- The wrist is a joint that allows your hand to move forward, back and, to a lesser extent, side to side. The strength of the wrist is determined by the strength of the muscles and tendons of the forearm and hands that surround the wrist joint and allow it to move. Before beginning wrist strengthening exercises it is a good idea to do a few simple wrist stretches to warm up the muscles and increase flexibility, which can help prevent strain and irritation. To warm up try these simple stretches: making slow circles with your wrists in both directions, using one hand to gently pull the other hand down while the arm is straight, and using the free hand gently pull the fingers back while the arm is fully extended.
- Wrist curls are a standard exercise for increasing forearm and wrist strength. To do a wrist curl all you need is a flat surface and a light dumbbell or object to provide resistance. Lay your forearm on the surface so that the wrist hangs off the edge, then curl the weight up toward you. You can also flip your hands over and curl the wrists in the opposite direction to do reverse wrist curls. The amount of resistance and repetitions you should attempt while doing wrist curls depend on your strength goals. If you want to build endurance for things like typing for long periods of time without getting sore wrists, lift light weights for 15 or more reps. If you want to build a very strong grip and plan to do other heavy upper body lifting that requires you to grasp bars with the wrist, aim to do 8 to 12 repetitions with more weight. Whatever your goals, you should work the forearms to fatigue during each set of lifts, and do two or three sets per workout. Reaching muscle failure forces the body to adapt by increasing strength.
- Grip devices like grip balls and grip levers can be an effective way to build up wrist and hand strength without scheduling workout sessions. A grip ball can be squeezed repeatedly to increase hand and wrist endurance whenever the hands are not occupied with other tasks. This can allow you to work out your wrists in almost any setting, even at work, during travel or while watching TV. Another advantage of grip devices is that resistance is derived from the design of the device rather than weight, so you can increase resistance by using balls or levers that are harder to close without significantly reducing the portability.
