First trouble with upright rows...

Happens to me from time to time. Just lay off it for a while and if you do it again just use less weight.

 

Take a slightly wider grip and keep those elbows HIGH. Should alleviate some stress on your wrists.

 

Most strains are a result of a muscle compensating for a weaker one.

I would do hammer curls bring your forarms-wrist up to par as well as closed fist pushups. During upright movement point your elbows out yet parallel don't drop them down use a one foot grip if you go closer it could cause more tention.

or it could be you need a week of!

 

You may like upright rows now and the wrist is just the beginning. This movement, as you get older, will aggravate your shoulder too. The design of the shoulder girdle doesn't allow for much error in movement. When you combine this with a movement that potentially over rotates the humorous (upper arm), you can easily cause an injury. Use it sparingly combined with other shoulder exercises that can be more kind to your shoulder joint (shoulder press, lateral front and rear delt raises, dumbbell and or barbell to name a few) for the shoulder and you will stay healthy and functional for a long time.

MA in Exercise physiology

Matt

 

With this movement you don't want to "grab" the bar with a tight grip. It tends to make one want to lift the bar/wt higher than what is proper and necessary for exercising the traps and delts by engaging the extensor muscles of the forearms. Let the bar hang on curled fingers only. This allows for a strick isolation of the movement and will solve your wrist problem.

 

With an upright row the first major muscle action is the biceps. There is no need to perform an upright row if the goal is to increase the strength/size of the upper trapezius and levator scapulae musculature. The last middle to last action of an upright row is the raising of the shoulder to the ears. This can be performed by doing a shrug only. There is no additional benefit to the upper trapezius/levator scapulae musculature by lifting the weight from your waist to the top of your chest. Just do shoulder shrugs and decrease the likelihood of wrist problems.

 

Upright rows is a heavy compound exercise and involves more than one muscle group when lifting "moderate-heavy". Yes I do feel the traps doing this but the main reason for a bodybuilder to practice this exercise is to isolate the Pecs from the Delts and indirectly involve the trap and upper back muscles although the bicep is involved. If the lift motion is above the head your involving your trap more and reducing isolation. The lift is actually just below the chin this gives a real burn on the trap when held momentarily.

 

Edit:

I use an ez curl bar to do bent over rows. I really don't do upright rows anymore.

Also, how high are you raising the bar? There are many ways to cause injury with incorrect or over extending the movement.

 

Make sure to bend your knees & black straight and bringing the bar to your belly not your chest. Assuming your doing it straight grip not underhand. I prefer straight bar on the bend overs as I can compound the weight.

 

knees bent, b(l)ack straight and to the belly........ I prefer the ez curl as I can feel a better contraction and it's more comfortable. It's not so much about the amount of weight for me as the form and letting gravity work its magic.