Push-ups and Wrist pain

[bhaputi]

For those of you that incorporate any decent amount of push-ups into your workouts, do you just do standard hands-on-the-floor, or do you use any sort of push-up bars to take strain off of your wrists? I am getting some pain in one of my wrists doing push-ups, and am wondering about ways around that. I try to work push-ups into my workout twice a week, with about 60-100 per workout done.

[OverWorked]

How do you do them? Wide stance, close stance, fist down?

Try rolling some weights up and down in the palm of your hand as if you were doing fore arms (Nothing to heavy though), this will losen of the wrists and should ease the pain a bit. I had this problem a while back and this seemed to help quite a bit. Its just a case of moving the joints as they may be a but stiff.

[OneO]

dunno how strong your hands ( knuckles) are , but i do all my pushups on my Knuckles. years and years of Kenpo training doing em that way has made in very comfortable for me . i get wrist pain if i do em on my palms .
if you can find a soft rubber pad, ( sit up mat works well ) and try doing a few with your fist s pointing to your feet . i find this places my wrists in a much more " netural " postion , and thus , for me , no wrist strain . i vary em with fists in a "hammer " (Palms facing each other ) postion

[bhaputi]

How do you do them? Wide stance, close stance, fist down?

Try rolling some weights up and down in the palm of your hand as if you were doing fore arms (Nothing to heavy though), this will losen of the wrists and should ease the pain a bit. I had this problem a while back and this seemed to help quite a bit. Its just a case of moving the joints as they may be a but stiff.

Wide stance - not sure if I should vary that or not, but push-ups are one of the core requirements for the physical test I am training for, and they have to be done wide stance (hands just outside shoulder-width).

I will give what you mention a try - thanks for the suggestion.

[bhaputi]

dunno how strong your hands ( knuckles) are , but i do all my pushups on my Knuckles. years and years of Kenpo training doing em that way has made in very comfortable for me . i get wrist pain if i do em on my palms .
if you can find a soft rubber pad, ( sit up mat works well ) and try doing a few with your fist s pointing towrd your feet . i find this places my wrists in a much more " netural " postion , and thus , for me , no wrist strain . i vary em with fists in a "hammer " (Palms facing each other ) postion

I may try that out, but the key to me is being able to do as many as I can on my palms with a wide stance. Although I always thought it looked bad-ass to see people doing them on their knuckles

[anandagirl]

I get a lot of wrist pain, so I either do them on my knuckles (preferably) or holding onto the handle of a weight (in a pinch). Have never used the push up bars. I've done a lot of pushups on my knuckles in Boxing Gloves which is easier on the knuckles than just the floor or a mat

[user464444132bbg]

I use 5# dumbbells as pushup bars and they help a lot with my wrist. I have tiny wrists and they have a hard time holding me up sometimes.

[Islandtroll]

dunno how strong your hands ( knuckles) are , but i do all my pushups on my Knuckles. years and years of Kenpo training doing em that way has made in very comfortable for me . i get wrist pain if i do em on my palms .

Yup I do them on my knuckles, after a while you don't even what to do them the other way.

[tatdawg]

pushup bars work great if you can't do them on your knuckles. i do lots of them 3 times a week with no wrist problem and i have had a broken wrist before. i can move the bars around to where they are the most comfortable.

[BergMuscle]

Years of martial arts got me used to doing 'em on my knuckles. Feels alot easier on my wrists and I feel like I've got better control of my body as I squeeze out those last few, painful reps.

[DouglassDoubles]

nope, Sorry...I avoid them at all costs.

[widebody195]

Pushup bars are great. Find a set with a nice stable stance and well-padded handles. Your wrists will thank you for it.

[IR45N]

Had to try knuckle pushups; can do them but also felt like I was going to break my fingers. Need to get used to them I guess.

In the gym, put a couple 10s on the floor set a pair of 25 or 30 dumbells on each plate, then from feet on floor or bench you hold onto the dumbell bars; easier on the wrists; just take a knee from the bench when you tire out.

Also, use the smith bar or squat cage (if no one's waiting to squat)bar on lower pins & feet on floor, do elevated pushups.

[OneO]

when doing knuckle push ups, open your fingers up full spread then , starting with your pinkie finger , roll em in one at a time, rather than all at once . help to get them into a proper postion . after all of your fingers are tight , make sure you tuck the thumb over the index and middle fingers . if you dont have tight fists , it WILL feel like you are breaking fingers .

hope that helps

[tatdawg]

thanks for that advice. i will give that a try. i use handles now but i want to do a few sets on my knuckles.

[PeteB]

Somebody once suggested to me making a fist around something the size of a roll of pennies. Didn't work for me, maybe because of a couple old busted knuckles. Since I started using the handles, I never tried the knuckle variety again.

[lecter38]

The problem is our wrists weren't designed to bear weight and putting all your weight onto a flattened palm compresses the carpel tunnel nerve.
When your hands are on the floor, maintain a space the size of a marble underneath each palm, and firmly press your outstretched fingertips into the floor. This will take the pressure off your wrists and move the weight to your curved fingers, so the only pain you'll feel is the burn in your muscles

[gbg]

Push ups can put a lot of strain on your wrists, I would be very careful if you do them often and have wrist pathologies.
Try them on your fist so there is no bend at the joint.

These make a lot of sense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OcYFPnt2pY

[chasing40]

Wide stance - not sure if I should vary that or not, but push-ups are one of the core requirements for the physical test I am training for, and they have to be done wide stance (hands just outside shoulder-width).

I will give what you mention a try - thanks for the suggestion.

get a set of the push up ...hand stands etc. the ones that roatate , and use them on and off. I am sure that will elevate most pain...

[StressMonkey]

In the years when I was a pushup monster I just did them hands on the floor.

Now I use pushup pro handles. It's a lot more challenging and feels easier on the wrists to me.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/ontel/pushuppro.html