maratoolWrist Roller
How to do the wrist roller
- To begin, stand straight up grabbing a wrist roller using a pronated grip (palms facing down). Your feet should be shoulder width apart.
- Slowly lift both arms until they are fully extended and parallel to the floor in front of you. Note: Make sure the rope is not wrapped around the roller. Your entire body should be stationary except for the forearms. This is the starting position.
- Rotate one wrist at a time in an upward motion to bring the weight up to the bar by rolling the rope around the roller.
- Once the weight has reached the bar, slowly begin to lower the weight back down by rotating the wrist in a downward motion until the weight reaches the starting position.
- Repeat for the prescribed amount of repetitions in your program.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the forearm flexors and extensors, which move the wrist and keep the hand closed around whatever you are holding.
Even with a single joint doing the moving, the muscle is not working alone — the deltoids stabilise the shoulder and add force at the top of the range.
How this movement works
One joint changes angle and the resistance travels toward you along a single arc. Nothing is positioned to help, so tension stays where you aimed it and the usable load drops sharply against a multi-joint pull for the same muscle. Protect the range of motion; buying weight by shortening the arc defeats the point.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
These train the forearms too, using equipment this one does not:
- Wrist Rotations with Straight Barbarbell
- Bottoms-Up Clean From The Hang Positionkettlebell
- Cable Wrist Curlcable
- Dumbbell Lying Pronationdumbbell
- Wrist Circlesbody only
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 25 forearms exercises in this database, 18 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.