GRIP STRENGTH IS good for more than just opening pesky jars in your kitchen. If you lift weights, it’s essential to keep hold of the heavy dumbbells and barbells when you load up to your max efforts. Then, there are the real-world benefits like the aforementioned jar lids, along with also other grip-intensive tasks like hauling groceries bags or holding onto rakes, shovels, and more while you do yard work. The most underappreciated aspect of your grip strength, however, has more to do with what it can signal for your overall health, especially as you age.
“Grip strength has been positively correlated with better brain function, higher life satisfaction, and decreased depression and anxiety,” says Dr. Jereme Shumacher, PT, DPT, a physical therapist at Bespoke Treatments in San Diego. What’s more, grip strength is commonly used as an indicator for overall strength, which has been linked with greater longevity.
You’ll hone your grip strength through your heavy lifts like deadlifts and farmer’s carries, but Schumacher says that it’s also important to isolate the muscles in your forearms with dedicated wrist exercises.
What Is Grip Strength?
Grip strength is a bit more complicated than just wrapping your fingers around a bar and holding tight. “Grip strength is encompassed by a couple of movements, specifically flexion of the wrist and extension of the wrist,” Schumacher says. “So we really want to make sure we’re targeting those flexors and extensors in an isolated manner when we’re targeting them at the gym.”
Here, Schumacher works with trainer Tyriek Taylor to demonstrate five essential wrist strengthening exercises that you can use to get some extra dedicated work in to improve this essential aspect of overall fitness.
5 Wrist Strength Exercises
Quadruped Wrist Extensions
1 to 2 sets of 10 reps
This exercise is important to help increase wrist mobility, which will make the strengthening exercises to come more effective by extending your range of motion.
How to Do It:
- Get into a quadruped position (on all fours) on the floor, with your weight resting on your palms and knees. Make sure your hands are placed below your shoulders, with your fingers pointed out away from your body, and splay your fingers wide on the floor.
- Rock your body forward, then back, keeping your hands fixed in place.
- Try to move further in each direction with each rep.
Quadruped Wrist Flexion
1 to 2 sets of 10 reps
You’ll do a nearly identical movement for this second exercise—but this time, you’ll flip the position of your hands inward to focus on the other side of the wrist. “This position might be a little bit more of an intense sensation for your wrists, so as you do them, make sure to start slow and really ease into that motion to make sure you’re maximizing that mobility through your wrist,” says Schumacher.
How to Do It:
- Get into a quadruped position (on all fours) on the floor. Make sure your hands are placed below your shoulders—but this time, put the tops of your hands on the floor, with your fingers pointed back at your torso.
- Rock your body forward, then back, keeping your hands fixed in place.
- Try to move further in each direction with each rep.
Wrist Curls
3 sets of 15 to 20 reps per arm
You’ll need a light dumbbell, a bench, and a box for this next exercise, which focuses on wrist flexion specifically. You’ll up the volume on this exercise, since Schumacher says that the wrist flexors are meant for endurance.
How to Do It:
- Sit down on a bench, with a high box positioned next to it so that you can rest your forearm holding the dumbbell on its surface with your palm up. Your hand holding the weight should be off the box.
- Bend the wrist down and open up your fingers, allowing the weight to roll out to your fingertips.
- Curl your fingers up and flex your wrist to raise the weight up.
Wrist Extensions
3 sets of 15 to 20 reps per arm
You’ll flip positions again for the penultimate exercise of the set, giving your wrist extensors some focused attention. Stay in the same position as the previous move, just swapping to a pronated (face down) arm placement.
How to Do It:
- Sit down on a bench, with a high box positioned next to it so that you can rest your forearm holding the dumbbell on its surface with your palm down. Your hand holding the weight should be off the box.
- Bend the wrist down.
- Raise the weight up, extending the movement at the top. Avoid raising the hand up; be careful to keep your forearm on the box and move only at the wrist.
Wrist Rotations
3 sets of 15 to 20 reps per arm
You’ll finish out the series of wrist exercises in the same position as the previous two movements with the bench, box and dumbbell. This time, the focus is on pronation and supination—whether your palm is facing down or up, respectively—rotating your wrist.
How to Do It:
- Sit down on a bench, with a high box positioned next to it so that you can rest your forearm holding the dumbbell on its surface. Your hand holding the weight should be off the box.
- Rotate the wrist so your palm is facing down.
- Rotate the wrist so your palm is facing up.
- That’s one rep; continue for the prescribed total of reps on each arm.
