Wrist Circles

A beginner isolation mobility exercise that works the forearms, needing no equipment.

Wrist Circles — Starting position Starting position
Wrist Circles — End position End position
Difficulty Beginner
Type Stretching
Equipment No Equipment
Primary Muscle Forearms
Logged As Time held

How to Do Wrist Circles

  1. Start by standing straight with your feet being shoulder width apart from each other. Elevate your arms to the side of you until they are fully extended and parallel to the floor at a height that is evenly aligned with your shoulders. Tip: Your torso and arms should form the letter "T: Your palms should be facing down. This is the starting position.
  2. Keeping your entire body stationary except for the wrists, begin to rotate both wrists forward in a circular motion. Tip: Pretend that you are trying to draw circles by using your hands as the brush. Breathe normally as you perform this exercise.
  3. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.

Muscles Worked

Front
Back

Primary

Where Wrist Circles does most of its work.

Alternatives to Wrist Circles

1 movement that train the same primary muscle, closest substitutes first — same kind of training, then variations of the movement itself, then a similar difficulty.

  1. 1 Kneeling Forearm Stretch

    Kneeling Forearm Stretch

    A beginner isolation mobility exercise that works the forearms.

    beginner Not specified

Frequently Asked Questions

What muscles do wrist circles work?

Wrist Circles primarily works the forearms.

What equipment do I need for wrist circles?

None. Wrist Circles is a bodyweight movement you can do anywhere you have floor space.

Wrist Circles: is it suitable for beginners?

Yes. Wrist Circles is rated beginner. Movements you can learn in a session, with a low skill floor and a forgiving failure mode.

What can I do instead of wrist circles?

Kneeling Forearm Stretch train the same primary muscles and are listed with alternatives above.

How do I log wrist circles in Fitnit?

As time held rather than reps. Fitnit records the seconds and credits them to the forearms on your body map, so you can see which muscles you train hard and never stretch.

Photographs and step-by-step instructions from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. Muscle mapping and alternatives by Fitnit.

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