Basic Calisthenics Workout Plan for stronger wrists

You know you can’t deny it…

You dream of doing handstands, planches and elbow levers.

In fact, the thought of doing all that stuff is what motivates you to keep training, day in day out.

After all, those are the moves that will bring you to the realm of mastery.

 

The reality is different, simply standing on your hands for 10 seconds seems impossible.

Let alone doing a full planche or an elbow lever and even doing push ups hurts your wrists like hell.

Wrist injuries are always around the next corner, waiting like a sniper, ready to shoot into your wrist.

So how do you master those moves and at the same time dodge those injuries?

 

One way to do it is by trial-and-error, hoping that some day you will finally have the strength you need and getting injured because really have no idea what you are doing.

Good luck with that.

A smarter way is to look at what you can do to increase your strength and prevent injuries while training all those moves.

Becoming even better than the people who are doing it right now.

If you want to discover what you can do to both become bulletproof and at the same time develop the strength for more advanced moves, you need to look no further.

 

 

The Full Dynamic Wrist Exercise Routine

 

These specific wrist exercises can be done in addition to your regular training program, especially if you are experiencing wrist issues.

While these exercises might hurt at first, it’s this small amount of controlled pain which will eventually prevent bigger amounts of pain.

In addition to this, these are definitely useful to add to your regular warming up routine if you are focusing on hand balancing exercises or more advanced pushing work.

It will make all the difference in the world.

 

Note: All these exercises should be started on the knees first. As you progress you can move on to a full push up position. With these exercises it is very important to start with some light stretching as shown in the warming up guide. The benefits are huge, but don’t rush it and start off on a softer surface. 

 

 

Fin Push Up

 

 

Main goal: Wrist strength and flexibility

 

1) Start on your knees.

2) Move the palm of your hands inward and turn your wrists outwards.

3) Slowly get into a slightly wider than shoulder width push up position and do a regular push up.

4) Experiment with placing your wrists in different positions.

5) Repeat for 5 reps of 5 sets.

 

 

First Knuckle Push Ups

 

 

Main goal: Wrist strength

 

1) Start on your knees.

2) Place your hands flat on the floor.

3) Push yourself up from the first knuckles.

4) Keep your elbows locked.

5) Repeat for 5 reps of 5 sets.

 

 

Side Wrist Push Ups

 

 

Main goal: Wrist strength and flexibility

1) Start on your knees

2) Make two fists with your hands.

3) Flatten your hands by turning your wrist upwards.

4) Keep your arms straight while you push yourself up from the wrist.

5) Repeat for 5 reps of 5 sets.

 

 

The Wrist Roll

 

 

Main goal: Wrist strength and flexibility

 

1) Start on your knees.

2) Make two fists with your hands.

3) Move your body weight to the front and at the same time roll your wrists to the ground.

4) Slightly bend your arms and bring the wrists back until your pinky is flat on the ground.

5) Repeat for 5 sets of 5 repetitions.

 

 

Finger Walk

 

 

Main goal: Finger strength and grip strength

 

1) Start on your knees.

2) Spread your fingers and point them down.

3) Walk on your fingers by slowly shifting your weight from your left side to your right side.

4) Repeat for 5 sets of 10 repetitions.

 

If you do these wrist exercises on a consistent basis, the trade-offs will be huge.

At the same time, if done incorrectly you can completely nullify all the benefits.

Keep this in mind while doing these exercises and you will end up doing stuff with your wrist that would break other people’s wrist by only looking at it.

 

 

Bulletproof Your Wrists And Increase Your Strength

 

Balancing, inversions and any type of pushing exercise requires strong wrists, and we’ve only scratched the surface.

But now you should know enough to check whether your wrists have any strength and how much room there is for improvement.

So ask yourself, am I really ready for those moves? Are my wrist joints strong enough?

 

Is it important to show people all those fancy moves once and end up injured for 7 days?

Or is it more useful to first prepare your wrists for anything that might occur?

Now you’re equipped with the knowledge you need, weak wrists will become a thing of the past.

It’s something most people won’t even pay 1 minute of attention to and then end up complaining about wrist pain.

 

Bulletproof wrists are not out of your reach.

And the next time a wrist injury shoots at you.

You dodge it.

 

Beast mode ON!

 

PS. These drills have been inspired by Rafe Kelley, Steven Low, Christopher Sommer and Ido Portal

 

 

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  1. Hey Rich, back for some questions if you dont mind 🙂

    I just recovered from the stomach flu today and had my first real meal in 3 days since Monday, today is Wednesday. My question is, I tried some explosive push ups, some pull ups and some lever work and I gotta say, I am significantly weaker than before my illness. That’s understandable but greatly frustrating, because I worked really hard for my progress, and now I have regressed. So how should I go about my training to get back to my previous strenght levels? Please get back to me ASAP.

    1. Hey Ista!

      Haha, you are always welcome to ask your questions ;).

      Happy to hear that you have recovered. You need to realize that your body most likely took quite a hit and used up all it’s energy to get you healthy again, meaning your immune system has been running around like crazy. That’s why you feel tired and are out of energy. While you were laying down and felt like doing nothing, your body was actually doing a 24 hour workout session, so give your body time to recover.

      Sometimes you need to take 1 step backward to take 2 steps forwards, we all go through these situations and guess what…it will happen more than once. There are always people out there who are worse off, be happy you can workout again, just 3 days bro ;), nothing to worry about. Imagine being injured for a year or more.

      So to make my point, give your body time, it might take you a week or two to get back to your strength levels, but you will be wiser, hungrier and more ready for if it happens again. That my friend is also part of becoming stronger ;).

      Beast mode ON!

  2. Hey Rich,

    I recently started calisthenics training and am trying to work up to the beginner bar brother requirements, and find your posts so informative and helpful – thanks so much for all your efforts! The last while I have started with progressions toward the planche, and while doing frog stands an old wrist injury flared up again – stiff and sore wrist with pain transferring up to my shoulder, weakened grip, noticeable weakness in gripping and turning door knobs etc. It is feeling quite a bit better after some days of rest, but I am worried about hurting it again as it took me almost 2 years to get better the last time I hurt it (because I was impatient and kept using it). As I understand now, when the ligaments are hurt it can cause subtle realignments of the small wrist bones that can lead to permanent joint damage. You mentioned that you broke your wrist previously, what would you recommend – should I go to physio, orthopaedic doctor, or some other avenue to properly diagnose and treat this? Who / what did you find most helpful in your journey to recovering your wrist strength and mobility? Thanks so much, and thoughts would be appreciated!

    1. Hey Oli,

      Thanks for your message!

      Aaah, this unfortunately happens too much. I have made the same mistake many times, jumping into the ‘cool’ stuff because it’s what would make me look cool instead of doing the boring stuff first that will allow me to do the cool stuff :P.

      When you jump into planche training, the wrists need to be strong. Let me ask you this question: “How often do you warm up your wrists?”

      Honestly, those dynamic exercises? If I’d show them to your average physio, he would tell me I’m nuts, but if you feel overwhelmed, it’s definitely useful to contact a professional.

      So how do you build stronger wrists?

      Warm up your wrists EVERY SINGLE session where you use them. I mean EVERY single session, the wrist joint is a very injury prone joint, simply because it has a big range of motion and consists of tons of small bones and ligaments. Even with the strength to do these dynamic exercises, if I don’t warm up with these and the warm up guide stretches, prior to my planche training (my wrists hurt too the next day). Now if you do planche training with weak wrists and NO warming up, that’s an injury waiting to happen.

      It’s doing the warming up every time (http://www.barbrothersgroningen.com/bar-brother-calisthenics-warm-up/) and incorporating the wrist exercises (Of course start on your knees first, build them up slowly). And lastly, start adding some passive hanging to your training, this will strengthen your lower arm, which will improve your grip/wrist strength too.

      Keep me updated.

      Beast mode ON!

      1. Hey Rich,
        Wow, thanks bro for the quick and super helpful reply – you are a legend! I haven’t been doing the warm-ups enough, and you’re so right, failure to do them is a wrist injury waiting to happen! I’m going to do them from now on! Have also started the passive hangs.
        Thanks again for all the info – your videos and blogs are incredibly helpful and informative! 🙂

        Blessings,
        Oli

        1. Hey Oli,

          Haha, you are more than welcome!

          I know what it’s like to have a wrist injury so I know how you feel :D.

          It means a lot to me to receive such a message, so thank you too for asking my help. It’s always a priviledge. And keep me updated on your progress, I’m sure you’ll be stronger than ever.

          Keep up the good work.

          *Fist bump*

          Rich

  3. lHey, Rich
    I just started these exercises today is it normal for me to feel like my wrists are going to break same with my fingers?!
    -Norberto

    1. Hey Norberto,

      That’s normal, it should not feel nice when you start, but you want to be sure you use the right progressions.

      Start on your knees first with all the exercises as written in the blog post.

      A little bit of pain is good, too much is bad.

      Make sure to give your body enough time to adapt!

      Beast mode ON!

  4. Hey Rich
    The Side Wrist Push Ups is insane! My wrists cause my elbows to buckle in when trying this on my knees.. but I am slowly applying weight to do this in a controlled manner. Will keep at it.
    *Fist Bump*
    Bro Phil

  5. Hej Rich,
    I have to tell you that these videos are not available on Youtube anymore. Is this on purpose or Youtube just decided to remove it?

    Domagoj

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