Wrist pain during pushups.

Ryanr · 01-31-2010, 14:08

I've been working on increasing my push ups, and I've been doing about 300 (in sets of 30-70), three times per week. I'm getting some soreness in my wrists, is that a sign of bad form, bad wrists, too many reps, or something else? I'm up to about 110 consecutive push ups, should I continue trying to increase that number?

My initial reaction was to ignore it, but I don't want to make it worse. Should I try strenghtening my wrists?

Thanks for any ideas. I tried searching for wrist pain without any luck.

Buck · 01-31-2010, 14:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryanr

I've been working on increasing my push ups, and I've been doing about 300 (in sets of 30-70), three times per week. I'm getting some soreness in my wrists, is that a sign of bad form, bad wrists, too many reps, or something else? I'm up to about 110 consecutive push ups, should I continue trying to increase that number?

My initial reaction was to ignore it, but I don't want to make it worse. Should I try strenghtening my wrists?

Thanks for any ideas. I tried searching for wrist pain without any luck.

I think my Grandma warned me once, "Youngin, if your wrist hurts, stop wackin it, or switch hands"

On a serious note...lol, if your wrist hurt from putting your palms on the ground, do pushups from fists, keeping your wrists straight

Buck

Surgicalcric · 01-31-2010, 16:24

110 push-ups nonstop?

I would stop there. Sounds like an over-training issue to me...

There is really NO need in being able to do more than that, IMHO, except to impress someone with your ability to do push-ups, an exercise that while is important to the APFT, means little else in terms of fitness or strength. Personally I think the push-up should be removed from the PT test, but I digress...

Are you working on any other upper body strength exercises (ie: bench, dips, pull-ups, etc...) or lower body for that matter? Or are you just focusing on one exercise, the push-up?

Crip

Ryanr · 01-31-2010, 16:26

Oh, awesome, doing them on my fists is the ticket. Thank you Sergeant.

edit: Yes, 110 non stop. I am also working on pull ups, bench presses, running every morning, squats and lunges, other general free weight work, etc. Which exercises do you think have a better return on time spent, instead of push ups? I'm totally open to any and all suggestions. Thank you for your feedback.

Surgicalcric · 01-31-2010, 17:01

I am a huge fan of militaryathlete.com to be honest. I enjoy the programming and have seen tons of improvement in both strength and work capacity since starting.

Its a bunch of core and oly lifting thrown together in a very organized manner that will smoke you everyday if you are giving it your all.

It is very intense with a lot of volume. I suggest, you take the Operator Ugly test before diving right in though. If you score higher than 100 jump in; if not you may wanna start with Crossfit until you can.

__________________________________________________ _______
Yes there is a monthly fee. Most of us blow money on plenty of other things that if you cant afford 25.00/month you need to reset your priorities...

Ryanr · 01-31-2010, 17:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Surgicalcric

I am a huge fan of militaryathlete.com to be honest. I enjoy the programming and have seen tons of improvement in both strength and work capacity since starting.

Its a bunch of core and oly lifting thrown together in a very organized manner that will smoke you everyday if you are giving it your all.

It is very intense with a lot of volume. I suggest, you take the Operator Ugly test before diving right in though. If you score higher than 100 jump in; if not you may wanna start with Crossfit until you can.

__________________________________________________ _______
Yes there is a monthly fee. Most of us blow money on plenty of other things that if you cant afford 25.00/month you need to reset your priorities...

Looks excellent. The monthly fee doesn't bother me. Thanks for the link.

Masochist · 01-31-2010, 17:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryanr

I am also working on pull ups, bench presses, running every morning, squats and lunges, other general free weight work, etc.

Whatever your routine, make sure to keep things balanced. Every muscle group has an opposite muscle group performing the opposite movement. Working chest all the time without working the back will lead to a muscle imbalance, rounded shoulders and potential for injury. Same goes for the rest of the body.

Not saying this is the case with you; simply giving advice as a former personal trainer since I didn't see any back exercises short of pull ups. Good luck with the wrist ... I've been there before and being told "rest it" is never a fun thing to hear.

GratefulCitizen · 01-31-2010, 19:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryanr

Which exercises do you think have a better return on time spent, instead of push ups? I'm totally open to any and all suggestions.

More isn't better, better is better.

Your body doesn't get fitter from the stress of exercise.
It gets fitter during rest when it recovers from exercise.

Had my own bout with the pushup issue back at age 21.
Tried to reach the arbitrary goal of 1000 per day/7 days per week.

Injured three times trying build/maintain it.
My wrists still have problems with pushups.

By my late 20's, discovered that the greatest return on time invested came from high intensity/limited volume weight training.
Eventually never did more than 6 reps in a set.
Could still do 90+ pushups in a set and bench press 300+.

YMMV.

Blitzzz (RIP) · 01-31-2010, 19:06

I Agree with Surgicalcric. I would suggest that the main cause is overuse. While the type exercise you are doing has a few potential bads.
!. With full body weight or high resisted exercise you joint spaces will be compressed while under load.
2. While compressed the Cartilage will grind, causing some inflammation.
3. As the muscle is Feed better and strengthens faster than the Tendons and Ligaments, the hard work will cause the Ts and Ls to be irritated and inflamed. This is so much so that the Tylenol you used for the early pains now isn't enough .
SO ice and rest and LESS work with less resistance.
A hundred push ups is plenty but should you need more you can get them with a well conditioned wrist,. OVERUSE=Bad Hope this helps Blitzzz

Ryanr · 01-31-2010, 20:09

Thank you gentlemen, very appreciated.

Boomer-61 · 02-02-2010, 19:48

As a foot note to all the good advice you've already gotten I'd add one more thing. I had trouble with my wrists a while back and was struggling with pushups. My wrists just did not tolerate being extended past 80 degrees. I made a pair of handles out of scrap 2x4 and 1.5" dia dowl rod. They market something very similar now called the perfect pushup or something like that. Point is, by using a handle, I could rotate the arm any way needed for comfort and the palm was resting on the handle so my wrists were in very little extension. It was way more comfortable to do pushups. Just someting else for you to consider.