Ouch!!

liezelcha

OK I'm finding that I can lift more weight than my wrists can comfortably support. Do I reduce the weight until my wrists get stronger? Or do I wrap them? Or is there another solution? I'm using slow and controlled movements and I'm watching my form. Everything seems good except for weak wrists. It's not unbearable but I don't want it to get worse. Any suggestions?

irridia

depending upon the pain, try gripping harder, don't do isolation exercises and as an example with bench presses simultaniously grip harder and try to pull the bar apart as you lift. same for bent rows. make certain during your lifts that you aren't either curling the wrists under (rows) or letting them bend to far back ( presses) I was near carpal tunnel until I started doing compound lifts and despite my expectations, my wrists actually got better.

Cathleenr

OK I'm finding that I can lift more weight than my wrists can comfortably support. Do I reduce the weight until my wrists get stronger? Or do I wrap them? Or is there another solution? I'm using slow and controlled movements and I'm watching my form. Everything seems good except for weak wrists. It's not unbearable but I don't want it to get worse. Any suggestions?

do you notice it more on pushing or pulling motions?
if its pushing (like bench presses, for example), it may be your form. keep your wrists straight. if you cant do that, it may be too heavy. if its more problem pulling the weight toward you, try straps, which use more of your shouldser and arms instead of your hand grip and wrists to engage the weight.

gmann1973

I use wrist wraps when I go heavy, but you can do wrist curls to make them strongr

trelm249

Sounds like you forearms need some work. They play a big role in your grip.

Lay off the isolation moves and step away from the machines for a while. The machines tend to isolate the larger muscles and as a result the support muscles lag behind.

Compound moves with dumbbells for upper body work will get your grip stronger and teach you better control. Don't compare dumbbell weights and barbell/machine weights. It is not an apples to apples. For example, I bench 215 on the barbell for 8 reps on a working set. However with the dumbbells I only use the 70lb dumbbells for the same set and it is more intense.

Also throw in dead lifts and romanian dead lifts for lower body. These will help build your forearm/wrist/grip strength quite a bit.

garlic7girl

Push-ups too. They build up the wrists!

liezelcha

Thanks everybody I'll look a little closer at what I'm doing.

Nirlbou

Baby it for a bit. the few weeks it will set you back is nothen to the 9-12 months the tear and surgery will do to you. If you do wraps.. think of them like a crutch. set a 4 week limit on them and then put them up.