This was really useful as my husband is having wrist problems at the moment so thank you. Also interested to see you mention hypermobility. I only found out this year that I have it!
I don't know much about the hypermobility. It came to light when I saw an osteopath earlier in the year. I go through phases of falling over a lot, and I now wonder whether it's the hypermobility in the leg joints. Who knows? We're funny little creatures, us humans!
Thanks for this little movement break! I need to share this with my husband, who's a software engineer. It's funny, when I was doing the wrist circles at the beginning and end of the video, I found myself thinking, "Am I doing this right? Is it circles or figure 8's??" Ha! I bet it doesn't really matter...
Oh good call. I also think bouldering would strengthen your wrists for writing -- you might be doing the job there already! But the warm up could be useful, yes. We were just at a bouldering place but in the kiddy part and I was super jealous...good memories of climbing but it's been ages.
Did you climb a lot previously? Can't remember if we had this conversation before.
I've got friends who take their kids to a kids' bouldering class and whilst that's happening they go boulder themselves for an hour or so in the adult section.
Oh nice. I don’t think we’ve discussed! How did you get into it? I did it a ton in HK, although more often with ropes. There was a huge outdoor wall and I also took a club of teens there for a while (I also got instruction). Had a magical experience my first ever time with some very experienced climbers in the dolomites. But I love the simplicity of bouldering and jumping on and off as you please! You’ve inspired me to look into a class for my son :) I have him in gymnastics but they make us leave when I really want to play around in the gym 😁 😉
I started with ropes, too. A lot of indoor top-rope, then got my lead pass. Did a lot of that. But then I saw someone fall from the roof due to some inexperienced belaying and that kinda spooked me (edit: as in, they literally hit the floor falling from the roof. Was nasty). I kept going for a bit, but I lost confidence in my own belay partner and so I inevitably turned to bouldering and it became my love. The on-off is so good, as you say. I like that I don't have to depend upon anyone, but still have a fantastic social group when at the gym, plus there's a bumper crop of gyms now in Melbourne.
The puzzle-solving nature of bouldering also draws me a lot. I love discovering the efficiency/precision of movement and shapes on the wall and try to be as sloth-like as I can in my movements 😆 In many ways, it is my meditative time.
Love all of that. Although I've always done more individual sports, I'm drawn to the social nature of them. I tried to get back to social running this year but an injury sidelined me. This could be it! Thanks for the inspiration. If not now, I think bouldering is calling me soon...
Thank you for talking about yoga of the wrists! I think areas like wrists and ankles and elbow joints are not mentioned in a lot of yoga classes. Luckily, my current yoga teacher is really good at including these little areas that can cause problems if they are ignored, but having taken many classes over the years, a lot of teachers don't cover these areas. It's also important for someone like myself who works in an office several days a week, as well as then working on writing on the other days! I spend far too much time on a keyboard, although have to say that my hands and wrists often ache more when I do a lot of handwriting, not sure why. With that in mind, the exercises you share on your video here would be really useful for students taking exams.
Oh that's great about your yoga teacher! I think most kinds of yoga will at least help you strengthen your wrists, but a particular focus is really useful. I've also found a few things one can do on the playground as my family is in that space quite a lot :)
I think you're right about the handwriting. We can squeeze and fatigue easily, especially if stressed like during an exam. I have felt it all the way up through my shoulder before! That's a good idea to do some exercises with students, including those they could do in the middle of an exam to relax the entire hand.
Way back when the army was teaching blind speed typing to a bunch of us newbie comms ops, the chief instructor walked in to talk about wrist and finger exercises. He performed an we copied. His last piece was to slowly bring his open hands together, and then faster and faster. Without another word he bowed deep and walked out to the sound of orchestrated applause.
I sometimes use this at the end of my gigs. Never fails. lol. Peace, Maurice
This was really useful as my husband is having wrist problems at the moment so thank you. Also interested to see you mention hypermobility. I only found out this year that I have it!
Really helpful post.
Happy it helped! Hypermobility can be a real pain. Hope you've found some solutions. Let me know if you're looking for help with the yoga.
Thank you, I will.
I don't know much about the hypermobility. It came to light when I saw an osteopath earlier in the year. I go through phases of falling over a lot, and I now wonder whether it's the hypermobility in the leg joints. Who knows? We're funny little creatures, us humans!
Oh no!
Osteopath is a good start. I have seen one here who is like magic.
Thanks for this little movement break! I need to share this with my husband, who's a software engineer. It's funny, when I was doing the wrist circles at the beginning and end of the video, I found myself thinking, "Am I doing this right? Is it circles or figure 8's??" Ha! I bet it doesn't really matter...
It doesn’t matter! :) I do alphabets sometimes.
Thanks, Jacquie, and good idea for your husband!
Great tips, thanks.
I do a lot of bouldering, so I imagine this is also good for helping there too 😁
Oh good call. I also think bouldering would strengthen your wrists for writing -- you might be doing the job there already! But the warm up could be useful, yes. We were just at a bouldering place but in the kiddy part and I was super jealous...good memories of climbing but it's been ages.
Did you climb a lot previously? Can't remember if we had this conversation before.
I've got friends who take their kids to a kids' bouldering class and whilst that's happening they go boulder themselves for an hour or so in the adult section.
(And they totally should make us leave the gym! Haha)
Oh nice. I don’t think we’ve discussed! How did you get into it? I did it a ton in HK, although more often with ropes. There was a huge outdoor wall and I also took a club of teens there for a while (I also got instruction). Had a magical experience my first ever time with some very experienced climbers in the dolomites. But I love the simplicity of bouldering and jumping on and off as you please! You’ve inspired me to look into a class for my son :) I have him in gymnastics but they make us leave when I really want to play around in the gym 😁 😉
I started with ropes, too. A lot of indoor top-rope, then got my lead pass. Did a lot of that. But then I saw someone fall from the roof due to some inexperienced belaying and that kinda spooked me (edit: as in, they literally hit the floor falling from the roof. Was nasty). I kept going for a bit, but I lost confidence in my own belay partner and so I inevitably turned to bouldering and it became my love. The on-off is so good, as you say. I like that I don't have to depend upon anyone, but still have a fantastic social group when at the gym, plus there's a bumper crop of gyms now in Melbourne.
The puzzle-solving nature of bouldering also draws me a lot. I love discovering the efficiency/precision of movement and shapes on the wall and try to be as sloth-like as I can in my movements 😆 In many ways, it is my meditative time.
Love all of that. Although I've always done more individual sports, I'm drawn to the social nature of them. I tried to get back to social running this year but an injury sidelined me. This could be it! Thanks for the inspiration. If not now, I think bouldering is calling me soon...
My aching wrists thank you!
You're welcome :)
Thank you for talking about yoga of the wrists! I think areas like wrists and ankles and elbow joints are not mentioned in a lot of yoga classes. Luckily, my current yoga teacher is really good at including these little areas that can cause problems if they are ignored, but having taken many classes over the years, a lot of teachers don't cover these areas. It's also important for someone like myself who works in an office several days a week, as well as then working on writing on the other days! I spend far too much time on a keyboard, although have to say that my hands and wrists often ache more when I do a lot of handwriting, not sure why. With that in mind, the exercises you share on your video here would be really useful for students taking exams.
Oh that's great about your yoga teacher! I think most kinds of yoga will at least help you strengthen your wrists, but a particular focus is really useful. I've also found a few things one can do on the playground as my family is in that space quite a lot :)
I think you're right about the handwriting. We can squeeze and fatigue easily, especially if stressed like during an exam. I have felt it all the way up through my shoulder before! That's a good idea to do some exercises with students, including those they could do in the middle of an exam to relax the entire hand.
Thanks Kate!
Way back when the army was teaching blind speed typing to a bunch of us newbie comms ops, the chief instructor walked in to talk about wrist and finger exercises. He performed an we copied. His last piece was to slowly bring his open hands together, and then faster and faster. Without another word he bowed deep and walked out to the sound of orchestrated applause.
I sometimes use this at the end of my gigs. Never fails. lol. Peace, Maurice
Ha. Ok Maurice, good one :)
Thanks for reading!