Wrists · Warm-up

Wrist flexion

Your hands are turned backward, fingers toward your knees, palms on the floor. You lean your shoulders back slowly and feel the front of the wrist stretch. It's the usual warm-up move, in reverse.

Everything in a handstand loads the wrist in one direction, hand flat and forearm tipping forward. That direction gets worked without you thinking about it, every time you put your hands down. The other one never gets anything unless you go looking for it. That's the whole point of this position, and it's also why it surprises you the first time.

Family

Wrists

Equipment

None

Type

Mobility

Train this exercise in the app

How to do it

1. Kneel down and place your hands turned backward, palms flat, fingers toward your knees.
2. Arms straight, elbows locked.
3. Lean your shoulders back very gradually: that lean is what loads the front of the wrist.
4. Come back as soon as it pulls hard, then go again a little less far.

The two mistakes to avoid

Going for range straight away. This direction gets worked far less often than the other one, and it lets you know. Lean all the way to your limit on day one and you'll feel it in your next session. Go to where you feel a solid stretch, no further, and let the range come over the weeks.

Bending your elbows to go further. Your torso still moves back, but the load goes around the wrist instead of through it. Keep your arms straight and accept less range: it's the only way the work lands where it should.

Related exercises

Wrist circlesThe first drill of every session, before any bodyweight goes on your wrists.WristsMobilityWrist rotationsHands planted, arms straight, circles that keep growing: loading the wrists a little at a time.WristsMobilityWall plankFeet on the wall at hip height: the first time your shoulders carry your weight overhead.ShouldersHold

All exercises: the catalog