A couple of years ago, I began the practice of yoga. One of the first things I noticed about my body was that my wrists were very weak. This is true of many people, women in particular. I began practicing a series of wrist strength exercises that I call wrist twists. Keeping our wrists strong is important for many everyday tasks. Wrist strength is essential for body builders, as strong wrists are needed to balance out the muscle and improve grip while lifting weights.

Easy Wrist Strength Exercise – Wrist Twist

1. Make a fist with each hand palms down and roll the hands in a clockwise circle ten times. Repeat ten times in a counterclockwise circle.

2. With hands still in fists, palms down, forearms flat, lift the hands from the wrists as though you were pulling a rope upward – repeat ten times.

3. As in step 2 keep the arms and hands the same but rotate the palms up, still keeping the fists, and pull that same rope up – repeat ten times.

4. Keep the hand and arm position of 2 and 3 above and turn your hands so the palms face each other. From the wrist, move the hands up and down ten times as though you were using a small hammer. Remember, the movement comes from the wrist.

5. Repeat entire series three or four times each day.

This short series of twists may be done at any time and nearly any place. Find a few minutes while on the phone, standing in line, or waiting at a stoplight. You don’t even need to do them all at once. You may also exercise one wrist at a time. You will begin to see the benefits of these quick little wrist strength exercises in a few days and real results in a few weeks. You will notice improvement in your grip and an increased ability to lift easier through the wrist.

Increased wrist strength allows many tasks to become easier. For me, not just the ability to do a handstand, although that would be nice since I have been practicing yoga for a while now and still cannot do one; but that is another story for another day.