Bodyweight Fingertip/wrist pushups - How much, how often?

[the hansenator]

I'd like to start including fingertip and back of wrist pushups in my workouts. I've been experimenting with them and can do singles so now I'm looking for advice on programming them.

Thanks.

 

[Adam R Mundorf]

I'd like to start including fingertip and back of wrist pushups in my workouts. I've been experimenting with them and can do singles so now I'm looking for advice on programming them.

Thanks.

Personally I wouldn't recommend wrist pushups, seems rather risky for the joint.

For fingertip pushups I've found that a quick warm up set of fingertip pushups followed by 2 to 3 work sets of 5 reps works pretty well. I got these ideas from convict conditioning 2. It's better to err on the side of caution with the finger joints.

 

[the hansenator]

Wrist pushups are great. It took me a long time to ease into it because my wrists were so tender at first. They really did toughen up quite a bit and they don't bother me the way they used to. But there is a progression to follow and you have to take it slow.

 

[guardian7]

I'd like to start including fingertip and back of wrist pushups in my workouts. I've been experimenting with them and can do singles so now I'm looking for advice on programming them.

Thanks.

I have read that fingertip pushups are great because they provide extension to the excessive gripping that most people especially those using kettlebells do. You can follow the progressions of a beginner doing pushups but go even more slowly. For example, start pushing yourself off a wall a few times a day to build tolerance. Then off a raised surface etc. Wrist seems like a questionable return on investment and injury possibility, but I am middle aged, so I am a little cautious with exercise choices. I would do very low volume but frequent to prepare the joints and tendons. Be careful.

 

[the hansenator]

I tried doing some fingertip pushups at the end of my workout but I was kind of tired by then. Maybe I'll try some in the next warmup or do a couple of sets on off days. How often would you need something like that to get a benefit, maybe two days per week?

My left wrist used to bother me a lot. It would be tender and could be sore for days at a time. I even went to physical therapy for it. Doing wrist pushup progressions seems to have cured me though so I guess I'm a believer. But I fully agree you can hurt yourself if you go too hard or too fast. I use the progression from the Gymnastic Bodies program which starts out nice and gentle. I spent a long time on my knees putting just a little bit of pressure on one side at a time before moving to both sides at once and then pushups on knees.

 

[Machete]

I think the biggest thing I got from the GB HS program is the wrist stretch series. If I remember, I try to do it daily. I feel the whole wrist push-up series takes a lot of volume though--I'd rather cut the volume to .5 or .3 and do it often rather than the full 5 sets. Maybe I'm just lazy.