Current Events > Wrist pain when benching

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This is a problem that has been going on for over a year. When I bench, the next day my wrist will be stiff and in pain. I notice this especially when I bench higher than 135lbs (I only weight 125). I've had MRIs taken and nothing abnormal was found. It's annoying because I feel like I can't really bench then...anyone know a solution?
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Are your wrists bent when benching? They should be straight with the bar at the bottom of your palm.
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I have the same problem but with pushups. It sucks.
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same thing, but with push-ups. usually goes away if i move to a different exercise and come back to push-ups later

I had something similar happen to me. Have you tried not benching at all for an extended period of time? Sometimes it's just you not letting your body recover fully. When I gave benching a break for like a month my wrist stopped hurting when I benched. Maybe train your chest/tris with other exercises like dumbbell press or use a machine. Benching is my favorite so it was hard to completely omit it but in paid off long term.

Shelhamer92 posted...

Are your wrists bent when benching? They should be straight with the bar at the bottom of your palm.

I'm not sure I'll check how my wrists are the next time I go in. Which will be in 1 or 2 days. But I mean, your wrist should be bent a little bit, right? Are you saying they should be straight up like a fist bump?

Edit: Crap now that I think of it, maybe it is supposed to be straight up. In which case I think this may be the cause of the pain.

winged_weltall posted...

I had something similar happen to me. Have you tried not benching at all for an extended period of time? Sometimes it's just you not letting your body recover fully. When I gave benching a break for like a month my wrist stopped hurting when I benched. Maybe train your chest/tris with other exercises like dumbbell press or use a machine. Benching is my favorite so it was hard to completely omit it but in paid off long term.

I did go for a couple months actually. Sigh.
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Keep your wrists in line with your forearms. The bar should be laid diagonally across your palm rather than in the crease of your fingers
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I had this problem too. The bar was too high so my wrists had to bend in an uncomfortable way to do a rep

Try and get the bar to be inline with your chest, retract your shoulder blades on the way down and push straight up not in an angle. That worked for me

Bench press is a surprisingly difficult exercise to do properly. Watch some videos on YouTube or get a PT
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EnragedSlith posted...

Keep your wrists in line with your forearms. The bar should be laid diagonally across your palm rather than in the crease of your fingers

Wow I never thought to hold it diagonally. Looking up pictures of how to grip it now. So all this time...1+ year of wrist pain is because of bad technique. I actually haven't even increased my bench since then because of the pain and just kept it at 135-145 since.
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Put the bar on the bottom edge of your palm on the pinky side
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Ok that's a bad description

https://cdn.stronglifts.com/wp-content/uploads/bench-bulldog-grip.jpg
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So I'm trying to do it like that article says and it feels awkward. Kinda worried I'll lose my grip.doesnt feel intuitive at all. Starting out light though.
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