5 Wrist Warm Up Exercises for Great Mobility
Before working out, it’s important to take the time to stetch and warm up. Stretching and warming up the muscles means that you become less likely to suffer an injury. It also preps the muscles and joints for what’s to come, and, can even improve athletic performance.
When stretching and warming up, we generally tend to focus on the larger muscle groups and joints in the body, which is why smaller parts of the anatomy, the wrists for example, are often overlooked.
Warming up your wrists before working out is not just a good way to avoid injury, it’s also great for mobility and flexibility as well. Check out these five wrist warm up exercises for great mobility, and you’ll know exactly what we mean
Prayer Stretches
The first wrist exercise we have for you today is the prayer stretch.
This is a very simple exercise that can be done anywhere, in a matter of seconds. It’s fantastic for increasing mobility in the hands and wrists and it will also help reduce the risk of injury to the wrists too.
Here’s what to do:
- Begin by standing up straight with your palms pressed together and your elbows bent.
- Next, with fingers pointing to the sky, as if you were praying, slowly lower your hands to the floor.
- Continue bringing your hands down until you feel a slight squeeze in your forearms.
- Bring your arms back up in front of your face, making sure to keep the hands pressed together, and repeat for a further 9 reps.
Wrist Rotations
Perhaps the simplest wrist warm up exercise of all, we have wrist rotations.
- Simply lock your fingers together with your palms facing each other.
- Now, rotate your wrists clockwise, and then anti-clockwise.
- Repeat for 10 – 15 reps per side.
Kneeling leans
If you suffer with a lack of mobility in your wrist, this exercise is fantastic for opening up the wrist and assisting with mobility and flexibility.
- Whilst kneeling down on a flat surface, place your hands palm-down on the ground in a 9 and 3 position on an imaginary clockface.
- Now, slowly rock back and forth, and side to side, making sure to hold the hands firmly in place.
- As you do this, gently open and close your fingers to help target smaller muscles in the hands.
- Repeat for 3 sets of 15 reps.
Desk Wrist Forward Leans
As well as kneeling leans, you can also perform forward leans on a desk or table.
- Place both hands palms down on the edge of a desk, bend the elbows, and rotate the wrists so that your fingers are pointing towards you.
- Now. Slowly lean forwards and bring your hips closer to the desk, until you feel a stretch in your wrists and elbow.
- Repeat for 3 sets of 10 reps.
Wrist Walks
Finally, the last wrist warm up exercise we have for you today is a simple wrist walk.
Not only will this exercise help loosen up your wrists, it will also help to warm up and activate muscles in your forearms as well.
- Begin by facing a wall with your hands outstretched.
- Place your palms flat on the wall with your fingers pointing up into the air.
- Making sure to keep your palm pressed firmly on the wall, slowly walk your wrists downwards on the wall, until you feel a deep stretch and you can’t walk them any lower.
- Hold for a few seconds then flip your hands so that the fingers are facing downwards, and repeat the exercise, moving them upwards instead.