Want Stronger Wrists? Start Here

Strength training is supposed to be challenging and sometimes it can feel downright uncomfortable when you push yourself, but you should never ignore the discomfort of weak or sore wrists for the sake of your workout.

Sore wrists or a lack of wrist strength are both incredibly common and can make it difficult to perform any exercise where you’re loading a lot of pressure or additional weight onto your wrists, such as tricep dips, push-ups, single-arm rows, barbell front squats or bicep curls. So, is the solution ditching your upper body workouts? Nope! It’s building your wrist strength and making effective substitutions whenever you need to.

If wrist issues are getting in the way of your training, your first port of call should always be a physio to check for any injuries or joint issues. They will be able to point you in the right direction when it comes to the best strengthening exercises for you, exercise substitutions and any movements to avoid altogether. If you’re after some simple wrist strengthening movements or easy exercise substitutions for some of the most common exercises that ask a lot of your wrists, we’ve got you covered.

If you're a Sweat member, there's also an amazing 30-minute session in the Sweat app focused on improving your wrist strength and flexibility.

6 wrist strengthening exercises

Wrist curl

This isolation exercise will help to strengthen the muscles around your wrist and forearm. Don’t worry about trying to lift heavy - you’ll only need very light dumbbells.

1. Hold a light dumbbell in each hand and kneel in front of a flat bench, resting your forearms on top of it with your hands off the edge of the bench and your wrists and fingernails facing upward. If you don’t have access to a bench, you can also perform this exercise one arm at a time using the edge of a table or sit down and rest your arms on your knees. No dumbbells on hand? Use cans or full bottles of water instead.

2. Keeping your forearms flat on the bench or table, slowly curl your wrist towards your face as far as you can, pause for a moment, then slowly uncurl your wrist to return to the starting position.

3. Repeat for 12-15 reps with control.

Reverse wrist curl

This exercise is almost exactly the same as a wrist curl, except you’re going to flip your hand over to target slightly different muscles. Again, you’re just using light dumbbells here.

1. Hold a light dumbbell in each hand and kneel in front of a flat bench, resting your forearms on top of it with your hands off the edge of the bench and your wrists and fingernails facing downward. If you don’t have access to a bench, you can also perform this exercise one arm at a time using the edge of a table or sit down and rest your arms on your knees.

2. Keeping your forearms flat on the bench or table, slowly curl your wrist towards your face as far as you can, pause for a moment, then slowly uncurl your wrist to return to the starting position.

3. Repeat for 12-15 reps with control.

Wrist rotation

Rather than lifting up and down, you’re now going to rotate your wrists inwards and outwards.

1. Hold a light dumbbell in each hand and kneel in front of a flat bench, resting your forearms on top of it with your hands off the edge of the bench and your wrists and fingernails facing upward. If you don’t have access to a bench, you can also perform this exercise one arm at a time using the edge of a table or sit down and rest your arms on your knees.

2. Keeping your forearms flat on the bench or table, slowly rotate your wrists inwards towards each out until they are facing downwards, pause for a moment, then slowly rotate your wrists outward again to return to the starting position.

3. Repeat for 12-15 reps with control.

Prayer stretch

No dumbbells, no problem. This wrist-strengthening exercise can be done anywhere, anytime.

1. Bring your hands together in front of your chest in a prayer position, palms and fingers pressing together.

2. Keeping your fingers pressed together, separate your palms and continue to push your fingers against each other for 15-30 seconds at a time.

Farmer’s carry

This is a great functional full-body movement that will strengthen your wrists while working on your grip strength and forearms, too.

1. Begin standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand by your sides in a neutral grip (palms facing towards your body). Select a weight that feels challenging without being uncomfortable.

2. Holding the dumbbells by your sides, engage your core and start to walk forward, keeping your chest proud and your shoulders back and down.

3. Walk for 30-45 seconds (depending on your strength), then have a short rest before repeating 4-8 times.

Plank

Holding a plank is a fantastic full-body strengthening exercise on its own, as well as being an essential foundation for so many other movements such as push-ups, mountain climbers, burpees and shoulder taps. If a plank (or any of those exercises) isn’t feeling so good for your wrists, start by reducing the difficulty and working your way up.

1. Instead of a high plank on your toes, start by performing a plank for 30-60 seconds, leaning against a wall to take some of the pressure off.

2. Once that feels easy, try a plank with your hands on the floor, but keep your knees on the ground for a modified version.

3. As your final progression, start to practice lifting your knees up and resting on your hands and feet only in your high plank position.

Wrist-friendly exercise alternatives

Some of the most common exercises we get asked about when the Sweat Community are looking for wrist-friendly alternatives are tricep dips, push-ups, single-arm rows and bicep curls. Don’t try to push through any discomfort, just swap these movements out for something that feels better for your body!

Here are the exercise substitutions Kayla suggests, and you can also use the exercise substitution feature in the Sweat app anytime an exercise isn’t right for you.

Tricep dip alternative?

Next time your workout calls for tricep dips, feel free to switch them for overhead dumbbell extensions.

Push-up alternative?

If push-ups are adding way too much pressure onto your wrists, flip yourself over and opt for a chest press instead.

Single-arm row alternative?

Resting one hand on a bench isn’t necessary if it’s not feeling good. Hold a dumbbell in both hands and go for a bent-over two-arm row instead.

Bicep curl alternative?

A flick of the wrist can be a total game-changer when bicep curls don’t work for your wrists. Instead of having your wrists face upwards, rotate your grip so your wrists face inwards and make sure you’re bringing your thumbs towards your face with each rep.

Support yourself

Just because your wrists are giving you grief doesn’t mean you have to abandon your upper body workouts. Swap exercises whenever you need to, listen to your body, and make your routine work for you.