How You Can Avoid Wrist Pain From the Bench Press
Oct 2nd, 2007 by Mehdi Tags: Bench Press, Injury, Weight Lifting
| New to StrongLifts.com? |
| Here are a few posts the other readers recommend you check out. |
Recent discussion on Sherdog Forums
The last 2 weeks I’ve noticed a pain in my wrist following the Bench Press. First time I lifted through it and my wrist hurt for a week. Second time I dropped my last set and it hurt less. Third time I narrowed my Bench Press grip and had no pain.
Do I Bench Press a weight my wrist can take without pain while I strengthen the wrist? Or do I get a wrist brace and keep lifting heavy? I had no wrist pain the last week, but did felt a “warning pain” when I used a wide Bench Press grip last time
Why Your Wrists Hurt. A common error on the Bench Press is gripping the bar high in your hands, close to your fingers. The weight of the bar makes your wrists roll back, stretching them beyond their normal range of motion.
Gripping the bar incorrectly increases the risks of wrists injuries. Your elbows & shoulders are forced to overcompensate, which can also get them injured. Wrists wraps & wrists curls won’t help, you need to grip the bar correctly.
Left: bad technique, wrist rolls back. Right: correct technique, wrist inline with forearm.
Correct Bench Press Grip Technique. Your wrists must stay inline with your forearms on the Bench Press. The only way to do this is to put the bar in the palm of your hand, close to your wrist.
Picture below. The bar is close to the fingers on the left. Notice the pink: the fingers can’t wrap completely around the bar. The solution is to put the bar close to your wrists like on the right.
Left: bad technique, bar close to fingers. Right: correct technique, bar close to wrists.
How to Grip the Bar Correctly. Your fingers support the bar on the Bench Press. But they don’t control the bar. Your thumbs do. This is safer on your wrists & increases power transfer to the bar.
- Setup for the Bench Press
- Put the bar over your palm heels (picture below)
- Rotate your hands out
- Hook your thumbs around the bar
- Wrap your fingers around the bar
- Squeeze the bar hard so it can’t move in your hand
Pain means something is not right: technique, flexibility, posture, … It’s your responsibility to find out what. Never train through the pain.
Tired of the way you look? You want to build muscle & lose fat while getting stronger? Click here to download my 52 pages 100% FREE eBook.
Articles You Might Also Like:
Subscribe with RSS
I have stuck with the dumbbell press up to now because (1) I frequently train alone and (2) my wrists hurt on a good day (20 years of computer programming will do that to you). I find I have better form when I have to concentrate more.
I had the same problem and realized that I could solve it by moving into the bench. Right now when I press my shoulders are as close to the upright bars as possible. This helps me lift more weight and also less stress on wrists. The press motion here is more of a curve than a straight line but its much easier to lift and put down the bar if you don’t have a spotter.
I used to have this problem as well until reading another one of your posts. Really helped me out, no more pain. And the best exercise for grip for me has been my deadlifts, nothing else hits it that hard.
@Clickertrainer
Try this. Let your handpalm rest on the mouse vs. grabbing it only with your fingers. Move with your arm instead of moving with your wrists.
If u have problems with RSI from much pc work or whatever and u can feel this also in weightlifting, i can strongly recommend going swimmming once a week, works miracles for wrists and arms.
Here’s a few more tips:
1) Don’t use a thumbless/false grip - not only is this unsafe(the thought of 200lbs dropping on you isn’t very fun), but it also decreases motor unit recruitment due to the lack of any grip on the bar. And of course, your wrists have hyperextend, causing lotsa pain. I used to do a false grip…changed it and the pain went away.
2) Grip the bar as hard as you can - this increases motor unit recruitment of the back musculature, and the co-contraction of the forearm muscles also tighten up your wrist joint, hence making it more stable and less susceptible to bending/pain.
I have a question?? Just recently have I begun to feel discomfort in my wrist during warmup on chest day. Its a tingly then burning feeling that forced my ass on the treadmill instead of the bench. I train 2 days on, 1 day off and 2 days again. I have yet to correct my form since ive never felt this pain. Im currently in process of training forearms and taking alot of vitamin d and calcium for ligaments in wrists. WTF is with this pain. helppp
@BenNO
Training forearms & supps won’t help much if you’re using bad technique. Start with gripping the bar correctly like on the pic above.
I agree but why all of a sudden? tenant exhaustion from working out 5 days a week or just because of my longterm bad form? its good to know because this is the first time i ever felt this inflammation in my wrists.
@BenNO
Impossible to know with the little info you have given me. But longterm bad form will cause injuries sooner or later. Give your wrist rest, lower the weight, relearn to bench with correct technique: bar close to wrist.
Hmm solid advice in this article. But I have a problem. I’ve been curling way too heavy, almost as much as my friends bench press. haha. and even with the use of the ez-bar I’ve contracted a wrist injury - both wrists - but a different wrist injury generally associated with straight barbell curls.
It’s healed up now, but the main discomfort was connected to the thumb and any tendons connected to it, i guess. Moving the thumbs in the direction required to stabalize the barbell in the bench press was the most painful direction.
Holding the bar with the palms bent back a little (left pic in the first pic in this post) reduced the strain on the thumb and ended up being less painful. I realised back then that bad technique will lead to replacing one injury with a different one instead , lol. So I took the time off to heal.
Now, I’m about to start weight training again after 6 months off. I’m just worried about putting too much strain on the thumb. Has anyone else noticed any discomfort with the thumb under too much strain with the correct wrist technique?
Just curious about anyones thoughts on this.
Cheers,
hi,
Just wanted to know whether thumb less grip is better than thumb grip. WHAT YOU PPL HAVE TO SAY ON THIS?????
To zuheb:
“1) Don’t use a thumbless/false grip - not only is this unsafe(the thought of 200lbs dropping on you isn’t very fun), but it also decreases motor unit recruitment due to the lack of any grip on the bar. And of course, your wrists have hyperextend, causing lotsa pain. I used to do a false grip…changed it and the pain went away.”
From earlier on in thread
I was getting shooting pains down the underside of my forearms from weights, had no idea why. Looked on here, then realised I’d been using an awful grip (wrists rolling right forwards) without even realising. Have lowered weight on bench press, wrists feeling much better, thanks a lot.
Hey could someone help me i find i get wrist pains when benching using a smith machine (its the only bench form in my gym - which is at college so they want it safe i.e. a smith instead of free barbell).
The problem is that you have to lift and simultaneously twist your wrists in order to get the bar off of the locks to start pressing. So you end up pressing with bent wrists.
How do i overcome this??
hey Steve,
You could either get a friend to help get it off the hooks, or start with your wrists slightly forward/backwards, so when you get it off the hooks and twist, you can start pressing with your wrists at the right angle? I think it shouldn’t be much of a problem unless you’re lifting some very serious weight?