UKC

I find pull ups to be painful on my wrist, I get a crunch as I approach lock off in my left wrist only, so I was wondering if there's any alternatives that work the same muscles but won't have this effect on my wrist?

In reply to woody0606: one armers!

In reply to Sankey: :/ Not quite the input I was looking for...

In reply to woody0606:

Do you have a fingerboard? If it's just deep lock-offs that make it hurt shouldn't be too hard to avoid? Does it make a difference how far apart your hands are?

In reply to woody0606: You could do wrist exercises also which will help your wrists adapt to the stress placed on them during exercises.

In reply to woody0606: are oyu using a straight bar? are you doing narrow grip witrh your pamls turmed towards you or are you doing wide grip with palms away from you?

i find straight bars begin to make my wrists a bit sore.. especially when i do narrow grip pull ups ones.

to avpid this i mainly go wide grip as i think they work the biceps as well as your back a bit better than narrow grip and i usually use bent pull up bars that are lower where my hands are in comparison to the height of where i'm aimimg to get with my chin.. if that makes sense? most gyms have weight stacks with cable set ups with a bar across the top with various pull/chin up grip positions.

maybe also try taping your wrist to maybe help align tendons ... no expert but i tape my wrists when i climb and it's help tweaking/twindging alot.

In reply to pork pie girl:

All that. And maybe try rings as they allow the joints to rotate.

In reply to ice.solo: yes,haven't tried those but very idea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRznU6pzez0&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Have a look at the link.

Seems to make sense and may build ur wrist strength up also.
Just dont laugh at his hat too much.

In reply to woody0606: There is alternative, which is even more climbing-specific than pull-ups on bar. Although I'm not sure how it will feel on your wrist.

Inverted rows on bar or gymnastic rings. One arm inverted rows on gymnastic rings are even better. Keep feet on floor (body at angle against the floor) - easier. Keep feet at the same level as shoulders at full arm extent (body parallel to floor) - harder.

In reply to mloskot: or inverted row variations

youtube.com/watch?v=QwGP9a5GDZU&

and more advanced variations

youtube.com/watch?v=9V_go66Er0A&

Rationale behind rowing motion is well presented here

http://www.climbstrong.com/articles/20130113_3

In reply to Darren09: Not really what asking though mate, he can do pull ups he's just looking for alternatives due to wrist pain. Scooby is awesome though


I agree with others who have said try using rings or some other form of suspension, this is generally kinder on wrists and elbows. Inverted rows that mloskot is talking about are also well worth doing.

If wrist pain is an issue, I'd recommend strengthening the wrists with sledgehammer levering. youtube.com/watch?v=QbEzqs-KHlI&

In reply to woody0606:

Get a length of round bar, like a pull up bar. Attach a length of cord to it's centre point (about 2-3ft long) and attach a weight to the other end of the cord. The idea is that you lift this weight by holding the bar horizontally with one hand at either end and rotating it, so that you coil the cord around the bar, gradually lifting the weight.

I recently started doing this exercise and it's helped both wrist and finger strength and also endurance. I'm using 6kg at the mo, but use whatever is right for you. It gives you one hell of a pump. Don't forget to balance your wrist muscles by alternatiing between using the flexors and extensors (i.e. change the direction you rotate the bar)

Thanks for the suggestions. Have tried inverted rows on my bar and they feel good, so I'll replace pull ups with them from now on.

I agree that wrist strength may be an issue too, so I'll look into ways to train that. The sledgehammer thing looks a bit extreme for me at the moment. Any thoughts on wrist curls with a weight?

In reply to woody0606: It's not as extreme as it looks. In fact, you can do those sledgehammer exercises with an adjustable dumbbell, simply put a small plate on one end. This creates a much lighter, smaller lever that you can use to build up to doing the exercises with heavy hammers. Also, simply holding the hammer closer to the weighted end makes the exercise much easier. Some say that wrist curls can potentially damage the wrist, I don't have a source for that admittedly.