Dan, Fern, (or whoever): when I lift with free weights, I sometimes find myself limited in weight by my wrists before I'm limited by the muscle I hope to work. I deal with this by doing, say, 16 reps of 20 pounds on overhead triceps raises (rather than the 25-30 pound weight I'd rather use; on a machine that replicates this exercise, I can do 100 pounds for both arms). So I'm still working to failure, but I know I should be at a higher % of my 1RM to build more muscle (muscle mass and strength are my goals).

Once a week, I do wrist work...should I do more? I just do the bit where you lay your forearms over the bench and curl a bar up off the end, palm up for two sets, palm down for one...I see some guys working with the dowel/rope/plate for wrists--is that a better approach? Or should I just not worry about it and continue to just work whichever muscle to failure at lighter weights? I certainly don't want to give myself carpal tunnel syndrome or another injury. But I'd also like to optimize my LBM gains.

thanks in advance

Have you tried wrapping/taping your wrists? When I train through a heavy cycle, I have to do this since I have small wrists.

you don't want to do this all the time, but maybe for the next few weeks to see if you just have a nagging injury that needs to heal.

Also, pay VERY close attention to what your wrists do when you are lifting. Many people have a tendency to relax their wrists when lifting, which places them in a "cocked back" position and leaves them vulnerable to injury.


A trick I learned is to squeeze the h*ll out of the barbell/dumbbell when I am lifting it. This will help build your forearm and wrists also.

Just a few tips ...

thanks Dan...I think I am rather limp wristed about it all. I'll try the squeezing the heck technique, then move on to wrapping if that does work.

I appreciate the advice!