How to Fix "Weak" Wrists

People often ask me what to do about “weak” wrists. They usually complain of discomfort or even pain in the wrist area when supporting their body weight on their hands, such as during planks, push-ups, and gardening, and other similar palm-pushing activities. As a result, they shy away from those exercises and lose out on their benefits. While you can wear wrist supports or modify the techniques so that they put less strain on the joint, the best thing to do is to increase wrist flexibility and strengthen the muscles that support it.

While it may seem simple, the wrist joint is actually quite complicated. It consists of the 5 proximal ends of the metacarpal bones in the hand, 8 small bones in the base of the hand, the distal ends of the 2 long bones in the forearm, ligaments, and joints between all of the bones. As you can imagine, without strong support from the ligaments and muscles, it will be really hard to keep them moving appropriately relative to each other. When you have weak supporting muscles, bending the wrist and placing it under weight can easily move the bones out of alignment, making them hit each other and cause pain. Similarly, if your wrist isn’t flexible enough, the bones will be crushed against each other when placed in stressed positions.

Before we go over how to strengthen these important muscles, let’s cover the correct way to push with your wrists extended, such as in a push-up. Contrary to common practice, the hand and wrist should not be relaxed when pushing with your palm. Doing so will allow weight to move your wrist bones out of alignment. It will also concentrate the stress onto fewer joints, increasing the chances of injuring them. Rather, constantly press and flex the entire hand into the ground, distributing the force throughout the palm, bases of the fingers, and the finger tips. This engages your wrist and finger flexor muscles, stabilizing the wrist joint.

Left: Pushing down with only the base of the palm provides less stability and concentrates stress into a smaller area.
Right: Pushing down with all parts of the hand and fingers increase stability and better distributes the stress. Note the pressure from the fingers indenting the carpet.

This technique also improves the stability of your support. Maintaining tension throughout your hand enables you to sense changes and react quickly. This is something I struggled with for a long time when learning the handstand. I used to do them with my hands relaxed, which made it difficult to adjust my balance. In addition, the weight of my body quickly made my wrists hurt. Once I tightened my hand and fingers, improvement quickly followed and the pain went away.

Now that you know how to properly push with your palms, you can start strengthening your wrists. It’s as simple as using the proper pushing technique whenever you do planks, push-ups, sit presses, or any other pushing exercises. There's no need to do separate wrist curls with weights. If your wrists are too weak to support that much body weight right now, try doing easier versions of those exercises. For example, you can do push-ups or planks against the wall. Move your legs back and your hands down the wall until you feel enough pressure on your wrists. As you get stronger, you’ll be able to move your hands further down the wall. Alternatively, you can rest your knees on the ground to reduce weight. As your wrists gain strength, move your knees back to increase the difficulty.

Don’t forget to stretch your wrists regularly throughout the day. Use one hand to bend the other wrist in all different directions, to the point of tension but not pain. With consistent effort, you’ll notice an increased range of motion and wrist stability. Before long, your “weak” wrists will be a thing of the past.

How to Shovel Heavy Snow Like a Boss

My first article about shoveling snow described a technique I use to shovel faster with less stress on the back. That technique works great with lighter snow loads. We’ve been getting more snow in the Midwest recently so I wanted to go over another technique I use for heavier snow falls.

In the first technique, the back hand is tucked in front of the hip to better control the shovel. The other hand holds onto the shovel as close to the other end as is comfortable. On most snow shovels, this means the forward hand is still a distance away from the snow. While this is fine for lighter loads, it is less effective for heavier loads due to leverage issues.

To adjust for this, move the forward hand almost all the way to the snow end of the shovel and let the back hand go back behind your hips. This allows you to keep the load as close to your body as possible when lifting.

When you stand up and lift, keep the front arm straight so it acts like the hoist lines on a construction crane. This will reduce the work your smaller arms muscles need to do. On a crane, the lifting isn’t done by the hoist lines but rather by the motor that winds it up. The lines just transmit the forces to the load.

In this case, the “lifting motor” is your legs and your torso and arms transmit those forces. Your back hand functions to keep the shovel level and to steer it when you throw the snow away. When you pivot to dump the snow, you can use your hips and torso together. Since the load is essentially next to your body, twisting your torso won’t be as stressful on your body compared to the other technique where it is farther away.

This method should feel similar to lifting a box with proper form (using the legs, not the back). Your back and other core muscles just function to maintain your posture. They don’t do any lifting.

Finally, since your center of gravity is kept near your center of balance throughout the technique, you don’t have to reset your balance for each load. Essentially, you are just doing leg squats with weights. This allows you to perform each repetition more quickly.

Remember, if the snow is particularly heavy or high, shovel each spot in layers. Work all the way vertically down the snow pile before moving your forward. This technique is especially well suited for working vertically through snow since you don’t even need to move your feet for each repetition. Use this technique and you can plow throw piles of snow in record time!

Why You're More Likely to Fail With a Weight Loss Only New Year's Resolution

Since we’re still in New Year's Resolution season, let’s talk about a common goal: weight loss. While many of us would like to be healthier and look better by losing some weight, I think it is critical NOT to set that as the only measure of success. Doing so can make it much harder to stay motivated and stick with your resolution.

Why? Your body weight is affected by a myriad of factors, making it difficult to control precisely. How much you eat, drink, and exercise can certainly affect weight. But some factors are out of your direct voluntary control, such as how much and when your intestines decide to empty. Your body weight will normally vary a couple of pounds in either direction throughout the course of a day. Across the days of any given week, it can go up and down significantly even if you eat, drink, and exercise the same amount every day.

If you only use your weight as the sole measure to see if you are making progress each day, you’re going to be in for a lot of disappointment. Your weight is just not going to trend down smoothly day after day even if you are doing the right things. Sometimes you’ll be frustrated when it won’t budge for a while. Other times, you’ll be excited when it drops a few pounds in one day, but then devastated as it creeps back up several pounds as it normalizes over the next few days. All of this can make you want to give up before you’ve made enough progress to see a consistent trend toward your goal.

Instead, I suggest setting goals that include several different kinds of measurements. For example, try to improve your running pace or distance in addition to losing weight. You can also try increasing your strength or flexibility. You’re inevitably going to have good days and not so good days. On a good day, you’ll see improvement in many, if not all, of those measurements. But even on a down day, you’ll still likely see progress in at least one of the measurements. You’re much less likely to have a day where progress in all measurements stall or regress. Seeing progress in even one measurement will help keep your motivation up and keep you from becoming discouraged by the apparent (but false!) lack of progress.

I’ve personally been using this technique for years and find it very helpful in staying on track. Give it a shot and let me know how it works for you.

Let it Snow - Safer, Faster Shoveling and Getting a Good Workout

We just had our first snow in the new year here in the Midwest. What a way to start off the new year. Snow and snow shoveling are simply a fact of Midwest winters. But that doesn’t mean you have to strain your back shoveling when the next snow storm comes to visit. In fact, you can turn it into a good opportunity to build some core and leg strength.

The key to shoveling snow safely is doing the heavy lifting with your legs. Your back isn’t meant to lift heavy objects. It’s especially tough with heavy snow perched far away at the end of your shovel—talk about poor leverage! Rather, your back and other core muscles (abs and obliques) are for maintaining your posture and enabling efficient transfer of forces through your body. In the case of shoveling snow, that means transferring the lifting power generated by your legs to your arms and hands.

With that in mind, let’s go over a better and safer way to shovel snow. Stand near the snow to be shoveled and place your left hand on the handle of the shovel. Keep this end of the shovel tucked against your body in front of your hips. This enables you to use your body weight effectively to maneuver the snow. Next, place your right hand on the shaft of the shovel, as near to the blade of the shovel as is comfortable. This arm only controls the shovel, rather than bending and lifting the snow, which is the job of your legs.

Now for the placement of the feet, which is important for balance and power. Put your right foot forward and left foot back in a wide stance. Then, squat down by bending your knees until the shovel touches the bottom of the snow. Keep your back as upright as you can; bending at the waist will lead to back strain. Center your weight between your feet to maximize stability and minimize the strain on your back when you lift. Push the shovel forward to load it with snow. Then, stand up by straightening your legs, keeping the front arm straight and back hand tucked into your hip. This movement should feel similar to picking up a heavy box with proper technique.

To dump the snow, simply pivot to the side by twisting your hips, not just your torso. For those of you familiar with martial arts, this movement is similar to the hip pivot from a back (60/40) stance to a high front or bow stance. Reset to the starting position and you’re ready for the next load. If you get tired on one side, switch your hands and feet and use your other side.

 

This technique minimizes movement of your back and smaller arm muscles, leaving the heavy lifting to your stronger leg muscles. It also uses your hips as a brace to reduce the effort needed to maneuver the loaded shovel. With a little practice, you’ll find that you can shovel snow faster since you don’t have to move as much with each repetition. As a bonus, you’ll get a great core and lower body workout at the same time!

If your legs aren’t strong right now, consider preparing for the snow by doing some leg strengthening exercises such as the Squat Progression from The One Minute Workout. Strong legs will help with everything, not just shoveling snow.

Remember, if the snow is deep or especially wet, work your way down in layers. There is no need to do the whole job at once. Take breaks as needed and go inside to warm up. And don’t forget to stay hydrated! When it is cold outside, it’s amazing how much sweat you can work up without noticing it.