How You Can Avoid Wrist Pain From The Bench Press

Avoid Wrist Pain From The Bench Press

Why Do 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 wrist injuries. Your elbows and shoulders are forced to overcompensate, which can also get them injured. Wrists wraps and wrists curls won’t help, you need to grip the bar correctly.

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.

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 and increases power transfer to the bar.

• Setup for the Bench Press

• Put the bar over your palm heels 

• 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.