Lifting guys -- wrist pop

[Fletch]

After a couple years of doing mostly dumbbell work, I've gone back to the barbell for at least one day a week. I also decided to start working on olympic lifts, which I previously stayed away from because they looked like a great way to tear up a shoulder. I feel stronger and more confident these days, so now I'm branching out.

I picked up a pair of 25-pound bumper plates and am working on learning good technique for power cleans and similar moves. Everything's good except for that explosive moment when I pull the weight off the ground. My left wrist pops on the ulnar side, in a non-painful but very disconcerting way.

I've found that if I squeeze the bar like I'm strangling it, I can usually prevent this, but I wear out a lot quicker from putting energy into that rather than the lift itself.

I tried on a Harbinger glove/wrap at the local sporting goods store, and did some experimental dumbbell cleans with a 45-pounder they had sitting on the rack, and it seemed to fix it up.

My question is this: wrap it, work on grip strength, ignore it, combine some of these, or do something else?

 

[Patternpimp]

Id say its either an issue of impingement or just a weakness in your forearm. I would analyze your grip width on the bar and some isolation work to strenghten the forarm. Of course I have a shoulder that pops when I bench anywhere near my max that I have never been ever to work around.

 

[M67]

I've done olympic style lifts before, but I tend to stay away from them because 1) In not an olympian and 2) form has to be spot on if you don't want to fubar anything 3) I'm not crazy about them.

As for the popping, it seems like anytime I lift hard, something pops. When I do squats I make sure I do light weight warm up just to get my left hip to pop so it doesn't do it when I go heavy.

Shoulders pop somewhat (grind a bit when I do heavy pec deck), wrists once in a great while, hips, knees.

I usually get over it, but if the gloves help you, might as well use them until your wrists stop popping. But don't get dependent on them. Maybe even some light weight wrist curls (forearm curls) might help you out.

 

[sepe]

Yeah, I'd say try to build your forearms and work on your grip strength. I wouldn't rely on gloves/wraps for very long.

I don't do oly lifts as I don't have bumper plates and when I've done them in the past, no me gusta. I broke an arm as a kid and radius wasn't set quite right. It is a serious PITA when it comes to certain lifts or heavy lifts.

 

[iChokePeople]

I love Olympic lifts. Power cleans are one of the best exercises for explosive, athletic power. +1 for doing them. I'd like to see you do the movement. The explosion shouldnt really happen as early as I *think* I'm understanding that you're doing it. It should be pretty easy and controlled from the floor, then explode as the bar clears your knees and you shift and pop from the legs, hips, and upper body(think hang clean).

In any case, I'd personally recommend avoiding any external supports under most circumstances.

 

[sepe]

I love Olympic lifts. Power cleans are one of the best exercises for explosive, athletic power. +1 for doing them. I'd like to see you do the movement. The explosion shouldnt really happen as early as I *think* I'm understanding that you're doing it. It should be pretty easy and controlled from the floor, then explode as the bar clears your knees and you shift and pop from the legs, hips, and upper body(think hang clean).

In any case, I'd personally recommend avoiding any external supports under most circumstances.

But my bench shirt makes me look cool and helps me dominate the bench competitions I have in my head at the Y. Those senior citizens never stood a chance!!!

 

[iChokePeople]

But my bench shirt makes me look cool and helps me dominate the bench competitions I have in my head at the Y. Those senior citizens never stood a chance!!!

Well, that would fall under the very few times that I encourage helpers -- to look cool.

 

[Fletch]

I love Olympic lifts. Power cleans are one of the best exercises for explosive, athletic power. +1 for doing them. I'd like to see you do the movement. The explosion shouldnt really happen as early as I *think* I'm understanding that you're doing it. It should be pretty easy and controlled from the floor, then explode as the bar clears your knees and you shift and pop from the legs, hips, and upper body(think hang clean).

I am pulling hard from the floor, and I'll try doing it as you describe. However, I know from experiencing this in a few other exercises that the problem for the wrist isn't the position of the explosion, it's the sudden acceleration. It's as though I yank on my arm, and my wrist temporarily separates or pulls apart just from the inertia of the weight. I'd prefer that it didn't do that.

I too am hesitant about braces. I've never used a belt on deadlifts, for example, because I've read that it allows you to relax your back too much. I wasn't sure about the wrist though, because at some point you probably reach the limit of the wrist's tensile strength (though I hope to God it isn't 95 pounds). So I was curious about how to fix it. It sounds like working the wrist/forearm/grip will help, so that's what I'm going to do.

 

[iChokePeople]

Yeah, I agree with your thinking on the 'cause' (ish), from the fact that it helps to really tighten up first. You could also try different grips. On limits of the body, I've seen guys pull incredible amounts of weight without straps or hooks. I don't think you or I will find your wrist's snapping point. There's a lifting coach named gayle (Gail?) hatch who has good stuff online for lifting technique and does a nice job on showing the proper easy start to a power clean and the shift at the knees. Doing it that way eases a lot of the stress on your body that comes with exploding from the floor.

Eta: oops, I went to deadlift in my head at some point. That was behind the alternate grips statement. On power cleans, never mind.

 

[dieselman]

ive got the wrist pop too.

 

[Clay]

Ive always viewed lifts like the clean and jerk as something Im not going to attempt unless someone who really knows what they are doing is there to help/coach.

 

[iChokePeople]

Ive always viewed lifts like the clean and jerk as something Im not going to attempt unless someone who really knows what they are doing is there to help/coach.

Probably smart. But if you can find a good coach, they're tremendous lifts.

 

[lovemachine]

Maybe you should decrease the weight and work on form a bit more.

Cleans are one of my favorites to do, and I've never had that problem...

 

[Rob377]

Maybe you should decrease the weight and work on form a bit more.

Cleans are one of my favorites to do, and I've never had that problem...

It looks like he's only using 95lbs (25x2+45). Can't really go much lower than that and have the form work mean much.

If it doesn't hurt, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[phrozen5100]

I've tried to stay away from barbell lifts since injuring my shoulders awhile back. You may want to try some dumbbell movements, as they're generally a bit more forgiving and can be better for the forearms as well. DB snatches are quite good.

 

[Fletch]

It turns out it was a lack of respect.

I discovered this morning that since the bar only had 50 pounds on it, I was being way too casual in my grip, and overcompensating when I felt the pop. I was allowing the bar to dangle from my hooked fingers rather than snugging it into my palm like I would with more weight on it. Once I started consciously checking my grip on every repetition, the pop was completely gone.

Now to focus on getting power from my legs instead of trying to muscle the whole thing with my shoulders. I got to 135 with a push press at the top, but I wore my shoulders out from not letting my legs do the work.

One thing at a time...