together. Your fingers will likely begin to bend as you move your hands lower.

5. Prayer stretch with steeple

Bend the elbows of your two arms
Bring your palms together in a prayer position
Open and spread your fingers as wide as you can.
While your fingers and thumbs are still touching, move your palms far apart
Keep it in that position until you fell finger stretch and tension in your wrist muscles
Do it 3-5 times in each wrist training session
Repeat this exercise about 2 times a day.

This finger, hand and wrist stretch exercise has many variations but it works arm muscles, hand muscles and those of the fingers.

Wrist exercises with equipment

Wrists stretches above do not need any tool or any fitness equipment. However, these exercises below need wrists equipment to develop strength, grow muscles stronger, tone biceps and triceps in the forearms, and make skinny wrists or hands fatter and muscular.

1. Ball squeeze strengthener

One of the best wrist strengthening get exercises is stress ball squeezing. Actually, You can do wrist strengthening exercise with any kind of ball, width a petite size like that of a tennis ball. It should just be small enough to fit the palms off you hand. Balls for squeeze hand exercises often comes in soft, medium, and hard strengths.

Img: Guide to Wrist strengthening exercises – How to improve wrist strength

Shop exercises balls online

Take a comfortable seat
Pick up and hold an exercise ball or putty in your right hand.
Wrap your fingers and thumb over the ball.
Squeeze the ball as hard as you are capable
While the soft ball is squeezed, hold it there for 5-10 seconds
Relax the grip slowly and repeat the workout 5-10 times
Switch to left hand and do the same exercise

2. Rubber band strengthener

Don’t ever underestimate rubber exercises, they work those finger and hand muscles that most other hand exercises can’t. One additional convenience doing resistance band hand and finger exercises is that you can do it while sitting at a desk, traveling or anywhere.

If you have got no finger bands, An ordinary rubber band can do the job.

Img: Guide how to make wrist stronger -with rubber bands

Loop your right hand fingers and thumb with the rubber band
Slowly open your hand, stretching out the top of your fingers and thumb against the band.
Slowly close your hand, and bring the fingers together in a gentle and motion controlled manner
Repeat the stretch and release exercise continuously for about 5-10 cycles
try the exercise on your left hand fingers and thumb.

You know, about five bones link your wrist to the hand and fingers. As you workout your fingers, your wrist muscles get stronger.

3. Wrist curls

Wrist curls is a strengthening exercise which you can do with a small weight under 5 pounds or with a clenched fist. If you’re on budget and must workout while holding a weight, a small water bottle Or lightweight food can is ok.

Besides, you can just raise your arms in the air and practice the wrist curls. If your health and physical condition allows it, you can do a wrist curls with both arms. However, you are just ok if you are exercising with one arm.

img: Guide for Strengthening wrists with dumbbells

Take a comfortable seat
Rest your arm on your knees with wrists hanging over the surface
Grab a weight with palms facing down
In a controlled motion, move your hand (holding weight) upwards as far as you can.
Slowly moved the hand back downwards as much as you can
Do the up and down movement 5-10 times
Repeat the wrist exercise with your palms facing upwards
When you have gained enough strength, add the weight in the hand.
Nor’easter he set to 15 times when you can

4. Resistance band exercises

Doing resistance band exercises are one of the best so simple but versatile strength training. The bands come in varied strength and you can increase the toughness of your resistance band workout as you have a good mastery on one.

Light resistance band training are greatly recommended for beginners, and for people who want to do physical therapy exercises after surgery like the carpal tunnel.

If you are training for sports or competition, heavier, and more resistant bands are the best choices. The resistance band wrist exercises work much, the flexor and the extensor muscles.

Img: Guide How to increase wrist strength with resistance bands exercises

Resistance band exercises 1

First, you need to Sit comfortably,
rest your arm on a table or workout bench, with your palm facing down and the hand hanging over the edge of the table
Secure end of the resistance band on the ground with your foot and wrap the other end around your hand to create some tension.
With the hand, Pull up against the resistance while extending your wrist as much as you can.
In a controlled motion, Slowly release the tension and come back down to the starting position.
Do the pull and release of the band in a cycle of 10 times.
Repeat the same workout with your other hand.
You can do the same wrist resistance band exercise, with your palms facing upward.

Shop Resistance bands online

Resistance band exercise 2

First Sit comfortably
Bring your arms close to your body, and bent them at right angles.
Grab the resistance band with both hands, and with palms facing downwards
In a slow but controlled motion, rotate your wrists to stretch the band, until your palms are facing upwards.
Hold your arms and elbows in position for 10-20 seconds.
Repeat the wrist stretching exercise a few times.

5. Grip strengthening To Increase wrist strength

The idea of hand grip strengtheners depends on a tool to create a measurable level of resistance for you to workout (pull or squeeze) against.
As a result, Grippers helps to empower weak wrist and they come in various levels resistances with varied tensions, like this Forearm grip workout, Finger Stretcher

As a beginner, you should always start with less tough grippers or one that’s not difficult to compress. Progressively, when the exercise with the easy gripper becomes easy, you can increase the gripper tension.

Some hand strengthener grippers needs that you provide over 360 pounds of pressure to close it. If you don’t have a grip strengthener, check the most preferable hand grip strengtheners online.

Note: To reap the benefits of grip strengthener, your arm should not be moving. Only your hand your move, to close and release the gripper.

img: Guide How to make your wrist strong with Hand Grip Strengthener, Finger Exerciser, Grip Strength Trainer – Forearm grip workout

Find somewhere to Sit comfortably
Bend your right arm at a right angle,
Let your palm be facing in, while you grab the gripper in the hand.
In a slow but controlled motion, Squeeze the strengthener and then release.
Perform the wrist strengthening exercises for up to 10-15 times.
Try this wrist workout to your left hand and repeat it.
Use high tension forearm and wrist grippers when you are comfortably doing 2 to 4 sets,

Some Wrist exercise equipment

There are so many types of strength training workout tools to get weak wrist stronger and to relief wrists and forearm of pains from injury. What ever type you choose to use, you would definitely get the benefits thereof.

If you are on cash trapped and on a tight budget, keep practicing the wrist stretches as seen above. And if you want to purchase one gear for wrist training, that is great, but keep doing a mix of wrist stretches and wrist exercises that use equipment.

Hand Grip Strengthener – Useful for forearm grip workout, and serves as a finger Stretcher too. It can relieve wrist and thumb Pain, carpal tunnel. It is also great for rock climbing.
Marcy Wrist and Forearm Developer/Strengthener – The best for home gym gear. It is a multi-coloured wedge
TheraBand FlexBar, Tennis Elbow Therapy Bar – Use to relieve tendonitis pain, improve grip strength. It serves as a resistance bar for Golfers elbow & tendinitis.
Exercise and Fitness Dumbbells – equipment for weight exercises. You can actually lift light weight or heavy weight dumbbells to train your forearm, wrists, and hands. These tools are perfect to get bigger wrists and muscular forearms.
Forearm Wrist Roller Blaster Exerciser – This is a wrist roller or forearm roller for training and workouts to get bigger forearm muscles, . In fitness, this tool helps to increase your arm strength. Its a great professional trainer for gym and home.
Pronation/Supination Wrist Exercise Wheel
Summermax Wrist Power Gyroscopic Ball– The best forearm exerciser for stronger arm, fingers and wrist bones.

Strength Training Arm Machines Strength Training Hand Strengtheners Strength Training Wrist Weights — img: Guide how to make wrist stronger – Strength Training with Wrist Weights equipment

Wrist exercises with Dumbbells

Dumbbells are versatile forearm and hand strengthening tool. You know, weight lifting is an ultimate way how to make wrist stronger and thicker. Wrist workouts with dumbbells are essential for athlete training in sports that involve throwing objects like baseball, tennis, or volleyball.

If you are one of them, just incorporate wrist strengthening exercises into your sport warm up or injury prevention strengthening program. Mountain climbing, rope exercises, golf swing, football goalkeeping are only effective if you have powerful strong wrists.

Where you lack dumbbell, a water bottle can do just great or, a resistance band is just the best alternative. Shop dumbbells online now

1. Wrist Extension With Dumbbell

You can also Strengthen wrist by extending it, with weights. Here is how to do this wrist strengthening exercise with a portable dumbbell. Follow these steps to improve your wrist strength:

sit in a chair and make sure you are comfortable
Have your forearm resting on a table with your wrist hanging over the edge of the table.
Grab 2-4 pound weight like s dumbbell in your hand with your palm facing downward
In a controlled motion, slowly lift the back of your hand upwards while your forearm remains on the table.
At full extension, maintain your wrist in that position for a 10-15 seconds,
Slowly lower your hand down.
Repeat this Wrist exercise with dumbbells for 10 to 15 times
Change your hand and perform the same workout with two to three sets.

2. Dumbbell Wrist Flexion – Wrist flexion with dumbbell

Another dumbbell exercise to grow forearm and wrist strength is the wrist extensions. Flexion wrist training dos not only tone muscles, it build stronger muscles around weak wrists. Let us see how to workout your wrists with Dumbbell Wrist Flexion

Place your forearm on the table and rotate your hand to let the palm face upward into the ceiling or sky
With forearm against the table, flex your wrist upward with hand palm moving upward
Hold the position for 5 seconds when the wrist is in full stretch
In a controlled motion, slowly lower hand , returning it to the starting position.
Repeat the wrist flexion exercise 2-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions.
Try another wrist

3. Wrist Supination With Dumbbell

Wrist supination works on the bicep muscles to help in turning your wrist so that the hands palm faces upward. While this wrist weight exercise works on your upper arm muscles, thy also torch smaller muscles in the forearm. To grow thicker muscles, you can keep on performing this wrist and forearm exercise 2-3 sets every day per week. In practice, wrist supination exercise and wrist pronation exercise are often combined in a single session.

Check Supination wrist exercise wheel

Sit comfortably to perform this exercise
set your right forearm to rest on a table surface such that the wrist hangs over the table edge.
Hold a small weight like an under 5-pound dumbbell in the right hand.
Let one one end of the dumbbell be in your palm, like a hammer.
In a controlled motion, Slowly allow your hand and wrist to rotate, lifting your palm upward
Hold the weight in a lifted position for a 10 seconds,

To further workout your wrists – build forearm muscles, and strength:

Slowly rotate your hand back so that the weight is held straight up in your hand
Allow your hand and wrist to slowly turn over so that your palm faced downward to pronate.
Hold the weight in that position for 5-10 second before you slowly rotate the hand back up
Try 10-15 repetitions

4. Wrist Pronation With Dumbbell

This forearm exercise helps to strengthen your wrist pronators. Here is how to improve or increase your wrist strength.

Check Pronation wrist exercise wheel

sit in a comfortable chair
Rest your forearm supported on th surface of a table so that your wrist and hand hang over the edge.
Grab one end of a 3-5pound dumbbell
Let the weight be pointing up towards.
In a controlled motion, slowly rotate your hand until your wrist and palm face downward towards the floor.
Maintain the grip in this position for a 5-10 seconds,
Slowly rotate your hand and the weight back – with the weight pointing up towards.
Again, Slowly rotate your wrist into supination for the palm to face up
With hands palm looking up, hold this position for 5-10 seconds, before a slow return to the starting position.
Do 2-3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.

If you have an injury in your wrist, elbow, or shoulder, these wrist dumbbell workout is a perfect physical therapy to improve arm, wrist, hand and finger range of motion and strength. In you want to the best Wrist exercises for pain relief, you need to include this dumbbell Wrist strengthening exercises into your physical therapy program. Experts recommend it as an important component of arm, wrist and hand rehab after an injury.

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Wrist exercises for carpal tunnel

What exercises help for carpal tunnel syndrome?There arr few wrist exercises you can do to ease carpal tunnel syndrome. You can get relieved of the mild or moderate symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, just with few of the simple wrists and hand exercises.

This does not mean wrist workouts are the only therapy for carpal tunnel or exercises to prevent carpal tunnel.

The best way to get rid of the carpal tunnel pains is to mix these wrist physical therapy exercises with the treatments. Just avoid wrist fitness exercises that put much strain on your hand and wrist.

According to experts, doing hand exercises for carpal tunnel syndrome, is like heading to the gym to lose weight. Don’t over train, where your wrist or hands hurt, take a break and don’t push too hard to make your symptoms much worse.

If you are suffering from carpal tunnel and you are not so sure of which wrist and hand exercise is right for you, visit your doctor or a physiotherapist.

1. Shake It Out

Don’t ignore because this shake out exercises is super easy. Shaking your hand or wrist eases pains when symptoms of carpal tunnel get worse. It is possible that your hand can get numbness, but shaking it provides some relief.

2. Basic Wrist Stretches

Sit down at a chair.
Rest your forearm(elbow and arm) on the table surface
Your wrist and hand should hang over the table edge with the palm of your hand facing upward.
Set your hand in a straight position.
Bend your hand toward your body, letting your fingers point up toward.
Hold it there for 5 -10 seconds before you return to the neutral position
Next, bend your hand away from your body, allowing your fingers to move down toward the floor.
Hold the hand there for 5-10 seconds before returning to straight position
Repeat the wrist training for about 10 times and switch hands
Recommended frequency of the carpal tunnel wrist workout – 3 times daily and every day a week.

3. Wrist Flex and Extend

Another carpal tunnel relief exercise is the flex and extend, which does not put any harmful strain on your hand and wrist. Let us se how to do this hand exercise to prevent carpal tunnel.

Hold your arm flat and straight in front, at the level of your chin
make sure wrist and hand are straight with hands palm facing downward.
Bend your wrist downward, allowing your fingers to point toward the floor.
With the other hand, pull the fingers to increase the stretch toward your body.
Hold it at that position for 30-45 seconds.
Return to a neutral position where hand and wrist were straight, with palm facing down.
Next, bend your wrists and hand, allowing your your fingertips directed toward the sky/ceiling.
With the other hand, slowly pull the fingers towards your body
Repeat the training for 30-45 seconds
Practice it 3 times a day, everyday pr week

4. Wrist Resistance

Resistance band stretching can deal away with painful injuries, and symptoms of carpal tunnel. You can also try working out with light weight bands after you undergo carpal tunnel surgery. Follow these steps for this carpal tunnel therapy exercises.

Sit down at a comfortable position.
Place your forearm on a table or work bench surface
Allow your palm of the hand and wrist affected by carpal tunnel syndrome to face downward .
At right angle, lay your other hand across the knuckles so that the hands make a “+” sign.
Lift up the hand at the bottom but resist with your top one- this is the muscles of your forearm.
Repeat a 3-5 times a day.

Others wrist strengthening carpal tunnel exercises include

Wrist Curl exercises to avoid carpal tunnel,
Nerve gliding exercises for carpal tunnel,
tendon gliding exercises for carpal tunnel
yoga exercises for carpal tunnel syndrome
and Hand Squeezes for Grip Strength – Squeezing a pair of balled-up socks or a soft rubber ball, grippers.

If you have taken an surgical method to cure the carpal tunnel, check from your doctor if you can do these wrist training exercises to increase strength and relief pains on the arm with carpal tunnel. He will recommend you some recovery and best therapy exercises after carpal tunnel surgery.

If you wanty more clarification on skinny wrists, check these small wrists generally asked questions.

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