Gym And Supplement Discussion

[Birds]

The better grip from gloves can protect your wrists a little...any movement in a bar with heavy weight on it is going to he compensated for by your wrists when you clench it tighter or regrip your hands, putting extra strain on them.

I'd be looking more towards your grip action though...do you bend your hands back much on the grip? I try to keep the bar in a position directly parallel to my forearm; as if you had no hands it would be sitting right on the stump. never had a wrist issue as long as I've been doing this. That said, you're most likely benching more than I am so it may be irrelevant until I get to your weight.

[Dani Boi]

Is it bad to have the wrists bent when pressing? Mine bend slightly but not fully i.e. my palms aren't facing the ceiling.

Nothing wrong with gloves either

[GTR_JOEY]

My statement stands heh heh

[Dani Boi]

Well played sir Nah I'm just a big girly man and don't like getting callouses on my hands haha

[GTR_JOEY]

I dont acutally think its possible to have your wrists fully bent when bench pressing, i know mine definatly arent.

as stated before the bar should be in the lower part of ur hand so the weight is a straight line through your forearms

generally what ever is comfortable is the way to go

[Nanogrip]

I'm interested in what's heavy

Unfortunately the wrist, like the knee, is an area of weakness that you cannot really strengthen, you can make the muscles around it stronger but I'd be wrapping it for protection.

I've got:

http://www.inzernet....APS_IRON_WRISTZ

Due to some issues with my right wrist I use them for a lot of things. I notice that someone was selling some similar looking ones for $35 in Australia recently. They were a bit thicker than the one I posted.

You know that movie starring Bruce Willis in Unbreakable? The deleted scene where he is in a locker room and bench presses I think around 500lbs/226kg, and everyone looks in disbelief? Well, I bench press nowhere near that weight. My max bench is 265lbs/120kg. From 225lbs/102kg and up is when I start to have wrist pains.

Makes sense in what you are saying that wrists, like knees, cannot be really strengthened. I guess joints are the weakest link in a body. I will try to look for wraps online. Ya, and no more amino acid tablets, doesn't work much. Thanks guys.

[Nanogrip]

The better grip from gloves can protect your wrists a little...any movement in a bar with heavy weight on it is going to he compensated for by your wrists when you clench it tighter or regrip your hands, putting extra strain on them.

I'd be looking more towards your grip action though...do you bend your hands back much on the grip? I try to keep the bar in a position directly parallel to my forearm; as if you had no hands it would be sitting right on the stump. never had a wrist issue as long as I've been doing this. That said, you're most likely benching more than I am so it may be irrelevant until I get to your weight.

Yeah, gloves do help a bit, especially when I have slightly wet palms, and the grip thickens so less concentrated pressure in the hands. The bar rests on the end/bottom of my palm. That is where I get the most pain and from the wrists I guess from the weight resting on that area. I get the same problem when I do weighted dips, my limit comes when the pain starts at the wrists. I can take the pain for the palms because of years of mastu*.... ew

A friend of mine told me recently to try different hand positions of push-ups to get the wrists used to the bends and twists, strengthening some parts. I'll give it a try too. Thanks Birds.

[Birds]

Hmmm thought you would have been benching more than that to be feeling wrist strain. Not saying that you're doing it light at all, but at my peak I was doing a solid 10 reps of 100kg and never had issues with the wrists. Do you aim for heavy weight, low reps, or do you shoot for 8-10 reps? I usually do 6 sets of 10 reps, stepping up the weight progressively, and I think that the endurance of it helps my joints to get used to a certain weight (broscience). I never do one rep maxes, so I'm never pushing the absolute limits of my muscles in terms of power and having the joints take up the slack / poor form (more broscience).

I can't do pushups with my wrists at 90 degree bends though...hurts my hands, I have little flexibility in them and it's probably from my strict actions in exercises like bench press.

I suppose it's irrelevant, given you do dips and feel the strain then, but how wide is your grip on the bench press bar? I can see how too wide would put extra strain on wrists given they are bending at the sides too.

Perhaps you should stay light for a bit and return to heavy later, see if that makes a difference? If you keep going heavy until you get that strain each week, it's never going to heal assuming it is actually an injury/strain and not a problem with your method.

[NickR33]

try dumbell bench presses instead... the dumbells let you rotate your hands a little and get in a more comfortable position for pressing... you can also get more ROM and squeezing them together at the top seems to help activate your chest

as others have suggested make sure your wrists aren't cocked back... do you have any issues pulling/rowing? if not that might be an indication that your hand position when pressing isn't optimal

I used to have wrist issues when dipping just bodyweight but I kept at it and mucked around with hand position until the problem stopped... now dipping with 50kg on the belt for reps, no wrist issues

[Nanogrip]

Thanks guys for the help. I don't cock or over bend my wrist back, the bar sits center of my wrist and to the palm, I think I wrote differently so I apologize. No issues with pulling and rowing (yet!) but I'll investigate thoroughly this Wednesday with a couple of buddies to observe. This is probably what I need, someone to check my wrists and hands while I bench and then exchange observation notes.

The width of my hand position is the perfect balance for me for benching, not too wide (that hurts the wrists), and not too narrow. There are two line markers on the bar at both sides, this marker sits between my pinky and ring finger when I bench, is there a name for that marker..? I do 8 reps for 5 sets for most weights, 5 or 3 reps/sets when I am struggling, from 102kg and above. Warmups are 15 reps with 3 sets, light weights. Sounds good or is there something I can try out?

I have a fear of heavy dumbell bench press as unlike a bar, there isn't a place for them to rest. But very right, I should try as I don't do dumbells at all in my workouts.

Thanks again guys, really awesome help coming!

[some_cs_student]

Depending on the type of bar your using, the two markers on the bar will vary in width.

I bench with my fingers just touching the end of the marker, on the knurling. On wikipedia it only referred to them as grip markers

I have found that a particular angle on the wrist works best for me, you might have to experiment a little to determine what is most comfortable.

[GTR_JOEY]

lol theres no place to rest ur dumb bells? you should be doin dumb bell press mate, (flat and incline)

should be aiming for 8-10 reps

for warmups i reckon 3 sets of 15 reps is a bit much, i just have a bit of a stretch and do 50% of my max approx 15 reps (slow and controlled, full range of motion)

havent injured my self yet so must be doin alright

[Birds]

I think that's a good idea Nano...get someone to observe you. We can say that all our methods do us all well, but we're not experiencing the wrist problems you have.

[some_cs_student]

Nano, one thing I forgot to mention was to find a way to deal with it before it becomes a real injury.

I've got a fairly large ganglion cyst in my right wrist which means I wrap to prevent pain from the wrists on most things now, even dips. The original cyst was caused through over-training and training through wrist pain while doing push ups and other exercises. I then made it larger by dropping a front squat and hitting the wrist on the way up

At the weights your doing you should be ok, but as you get stronger the chance of injury becomes greater, which is why I'd recommend been a little preventative.

[NickR33]

I have a fear of heavy dumbell bench press as unlike a bar, there isn't a place for them to rest. But very right, I should try as I don't do dumbells at all in my workouts.

I'm the opposite... when training alone I prefer the dumbells as I can dump them sideways should I get in trouble... where as I'm worried about getting pinned under the barbell... neither has ever happened, its just a psychological thing I have to get over

when dumbell pressing heavy weight I sit down on the bench, put them on my knees and then lay back bringing my knees up to my chest to help push the dumbells into position... I can only do this with a pair of 40's... any heavier and I have to get people to hand them to me

do you work on a computer all day? I train with an IT guy who gets wrist soreness, we think from long hours using mouse/keyboard (that's just broscience tho)

[Nanogrip]

@NickR33 I used to work all day on the computer a while back, now I don't and I do recall having a lot of wrist soreness at that time. Damn man, a pair of 40's? I tried a pair of 40's several months ago and I was wobbly as a drunk sitting on a two legged chair, then I quit trying afterwards. I'll try again but with lower weights until I can get the balancing right.

@some_cs_student, knurling is the name of the marker? I'll take it. I also didn't know about the different widths of the knurling. On the wrists, I am sorry to hear about your wrists! I'll be sure to be careful with mine, thanks for the warning.

@GTR_JOEY, yeah lame excuse for no place to rest them I think I meant to say that the bar can rest on the forks and on my chest when I am done or tired, I will try dumbells in my next workouts.

@Birds, I really appreciate the inputs you guys have, I can't push more than my current bench press because of my wrists so having a lot of ideas will help speed up solving my issue. Thumbs up

[GTR_JOEY]

Haha u were a bit wobbly cause ur not use to doin it... When dumb bell pressing u use alot of stabilizing muscles so

U do need to get use to it... It will come with practice

Nick 33

u start by sitting on the bench with the dumbbells up right on your knees right? From there just roll back onto the bench while bringing the dumbbells to ur chest, then just press up... If u practice that u should be able to get a heavy dumb bell up.

I can only do 6 reps of 50kg dumbbells but I can still get them up ok

[NickR33]

yep that's how I do it... haven't tried 50's as they don't have them at my gym... I can do 45's but usually get people to hand them to me... maybe I'll try getting them up by myself but like a lot of things in the gym I'm motivated by not embarrassing myself... and I can see the possibility of overbalancing and dropping one on my face lol

my old man is always going on about back in his day they didn't have any racks or whatever so they had to get the weight into position themselves off the floor etc... mind you every time I hear a story the weight they were lifting gets heavier and heavier... strangely its always just a little more than what I'm currently lifting

Nanogrip: if you have access to cables try standing chest press... you have the cables at about shoulder height and you press out in front of you and squeeze in at the end, you can play with different grip positions... or you can even try dumbbell power flys on a flat bench... power flys are like halfway between a press and a fly, done with a neutral grip... maybe you need a different way to train pressing that doesn't hurt your wrists? could be that a neutral grip is better than pronated grip...

[GTR_JOEY]

haha yep older people are always like that, u can never be better then them in their day...

one of my ex mrs dads asked me how much i bench press, so i told him.. he continued by sayin that he benched someting rediculous like 180kg back when he was 18 (the guys like 50 now so clearly suffering from amnesia)

i think he was getting kg and pounds confused haha

[Birds]

@Birds, I really appreciate the inputs you guys have, I can't push more than my current bench press because of my wrists so having a lot of ideas will help speed up solving my issue. Thumbs up

Just looking at the amount of reps you do, it's not exactly on the limits...have you considered substituting some of the weight for more reps + sets instead, e.g. 10 reps on 95kg etc.? Weight isn't everything; sure more weight = more muscle, but you can also build muscle off the endurance of lower weights for longer periods. Might be something to do in the meantime until your wrists either heal or you work out what it is you're doing wrong.

my old man is always going on about back in his day they didn't have any racks or whatever so they had to get the weight into position themselves off the floor etc... mind you every time I hear a story the weight they were lifting gets heavier and heavier... strangely its always just a little more than what I'm currently lifting

'tis a sad day when a son out does his father in the weights departments. I'm not looking forward to it when I start training my future son...

haha yep older people are always like that, u can never be better then them in their day...

one of my ex mrs dads asked me how much i bench press, so i told him.. he continued by sayin that he benched someting rediculous like 180kg back when he was 18 (the guys like 50 now so clearly suffering from amnesia)

i think he was getting kg and pounds confused haha

Gah, my mother's ex partner was crapping on about how hard he and his friend's used to go at the gym when they were younger, how big his triceps were at the time etc. I asked him what he did on tricep pushdown, he goes awww was about 90...I said kilos or pounds...kilos LOL.