Wrist RollerMuscles Worked
The wrist roller works your forearms, both the flexors and the extensors, as you wind a hanging weight up and lower it back down, while your front delts hold your arms out in front. Changing the rolling direction shifts the work between the top and underside of the forearm.
How to do it
- Tie a light plate to the rope and make sure the rope hangs fully unwound from the roller.
- Stand tall with your feet about shoulder width apart and hold the roller with an overhand grip, hands shoulder width apart.
- Raise your arms straight out in front of you to about shoulder height and keep them there for the whole set.
- Turn the roller one hand at a time, twisting your wrists to wind the rope until the weight touches the bar.
- Reverse the motion and unwind slowly, controlling the weight all the way back down.
- For balance, do some sets rolling the top of the roller toward you and others rolling it away.
Form tips
- Keep your arms at shoulder height for the whole set; if they start to drift down, the weight is too heavy for this setup.
- Lower the weight under control instead of letting it spin down, since the slow unwind does a lot of the work.
- Use small, full wrist turns and keep your torso still, without leaning back to help.
Why it made the list
No. 8 of 10
Best Forearm Exercises
Continuous wrist flexion/extension under load. One of the most effective forearm builders if equipment is available.
More forearm exercises
See it on your own body map
Log your Wrist Roller sets in KasMaker and watch your forearms and shoulders fill in on the map, weighted by how much you did. Logging and the body map are free on iPhone.
