I was visiting my parents recently and noticed 2 pound dumbbells in my father’s easy chair. TV watching and exercise can go together! Here’s a way to sit and exercise- let’s strengthen the wrists. When we exercise, rarely do we devote time to our wrists. However, poor wrist strength can be the weak link in your game whether it is golf or tennis. It can be the weak link trying to open a jar, lifting a jug of milk, weeding a garden or even typing on the computer. Luckily for us, it is also easy to train starting with a can of soup, light (1-2lbs) dumb bell or elastic exercise tubing.

Here are a few exercises to try. Seated in an arm chair with forearm supported by the armrest but with your hand and wrist over the edge. 1) Wrist flexion: your palm is facing upward holding a can of soup. Raise and lower the can slowly.  2) Wrist extension: your palm facing the floor, raise and lower the can slowly. 3) Wrist radial deviation: Turn the hand so your thumb is pointing upward and slowly raise and lower the can. 4) Pronation and supination: Turn the can up and down rotating the forearm slowly. 5) Ulnar deviation: standing with your arm at your side and leading with your pinky finger, move the can and only your hand out to the side. How many repetitions should you do? Start with a light weight and perform the exercises slowly  8-15 repetitions. Do one round of each exercise allowing different muscle groups to rest and then repeat another set as long as there is no pain.

It is better to start with low repetitions and then each week add a couple more to your set. The wrist muscles are long and relatively small muscles compared to other muscles in our body and to avoid injury it is prudent to start with low reps and weights and gradually build up.

In addition, pushups are another method to strengthen the wrists. If you have a history of osteoporosis, this is a weight bearing exercise so it is a great one for building bone strength. So, keep your soup can or weights in your favorite chair and have fun working on the weak link!