Jennifer Cozzone
San Francisco Bay Area, 28 years old
4 Helps
I hurt my wrist and have it in a brace for about a month, but I still want to be able to get a full (or as full as possible) work out at the gym. Do you have any ideas of upper-body exercises which don't use the wrist or hands? I know it's a challenge... Thanks!
Need closed.
Box using shoulders. You still move and effect (indirectly when moving body) your hands, but if that is not a problem, shoulder-boxing is very effective for back, stomach and cardio... sit-ups obviously, there are machines for pecs without using hands... but if you really need to rest your hands, any movement in theory is bad and you should train your brain!
Can you swim? That's the lowest-impact workout that comes to mind, but even that might be too much or too hard to deal with if you have a brace that can't get wet. I've done aerobox classes before and they did give me a good arm workout. What about yoga moves? Obviously some poses are off-limits, but the warrior poses work my arms really well and there's no direct pressure there.
That said, Oskar's right: if you can't do any of these exercises, just rest. It sucks, but you'll heal faster and be able to work out sooner in the long run if you avoid stressing your wrist.
yeah... I'll train my brain... anyway, thanks for the advice! I wish my gym had a pool, that would have been ideal!
You will be limited but you can stay active at the gym while your wrist is immobilized. For chest you can use the pec deck flye machine. For back you can use the pull over machine. If you gym has a standing calf machine you can use it to work your traps (use it as a shrug).
If you really want to get creative you can use cable stations and a nylon or canvas loop for some shoulder lateral movements (placing the loop around the elbow).
The main idea is to stay active until your injury heals.
Good luck.