Wrists Strengthening

[Sailor Venus]

Is there any drills or conditioning exercises for strengthening the wrists? I can't seem to counter balance my handstand due to weak wrists. Whenever I try to dig my fingers into the floor to stop myself from falling over forward, I can't as my wrists aren't strong enough so the inevitable happens.

[Blairbob]

Takes time basically.

Rice bucket conditioning.

[yuri marmerstein]

Work my handstand wall balance drill(there is a thread somewhere) very gently so you can have more precision balancing. This way when you shift the weight to your fingers you can control the amount of shift. When I balance, I can completely relax my fingers if I want

but yes, getting strong wrists will take some time. Just be diligent with your prehab and training

[yuri marmerstein]

the russian hand balancers literally do no extra wrist strengthening or prehab. Just years of standing on their hands

[Joshua Naterman]

What worked for me was doing most of my pulling with fingers only. Deadlifts, pull ups, rows. No palm on the bar or whatever else I was holding.

Takes time to get used to, but builds enormous strength in the long run.

[yuri marmerstein]

There is also one method I messed with a while ago where every day you do a handstand endurance set on floor but with your fingers elevated. So palms on the floor but with the fingers over a thin mat.

It was an interesting method; helps stretch the wrists and fingers specifically for the handstand.

[Aaron Griffin]

I kinda like slowly "rocking" from a downward dog to planche lean position as best I can. I use this as a warmup, as it covers all the bases quite well.

[Sailor Venus]

Thing is that what I realised is, I spent the last nine months (or even more!) using my hands wrongly. I rested most of the weight on the heel of my hand instead of the centre of it. And used the rest of the hand for counter balancing (if I fall forward press my hands, if I fall backwards relax my hands). Now I know it should be on the centre of my hands. Its probably no wonder why my wrists are weak.

As for handstand push ups, I had no idea that hands should be in front of my shoulders until recently. They were beside my head as if I'm doing a normal handstand. Aww shit! And only god knows what muscles are being conditioned wrongly! I feel stupid!

  Joshua Naterman said:

What worked for me was doing most of my pulling with fingers only. Deadlifts, pull ups, rows. No palm on the bar or whatever else I was holding.

Takes time to get used to, but builds enormous strength in the long run.

Same for me, I curl my fingers all the time to grip barbells and high bars/uneven bars. I don't like using palms anyway as excess skin gets in the way and get squashed. Still wasn't sufficient enough to help myself counter balancing my handstand.

[Joshua Naterman]

Everyone's different!

I have always been a bit on the strong side, so it is not surprising that what is enough for me is not enough for others.

[acrobatlegend]

Break-dance really strengthened my wrists. Break-dance revolves around constantly being on your hands, but not necessarily in a handstand. After years of that, my wrists have become super tough.

But I cannot stress enough how important it is to be patient with this. It will take time, years (1 to 2 years for example) to get strong wrists. You can't rush it. It will come naturally if you just put it out of your mind and continue with your training. This is why break-dance works, because you are focusing on other things, not your wrists. And the time passes quickly.

But sitting there trying to exercise just your wrists is like waiting for a pot to boil. It is boring and you won't be motivated to do it. Find something else to work on and let the wrists strengthen naturally.

[DanPlanche]

I am curious does anyone measure their wrist? Mine is about 7.5 inches, which is fairly decent for my weight of 80kg, my father has 9 inch wrists, very strong, wondering if wrist strength is genetic? But can definitely be improved by conditioning the bone.