This problem is pretty common. Almost every time the OHS or snatches get programmed I see people bring out their fancy wrist wraps to overhead squat or snatch <65lbs, this is usually followed by some sort of snarky comment from me about not needing wrist wraps to overhead squat or snatch 65lbs. Which is then followed by a whole slew of excuses about why they are a must and OHS's can’t be done without them. Note, unless you had a legitimate wrist injury aka you fractured it or jammed it or something of that nature which impedes your ability to get into proper overhead position (most people don’t), then your wrist will be perfectly capable of holding weight overhead without the use of wraps. I used to be a believer in using wrist wraps to overhead squat until I actually learned how to overhead squat and snatch properly. Since then they haven’t been needed. Here is why your wrists hurt....
1) Plain and simple, you don’t overhead squat, snatch or snatch balance at all frequently enough to stress the wrist joint enough to cause an adaptive response making the bones of your hands and wrist as well as the muscles that support that joint stronger. This is the same as when people complain about their wrist hurting and their collar bones hurting when they first start doing cleans and front squats. No shit they hurt, you never do them!
2) Your wrists are not rolled back and you’re not pressing up through your elbows... Somewhere along the line people started spewing bullshit about the wrist needing to be straight overhead during an OHS or snatch in order for the wrist to be in a healthy position. This is of course just is that, bullshit. The problem with this theory is holding the OHS position with straight wrists puts a lot of load bearing pressure in the “anatomical snuff box”. This is the nice space you have where your thumb and wrist meet. Bones of the hand articulate here as well tendons and arteries run through here so it’s no surprise that it’s painful to hold an overhead position like this. Furthermore straight wrists almost always mean internally rotated shoulders. This is a weak load bearing position for your shoulder. If you put your hands over your head in a snatch position, and then externally rotate your shoulders, you will also notice that your wrists roll back as well. Now to maintain this position, press up through your elbows, squeezing them locked as hard as you can.
3) You don’t grip the bar as hard as you can when the weight is overhead... Sometimes I forget that things that are common sense to me are not common sense to everyone else. This is the case for gripping the bar. Common sense to me when you are trying to move a heavy load in your hands would be to grip and squeeze the fuck out of the bar. Apparently this is not the case for most people. I can’t count how many times I’ve watched people get ready to put weight over their head with a nice open palm grip on the bar because that’s the strong hand position we’re looking for... Trying to overhead squat max weight will always be done most effectively while gripping the bar as tight as you can. This will flex the muscles of the wrist and hand to provide muscular support for the wrist.
Enough with the wrist wraps already. Try and solve the problem for your pain rather than trying to put a band aid on it every time. Band Aids never cured any diseases.
No comments:
Post a Comment