Wrist Mobility Series
A short sequence of loaded wrist positions on the floor, getting the joint ready for anything that's about to put weight through your hands.
Why it works
Your wrists are the joint people skip most often, and they're the one most likely to quietly end a bodyweight training habit before it even gets going. Push-ups, planks, any floor work at all, put your wrist into extension under load, and a wrist that spends its whole day typing flat on a keyboard has absolutely no preparation for that demand. What you get is an ache people assume means their wrists are just weak. They're not weak. They're untrained. Loading the joint progressively at the end of its range is exactly what builds tolerance, the same way tendons everywhere adapt to gradual loading and nowhere else. Do this before any pressing work and it's the single most effective thing you can do for wrist pain during push-ups. It takes two minutes.
How to do it
- Kneel and place both palms flat on the floor with the fingers pointing forward. Rock your weight gently forward over your hands and back, ten times.
- Turn your hands so the fingers point back toward your knees, palms flat. Rock gently back and forth, ten times, going nowhere near your limit at first.
- Turn your hands palm up with the fingers pointing back toward your knees, and rock gently, ten times.
- Make loose fists and place the knuckles down, then rock forward and back ten times to load the joint in a neutral position.
- Finish by lifting each finger off the floor in turn while the palm stays down, both hands, twice through.
Dose: One pass through the sequence, daily and right before any pressing or floor work. Two minutes, no excuse skips it.
⚠ This is educational content for discussion with a clinician, not medical advice or a prescription. Move gently, especially in the fingers-back positions. Reduce the range and load with carpal tunnel symptoms, a previous wrist fracture, or arthritis, and stop with numbness or tingling.
