So I’ve recently started adding Klokov presses to my shoulder routine. From a delt perspective, they are bloody awesome. They really work my mid delts in a way that lat raises don’t (I do those too), but…
They really kill my wrists. Because my wrists are bent at a weird angle due to the wide grip, and I’m pushing, not pulling, I feel pain in my wrists when I do them. I’m worried about long term injury if I keep this up.
Any approaches or techniques to avoid wrist pain/injury?
Thanks!
–Me
Your wrists are in line with your arm still right? Is the pain due to the angle shown in the top picture here^
[quote]kravi wrote:
Because my wrists are bent at a weird angle due to the wide grip, and I’m pushing, not pulling, I feel pain in my wrists when I do them. [/quote]
Grip could be too wide. Try bringing the grip in a little bit, so it’s wider than a “basic” BTN press or overhead press, but not super-wide/snatch-grip.
Also, how many reps per set are you doing? Try keeping it lower to cut down on cumulative joint stress and time spent in an awkward position.
That’s valid. Like any exercise, if you try a bunch of tweaks and just can’t make it work, it might have to come off the list. Or just try wrist wraps. (That’d be a band-aid and wouldn’t actually fix the problem, but could let you just keep going with it.)
[quote]csulli wrote:
Your wrists are in line with your arm still right? Is the pain due to the angle shown in the top picture here[1]
Yeah, the top picture. My arms are spread, and my wrists are bent inwards to hold the barbell. It isn’t bent forward or backwards, just tilted sideways due to angles.
–Me
/quote ↩︎
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]kravi wrote:
Because my wrists are bent at a weird angle due to the wide grip, and I’m pushing, not pulling, I feel pain in my wrists when I do them. [/quote]
Grip could be too wide. Try bringing the grip in a little bit, so it’s wider than a “basic” BTN press or overhead press, but not super-wide/snatch-grip.
Also, how many reps per set are you doing? Try keeping it lower to cut down on cumulative joint stress and time spent in an awkward position.
That’s valid. Like any exercise, if you try a bunch of tweaks and just can’t make it work, it might have to come off the list. Or just try wrist wraps. (That’d be a band-aid and wouldn’t actually fix the problem, but could let you just keep going with it.)[/quote]
Right now I’m doing 3 x 8 - 12. They are new to me, so taking my time with them. My grip is pretty wide, but it is where I do my snatch grip. I thought the purpose of the klokov press was to go very wide? I can try narrower, but I wonder if that will change the mechanics of the lift and thus nullify the groovy effect on my shoulders. Yes, I just saw Austin Powers again last night…
–Me
[quote]kravi wrote:
My grip is pretty wide, but it is where I do my snatch grip.
[/quote]
Do you do snatches without wrist pain?
A cue that I read a while back and has helped me with these is to push through your thumb pad if that makes sense, instead of trying to grasp / push evenly across entire palm. So it’s almost like you are making an “OK” circle and pushing with the hands from that area. Felt more natural for me. Just 2 cents…
[quote]csulli wrote:
[quote]kravi wrote:
My grip is pretty wide, but it is where I do my snatch grip.
[/quote]
Do you do snatches without wrist pain?[/quote]
I do snatch grip high pulls, but not full snatches. But no pain at all from it.
–Me
[quote]Grove wrote:
A cue that I read a while back and has helped me with these is to push through your thumb pad if that makes sense, instead of trying to grasp / push evenly across entire palm. So it’s almost like you are making an “OK” circle and pushing with the hands from that area. Felt more natural for me. Just 2 cents…[/quote]
Yeah, I’ve been doing that myself. It helps a bit, but doesn’t get rid of the pain completely. Just makes it “tolerable”.
–Me
[quote]kravi wrote:
Right now I’m doing 3 x 8 - 12. They are new to me, so taking my time with them.[/quote]
Gotcha. Think about switching them to 6x4 with 'roundabout your 8 or 10RM to start. Still about the same total volume, but fewer reps per set should let you make sure each one is per-fect. You’re not necessarily going much heavier, so it’s not like you’re trading the wrist stress of heavy weights for whatever’s currently making them feel funky.
Yep, it is meant to be done wide, but every exercise needs to be adapted to the individual lifter. One guy’s “close grip bench” won’t be the same as another guy’s. A sumo dead stance won’t be as wide as someone else’s. If you’re 5’9" and I’m 6’2", does it really make any sense that we’re “supposed to” grip the bar exactly the same for all of our exercises?
Try bringing your hands in an inch or so on both sides, give it a few sets and see how it feels. Unless your middle name is Danger, in which case keep things as they are.
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]kravi wrote:
Right now I’m doing 3 x 8 - 12. They are new to me, so taking my time with them.[/quote]
Gotcha. Think about switching them to 6x4 with 'roundabout your 8 or 10RM to start. Still about the same total volume, but fewer reps per set should let you make sure each one is per-fect. You’re not necessarily going much heavier, so it’s not like you’re trading the wrist stress of heavy weights for whatever’s currently making them feel funky.
Yep, it is meant to be done wide, but every exercise needs to be adapted to the individual lifter. One guy’s “close grip bench” won’t be the same as another guy’s. A sumo dead stance won’t be as wide as someone else’s. If you’re 5’9" and I’m 6’2", does it really make any sense that we’re “supposed to” grip the bar exactly the same for all of our exercises?
Try bringing your hands in an inch or so on both sides, give it a few sets and see how it feels. Unless your middle name is Danger, in which case keep things as they are.[/quote]
I have to admit that the Swedish made penis enlarger is my bag, baby!
Seriously, thanks, I’ll give it a shot. I just transitioned shoulder presses from pyramid to 8 x 3s and am liking it, so I’ll try the 6 x 4s for the Klokov presses.
I have adjust width a bit and found going wider tends to cause a bit less pain, ironically. I think when G-d created my body he was drunk.
–Me
[quote]kravi wrote:
I have adjust width a bit and found going wider tends to cause a bit less pain, ironically.[/quote]
Okay, so… take 90% of what I just said… and forget it. Problem solved. Glad to help. Now zip it. Zipppp it. Zipitzipitzipitzipit.
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]kravi wrote:
I have adjust width a bit and found going wider tends to cause a bit less pain, ironically.[/quote]
Okay, so… take 90% of what I just said… and forget it. Problem solved. Glad to help. Now zip it. Zipppp it. Zipitzipitzipitzipit.[/quote]
Ssssh! I’ve got a whole bag of “sssssh” here with your name on it!
Problem isn’t solved, because while wider hurts a bit less, it still hurts enough to annoy the crap out of me.
I’ll definitely be trying to the 6 x 4s though.