Strength Training Safety
Strength Training Safety
The Correct Way to Position Your Wrists
As a certified personal trainer (CPT) it is my job to watch my clients’ form and correct it when I see even the smallest error to prevent injuries. Strength training requires a lot of mind-body awareness. Without even knowing it, you could slip into bad form and pay the price. One area I keep a sharp eye on is wrist position. Your wrists are an important but complex joint. When lifting weights, your wrists play a prominent role in providing the necessary stability.
In general, the wrists should be ‘neutral’ for whatever grip you are using when it comes to holding weights, pull-up bars or TRX bands. There are three types of grips: pronated (overhanded like when you do pull-ups), supinated (underhanded, like when you’re doing a bicep curl) or neutral (falls in between underhand overhand grips, like when you’re doing a hammer curl). With each, your wrist position should remain neutral - meaning never cocked forward or pulled back in an extension. When you lose neutrality in the wrist joint, you’ll usually feel it due to the strain on the tendons and ligaments.
Typically I see people holding dumbbells like they are holding a restaurant tray so they can ‘push’ up. In strength training your wrist should be straight, meaning knuckles to the sky.
The one exception is a front-rack barbell squat. Because your shoulders are helping to take the load, it’s okay for your wrists to be extended as long as you have the wrists and shoulder mobility to feel okay supporting the bar.
To keep lifting weights for a long time, these tiny tweaks can make a major difference. So for strength’s sake, pay attention to your wrist position.
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Kim Duke is a certified personal trainer and owner of Core Performance Fitness and Training, located at 55 Bristol Lane, Ellicottville, NY. Kim resides in Ellicottville where she raised her two sons, Zach and Nik. For more information about her studio visit her Facebook page, go to www.coreperformancefitness.com or call her directly at 716-698-1198.
