weak wrists...

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ive noticed when benching and ohping my wrists tend to lean/bend back to my head instead of being straight. when that happens the lift gets ackward/hard. is there anything i can do ti stengthen my wrists? i know i need to focus more while doing lifting.
 
Do a search for "thick bar" and "bending". Both are great ways to thicken up your wrist.
 
I agree, start working your grip often. Get rid of straps on lifts (if you are currently using them) and let your hands and wrist develop some strength of their own. Learn how to bend as it has been written many times on these threads refering to the great development it produces in your wrists and in your lower arms. Try these thing for a while and i bet the problem will start to vanish in a bit of time.
 
When you bench, make sure the bar is more in the middle of your hand and that your thumb is around the bar and you are squeezing it like you want to brake it during your lift.

Investing in a clubbell or Kettlebell will do wonders for your wrist.

www.gripboard.com has plenty of info for grip work.

You cannot just blast in doing Bending work. Its very brutal and very easy to over train. Ease into it like everything else. Grip board will help for that.

Wrist curls, Olympic Lifting will surely strengthen your wrists.
 
sledge levering. There are many things you can do.

Get a 6 or 8 lb sledge. Don't go too heavy, you'll regret it. Your wrist has only 4 motions Backwards (extension), forwards (flexion), thumbways (radial deviation), and little finger ways (ulnar deviation).

Grab your sledge and just start doing reps with those 4 motions. Then you can make little figure 8 motions, and a hell of a lot of other things. Just play around with it.
 
Rjkd12 said:
sledge levering. There are many things you can do.

Get a 6 or 8 lb sledge. Don't go too heavy, you'll regret it. Your wrist has only 4 motions Backwards (extension), forwards (flexion), thumbways (radial deviation), and little finger ways (ulnar deviation).

Grab your sledge and just start doing reps with those 4 motions. Then you can make little figure 8 motions, and a hell of a lot of other things. Just play around with it.
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I second this. Sledge levering is awesome for wrist strength.

BTW, Rjkd12, what happens if you go 'too heavy' on levering? Does it just wear your wrist out or something? Like, I am currently doing 10.5 lbs on the end of a 3' bar with my right hand (8.75 w/ left), but I haven't had any problems...just asking
 
Diligent said:
I second this. Sledge levering is awesome for wrist strength.

BTW, Rjkd12, what happens if you go 'too heavy' on levering? Does it just wear your wrist out or something? Like, I am currently doing 10.5 lbs on the end of a 3' lb bar with my right hand (8.75 w/ left), but I haven't had any problems...just asking
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Nothing would be bad really. Since your wrist is made to go only in four motions, I would keep the heavy levering to those 4 and don't rotate. I wouldn't go heavy at all for figure eights and things like that since you can easily mess up your wrists since they are not made to withstand a lot of force in those directions.

When I said don't go to heavy, I meant don't go out and buy a 12 lb sledge. I levered a 8 once or twice to my face so I went and got a 10 lber, almost got a 12. I was so close to buying a 12 (figured I'd just choke up and work my way down), but I decided not to. I think even the 10 was too much, since it took me a while to be able to lever it. I should have gotten the 8 and worked with that, then gotten a 10. If I had gotten the 12 I wouldn't have been able to move it. Also, I am only talking about levering to the face. My 10 is a bit awkward to choke up on for front levering and doing things to the side.
 
Yess Great posts guys, Im sure levering would be excellent for wrist and overall hand development for anyone but especially before moving on to more advanced exercises. Good call.
 
Rjkd12 said:
Nothing would be bad really. Since your wrist is made to go only in four motions, I would keep the heavy levering to those 4 and don't rotate. I wouldn't go heavy at all for figure eights and things like that since you can easily mess up your wrists since they are not made to withstand a lot of force in those directions.

When I said don't go to heavy, I meant don't go out and buy a 12 lb sledge. I levered a 8 once or twice to my face so I went and got a 10 lber, almost got a 12. I was so close to buying a 12 (figured I'd just choke up and work my way down), but I decided not to. I think even the 10 was too much, since it took me a while to be able to lever it. I should have gotten the 8 and worked with that, then gotten a 10. If I had gotten the 12 I wouldn't have been able to move it. Also, I am only talking about levering to the face. My 10 is a bit awkward to choke up on for front levering and doing things to the side.
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I'd still be careful about overtraining. I developed severe tendinitis in my triceps from overtraining as a swimmer, and I NEVER want that shit again.
 
ya...i had (and still do, to some extent) elbow tendonitis, from training for the one arm chinup, wow...the pain
 
Rjkd12 said:
Nothing would be bad really. Since your wrist is made to go only in four motions, I would keep the heavy levering to those 4 and don't rotate. I wouldn't go heavy at all for figure eights and things like that since you can easily mess up your wrists since they are not made to withstand a lot of force in those directions.

When I said don't go to heavy, I meant don't go out and buy a 12 lb sledge. I levered a 8 once or twice to my face so I went and got a 10 lber, almost got a 12. I was so close to buying a 12 (figured I'd just choke up and work my way down), but I decided not to. I think even the 10 was too much, since it took me a while to be able to lever it. I should have gotten the 8 and worked with that, then gotten a 10. If I had gotten the 12 I wouldn't have been able to move it. Also, I am only talking about levering to the face. My 10 is a bit awkward to choke up on for front levering and doing things to the side.
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Yeah, I definitely NEVER rotate with the 10.5lbs. I don't think I'd even do that with an 8lber to be honest, but that's just me. I usually just keep it to the 4 diferent directions in which way the bar is pointing.

WAR levering!!! :D
 
Clay Edgin and Bob Lipinski have been racing.

Clay just did 18.5 and Bob's done 17 and claims he'll top clay here soon.
 
CarnalSalvation said:
Clay Edgin and Bob Lipinski have been racing.

Clay just did 18.5 and Bob's done 17 and claims he'll top clay here soon.
Click to expand...

I wonder if they'll ever get close to Slim 'The Hammer Man'...
 
Rjkd12 said:
Nothing would be bad really. Since your wrist is made to go only in four motions, I would keep the heavy levering to those 4 and don't rotate. I wouldn't go heavy at all for figure eights and things like that since you can easily mess up your wrists since they are not made to withstand a lot of force in those directions.

When I said don't go to heavy, I meant don't go out and buy a 12 lb sledge. I levered a 8 once or twice to my face so I went and got a 10 lber, almost got a 12. I was so close to buying a 12 (figured I'd just choke up and work my way down), but I decided not to. I think even the 10 was too much, since it took me a while to be able to lever it. I should have gotten the 8 and worked with that, then gotten a 10. If I had gotten the 12 I wouldn't have been able to move it. Also, I am only talking about levering to the face. My 10 is a bit awkward to choke up on for front levering and doing things to the side.
Click to expand...

Is there anything all that wrong with working your way down? I went to the hardware store and bought the heaviest sledgehammer I would find (18 lbs). When I first started, I could barely move it if my hand was more than a few inches from the head, but I've been moving down fairly steady. Nonethless, the thing is far too heavy for me to use from the end of the handle. Would it be better to get an 8 lb sledge and work up to the 18 pounder?
 
morganfreeman said:
Is there anything all that wrong with working your way down? I went to the hardware store and bought the heaviest sledgehammer I would find (18 lbs). When I first started, I could barely move it if my hand was more than a few inches from the head, but I've been moving down fairly steady. Nonethless, the thing is far too heavy for me to use from the end of the handle. Would it be better to get an 8 lb sledge and work up to the 18 pounder?
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No, there is nothing wrong if you like doing that. I personally don't like it for two reasons.

First is maybe you can lever it to your face with your and 1/8 of the way down, but what about a front lever? Levering to the sides? Those you are MUCH weaker than the levering to your face and will have to choke up even more. When moving it from side to side and stuff the end of the handle gets in the way. It is just kinda annoying to have so much sledge on the other side.

Second is you will be able to movee your hands down a 18 lb sledge quickly, but each inch further inreases the torque quite a bit. Mainly you might get 3/4 down the way and then not move for a while. Its just discouraging. I think an 8 would be better, so then you can do reps with it, maybe do two eights at a time, play with it more.

This is just my opinion though. I personally would work my way up. And if you are short on cash you can just slide a 2.5 weight plate down and duct tape it for the next level up. Nothing is wrong with working your way down though.
 
Diligent, once I found out how much those hoss' were levering, I asked that same question, and both of them balked at the idea.

Slim is out of this world in terms of levering by pretty much everyones standards.
 
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