Increase Strength on Barbell Exercises (ONE WRIST EXERCISE!) – ATHLEAN-X™

by YouTube Team

Build athletic strength and ripped muscles in 90 days here…

If you want to increase strength on your big lifts like bench press, deadlifts, rows, etc you have to make sure you pay attention to your little muscles. You see, people often rush to their big lifts in an effort to increase their strength and gain muscle mass without ever building up the foundation needed to do so properly and safely. In this video, I show you a quick exercise that you can do to increase the strength of your wrists so you have much more stability and strength on all of your other barbell lifts.

For instance, in the case of the bench press, weak wrists are sure to short circuit your ability to lift a lot of weight. If your wrists are weak, you will likely not be able to establish the proper bar position over your chest throughout the movement. The tendency will be for the bar to bend backwards too much which will put your pecs at a mechanical disadvantage for pushing the most amount of weight as they are capable of.

The same mistake applies to deadlifts but in a different way. Everyone focuses on grip strength as a limiting factor for how much raw weight can be lifted in the deadlift. That is partially true, however the hands and wrist strength itself can also be incredibly important especially as the weights you attempt to lift continue to go up and up.

If you really want to increase your strength on all your lifts then you need to focus on building the proper foundation of strength throughout your kinetic chain. Remember, ever lift you perform requires a transfer of energy from one end of the chain to the other. If you are weak at any point along the chain, your strength will suffer and therefore so will the gains that you are trying achieve from the lift in the first place. Remember, you are only as strong as your weakest link.

When it comes to wrist and forearm strength, the wrists are very overlooked. The goal should be to be able to execute lifts requiring great strength without having your wrists be your limiting factor. The bar should be able to be maintained either in a neutral or slightly extended position without breaking that position throughout any point on the lift. Too often, the wrists are not able to be held in this “strong” position and the lift breaks down.

With the wrist and forearm exercise shown here, you’ll be able to quickly add stability and strength to your distal arms that will allow you to start gaining strength and lifting more weight pretty quickly. Applied over time to your workouts, you’ll be able to increase strength on all your big lifts and start seeing more mass gains, more quickly.

It’s principles like this that often go overlooked in most workout programs, not in ATHLEAN-X. If you want to start training like an athlete and build ripped athletic muscle in just 90 days, be sure to head to and get the program used by today’s top pro athletes in all major professional sports.

For more videos on how to increase strength and get stronger to build muscle mass, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at

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29 comments

Sylvex Dragonskin November 19, 2015 - 10:59 am

Much better intro!

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cbello2 November 19, 2015 - 1:37 pm

Would this be a closed chain?

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Vince Yutuc November 19, 2015 - 4:17 pm

Totally unrelated. It's been a year since I stopped working out and I want to go back training. Should I go back from being a beginner again? I mean focusing on compound exercises and less isolations. and the total number of sets of the exercises are the same as beginners do?

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Andrew Watson November 19, 2015 - 6:14 pm

Jeff any alternatives to the band? low income alternatives??

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Dan Popa November 19, 2015 - 6:43 pm

Abs can be done every day yes but when should they be done? Can they be done after a work out or should they be done at night?

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Adrian Anglemyer November 19, 2015 - 10:17 pm

ill stick to masturbation

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THE FITNESS FREAK November 19, 2015 - 11:12 pm

great tip jeff

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ughmas November 20, 2015 - 2:56 am

Tried this today and I absolutely LOVE it. Best forearm and wrist workout I have ever gotten. Also it feels like a more natural movement than anything else I've tried. Thanks for the great info Jeff

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VictCr November 20, 2015 - 3:15 am

Thanks for making this video Jeff! I have been using this for incline bench and today I maxed out on my shoulder press!

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Narayanan Ramesh November 20, 2015 - 3:09 pm

Jeff, where can i get those bands from ?

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Anas AR November 20, 2015 - 5:01 pm

You're right! weak forearms could screw our heavy lifts like deadlifts and dambell bench press
so i started to train my forearms frequently to get this problem solved

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fionnan hallinan November 20, 2015 - 7:26 pm

could you use a vertical bar to strengthen ulnar and radial deviationthanks

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Derg Enterprises November 22, 2015 - 9:06 am

I can't do wrist curls. I had the doc check me out, x-rays, etc. and no health issues were found. Any alternative?

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Neo Anderson November 22, 2015 - 6:43 pm

Dat biceps doe.

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STEELPHIT November 24, 2015 - 2:31 pm

Jeff,
You are a big inspiration to me, due to the path you have chosen. I am a physical therapist in training, in my 5th year of a 6 year doctorate program. It's a great practice, but I want to do more. There's too much PT knowledge that can transferred into training, and I decided in the spring that I had to begin making videos about it. I've already begun applying my PT knowledge to training, and I've dedicated this channel to that.

I know you were the PT for the Mets and I see how you phased out of that and started your own business, and I really admire that. You are a big inspiration, my friend. Thank you.

John

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Christopher Wood November 27, 2015 - 2:02 am

I like forearm work. I just recently closed the Ironmind #2 gripper. Took me a while.

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Roman Kovbasniuk December 1, 2015 - 2:39 am

Thank you again for a great tip for improving my powerlifting movements, as well as my barbell curls.

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Alex's Crypto Journey December 3, 2015 - 8:01 am

MORE WRIST EXERCISES! (for strength!)

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Vincent Beech January 4, 2016 - 11:24 pm

Hey Jeff. Can you do some more videos aimed at powerlifters?

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Vincent Beech January 4, 2016 - 11:29 pm

Hey Jeff. Can you do some more videos aimed at powerlifters?

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zimmermann10 January 23, 2016 - 8:10 pm

extraordinary

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Shamie Irwin March 27, 2016 - 5:48 am

Hi, can you give some exercises to help strengthen your wrist from a TFCC tear. I recently had surgery on my left wrist from a TFCC tear and I need to strengthen my wrist for jiu jitsu

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Brad Beard April 9, 2016 - 7:41 pm

Jeff,

I have been having problems with my wrists lately. Do you have anymore wrist exercises that I could that helps like this one?

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Marshall Smith July 29, 2016 - 6:45 pm

You have change my whole body in two months.
Thank you

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RIDERS GOT TALENT September 9, 2018 - 3:49 pm

20 reptiles disliked this video !

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Dark Raider February 18, 2019 - 9:51 pm

Clever!

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wojtekimbier May 17, 2019 - 6:37 am

"BEST 3-MINUTE AB WORKOUT (IT'S GONNA BURN FAT!)" – 4 million views
Video about important joint strength – 90k views

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Ajaz Ahmed September 9, 2020 - 9:03 pm

Jeff you are a great trainer.

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BioNautMate May 15, 2021 - 2:39 am

Is it ok to do as recovery from a ulnar tendon tear?

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