4 Tabletop Exercises to Build Wrist Strength by Nicole

You finally jump into your first yoga class and you notice how quickly your wrists hurt. You may look around the room to see if anyone else looks uncomfortable. Roll out your wrists, maybe create fists but that doesn’t feel good either. The teacher may even suggest folding the mat under your wrists for a little bit of cushion to help you out. Maybe none of these work out for you and you start questioning whether you should come back. Remove those thoughts from your self talk. You can build strength in your wrists, it just takes time and consistent practice. 

We live in a society of comfort and some of the negatives of living in comfort tend to come out when we roll out the mat and make shapes we don’t normally make. Think about your daily tasks. How many of them require you to make a 90 degree angle at the wrists? Probably not many unless you work with little kids and spend your time getting up and down off of the floor all day long. 

Our wrists are the bridge between the tissues of our forearm and the palm of the hand. The carpal tunnel is a small space on the heel of the hand in line of the middle finger. On either side of the center point of the heel of the hand is a muscle. If you were to touch around the heel of your hand right now, you’d be able to feel a soft squishy on the sides of the carpal tunnel and firm tissue right at the carpal tunnel. In the tunnel, runs all the ligaments and tendons that travel to the palm side of the hand all the way to the end of the fingertips. Its a lot of tissue running through a small space. 

That’s why this area is sensitive and can feel uncomfortable. You are stretching all the ligaments when you’re wrist is at a 90 degree angle, if they are not used to being stretched that much then it causes discomfort in your practice. The best way to change the length of your ligaments is by short frequent practices. 

The following, progressively challenging exercises, are done in versions of the tabletop yoga posture. On your hands and knees with hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips. Start with few repetitions, stopping when you start to feel discomfort. No need to push into pain. You will still build strength and pushing into pain will only make you dread the practice without adding benefit. Meet your body where it is. If you want to progress quickly then do a couple sets of the exercises after giving your wrists time to recover between the sets. 

#1  The Push

From tabletop, find big number 5 hands under the shoulders and knees underneath the hips. Inhale just hang out here, be relaxed. Exhale draw the belly in, push the Earth away with your hands, fingertips and your shins while keeping a neutral spine (no rounding the spine!). Feel the strength zip up through the core, the arms and legs. Inhale release the effort. Exhale, draw belly in and push Earth away. Repeat 10-20 times or until your wrist grow tired and take a break. 

#2 Pull it Together 

Another version of the push with an add on focus. Next movement start in tabletop. Inhale be relaxed. Exhale push Earth away (same as in #1) then try and push your hands and knees toward each other. They are not going to move but it will feel different then the previous exercise. Inhale relax. Exhale, push the Earth away and pull your hands toward your knees and knees toward your hands. Again repeat several times, taking breaks as needed.

#3 One Hand Lift

From tabletop. Inhale relaxed. Exhale push down into the left hand and your shins to activate your core.  Lift your right hand. You can lift it just an inch above the ground or reach the arm forward, maybe parallel to the floor or any angle in between. Inhale, return your right hand to the floor and relax your body. Exhale, push your right hand into the earth and lift your left hand any amount. Alternating sides. The trick is to try and prevent your hips from swaying around. Lifting one arm will put more pressure on the wrists than with two hands on the ground. More pressure means the tissues will adapt and build stronger over time.

# 4 Knee Lifts

Final progression. Start in tabletop with tops of feet on the floor. Inhale, be relaxed. Exhale, draw core in, push Earth away, and lift knees on the floor while staying on the tops of the feet. This also builds ankle strength. If this is uncomfortable on the tops of the feet, start with toes curled under until you build up the ankle and wrist strength. Inhale, lower the knees and relax. Exhale, push into the earth and lift the knees any amount. Repeat desired amount of times. 

These four exercises may seem simple yet they are very powerful for building strength in your wrists. Move through the progressions at your own pace. Whether you choose to focus on one and then move to the other after days or weeks of practice. Or practice a little of each exercise each day with good breaks in between. Be consistent and it will make a big difference in your yoga practice.