Wrist rehab and strengthening

Hi all, any advice is greatly appreciated.

I have been following Coach Sommers' training for several months and have seen remarkable gains. I love this stuff.

I have recently run into some wrist problems from working tuck planches (typically on paralettes) to the point that I have stopped training any planche work for about 3-4 weeks. But the wrist doesn't seem to have gotten much better - at least not to the point of starting up my planche work again.

I think I just have weak wrists - definitely a big weak link in my overall strength. What hurts is the outer part of my left wrist - If I'm looking down at my hands with palms facing the floor, it would be the outer/left side of my left wrist. If I lean fwd when working planches, it tends to really get aggravated. It doesn't really hamper my lever work, handstand work, ring dips, etc. - mainly just that lean while doing planches.

I guess my question is two-fold.

First, what is the best way to rehab or heal this injury so I can get back to working on planches, and how long should I expect it to take? (It seems to be a SLOW area to heal).

Second, how should I build up wrist strength to avoid this in the future. The problem here is that I honestly think I just have weaker than normal wrists. My grip strength is pretty good (oddly enough) and my overall strength I think is good, but the standard wrist stuff is harder than it should be for me. For instance, I can't do ANY wrist pushups, even when on my knees. I'm just terribly weak in that direction. Also, pushups on fingertips are REALLY hard for me - prohibitively so. Should I just start by doing this stuff leaning against a wall or something like that (which I have begun doing)? I'm a pretty big guy 6'0 210lbs, so maybe my weight puts more stress than normal, but my wrists are just really weak and it is proving to be a big obstacle. Very frustrating.

I figure you guys can help guide me onto the right track. Thanks very much.

BTW, I just did some of the wrist work while just leaning against a wall with feet a couple steps back. Actually felt pretty good. Maybe this is just what I have to do to build up my strength. Just seems kind of pathetic, I guess.

DarrenG said:

BTW, I just did some of the wrist work while just leaning against a wall with feet a couple steps back. Actually felt pretty good. Maybe this is just what I have to do to build up my strength. Just seems kind of pathetic, I guess.

Yep, I've had people who had to start using the wall which is fine or even on knees bent at the hips with barely any force on the wrists.... just gotta work progressively like any other bodyweight progression

I dont mean to sound like a salesman, but you'd probably have some good results with a powerball (www.nsdball.com). Its basically a zero impact not very heavy, but very fast sledgehammer. Of course its no substitute for actual force bearing down on the cartlidge, but the cartlidge itself is fed by stuff that comes out of your muscles when you move, so being zero impact on your cartlidge whilst moving makes it a feeding frenzy thus more cushioning thus a better cushion for the wrist. Dont buy via the product site though (unless youre in the US, the us (dynaflex)version I hear isnt very good), Amazon is far cheaper. Good luck getting your wrist strength back. Sorry if I sounded like a salesman-I didnt mean to.

I also seem to have the same problem with my wrists, they are particularly weak, and so are my hands (my fingers crack with just an opening and closing of a fist), although I am a lot lighter, being only 160 lbs at 5'9". My freestanding handstands haven't been able to progress because I simply can't stop myself from falling forward by pressing into the ground with my fingers since there's almost no strength there. My planche work is also hampered by my wrists, which are definitely the weakest link. I even had a forearm pain during all of last gymnastics season (high school) that prevented me from doing any pommel horse work.

I guess I'll try some of that against the wall stuff, maybe some dumbbell exercises for wrists, and whatever else I can do safely. The baby steps, until I see improvement. Can't wait for the Liquid Steel™ volume to come out, I am looking forward to learning how to better prepare myself in terms of pre-hab work.

I guess I'm not the only one dealing with this. I must say, my baby step approach has been pretty decent. I'm doing this stuff from my knees and against the wall and I'm seeing some improvement. But it's slow for me. Particularly with wrist pushups - I just have such a weak spot when it comes to those.

Perhaps it's that I'm dealing with the injury to the wrist that is making it slower. But I can't even imagine being able to do full wrist pushups - I'm just not even close to being able to support them from a full pushup position.

It's just very frustrating not to be able to do any planche training. And the wrist seems to heal SOOO slowly - I wonder when I'll be able to get back to 100% and build up strength enough to progress with them again.