Animal Flow's Complete Wrist Mobility Routine. 8 Exercises to Prepare Your Wrists Before and After Exercise.

One of the 6 Components of Animal Flow , this movement training method invented by Mike Fitch and which combines animal movements, yoga, breakdance and fitness,

Is the preparation, mobilization and strengthening of the wrists.

Indeed, since these training sessions are based exclusively on ground movements , it is essential to prepare these small joints as best as possible to avoid injuries.

In this article, we will take a detailed look at the complete mobility routine offered by Animal Flow to prepare for their training sessions, but also before Yoga, Breakdance, Handstand and even Locomotion sessions.

8 simple and easy mobility exercises for more flexible and stronger wrists.

Very good reading my move!

Why is it important to mobilize your wrists?

Animal Flow makes extensive use of the quadrupedal position, in which you rest on your feet and hands on the ground. This is one of the system's unique features that makes it interesting, in my opinion.

Usually, we don't put our hands on the ground much and we don't use the full range of our wrists.

As a result, we end up with joints that are not ready to support loads or movements more intense than holding a smartphone.

According to Mike Fitch, founder of Animal Flow, the wrists are often the weak link for people just starting out.

This is one of the reasons why he recommends mobilizing these joints before and after each workout.

This will help them warm up, recover and adapt to these new demands.

It is through his experience in different practices such as Breakdance, Parkour, Animal Movements and even Yoga, that Mike Fitch decided to integrate wrist mobilization as one of the foundations of his method.

From my own experience as a teacher of movement and mobility and as a practitioner of these same sports and many others such as balances, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Capoeira, Calisthenics...

I can only agree with Mike Fitch: wrists are the forgotten element of most recreational sports practitioners (bodybuilding, yoga, bodyweight, crossfit, etc.).

Regain a correct range of movement, be able to bend your wrists at least 90 degrees and, above all, not have pain when you put your hands on the ground, when you want to do a push-up or balance on your hands,

It is not a luxury reserved for an elite of super athletes.

It's actually a very simple process based on training volume :

1. Repeat a wrist mobility routine every day .
2. Repeat each move in this routine for 30 seconds .
3. Perform the movements in a controlled manner .

Here are the details of the exercises to be repeated in the order of appearance.

Exercise #1: Magnetic Wrists

In this first exercise, imagine having a bracelet on each wrist. Each bracelet has a magnet and the two want to stay in contact throughout this first mobilization.

The movement breaks down as follows:

• I start with my wrists touching and my palms facing each other.
• I place my thumbs across each palm and then stretch my arms out in front of me, palms facing the floor. My wrists are touching on the thumb side.
• I point my fingers toward the floor, bend my elbows, and bring the backs of my hands into contact . My wrists are still touching.
• I move my fingers up towards me and then towards the sky and maintain contact between my wrists on the little finger side.
• I bring my palms back together. The repetition is complete.

Repeat this movement for 30 seconds then change the direction of rotation.

Exercise #2: Wrist Rolls

For this movement, place your hands palm to palm and interlace your fingers, then slowly rotate one hand over the other.

I make sure to keep my palms in contact . If I feel a pinch or pain during a portion of the movement, I adjust the range of motion to stay just away from the painful area.

I am careful to use my wrist as a point of rotation and to breathe deeply to relax.

I do this movement for 30 seconds then I change the direction of rotation and start again for 30 seconds.

If one direction of rotation seems less coordinated, you can spend a little more time on it.

Exercise #3: Wrist Waves

This movement takes place in the following stages:

• I interlace my fingers, keeping my palms facing the floor and my elbows at the same height as my wrists .
• I lift an elbow to start the wave motion.
• Keeping my wrist at the same height, I lower my elbow while raising the other, which brings the wrist to the same side and creates a wave motion.
• I lower my elbow to return to the starting position.

I do this movement for 30 seconds then I change the direction of rotation and start again for 30 seconds.

As with the previous exercise, feel free to spend more time on one side if you have more difficulty with the movement.

Exercise #4: Buddha Prayer Stretch

This movement is particularly beneficial for the handstand portion of the Animal Flow system. It is performed as follows:

• Place your hands palm to palm at face height with your fingers extended.
• Lower your hands , spreading your elbows and keeping your palms in contact.
• I maintain pressure between the palms of the hands during the movement and try to keep as much of their surface area in contact with each other as possible.
• When my palms begin to separate, I bring my hands up to face height , bringing my elbows together.

I repeat this movement for 30 seconds.

Exercise #5: Lateral Opening / Stretch

We start with the same position as for the wrist waves :

• With my fingers interlaced and my elbows at my sides, I keep my palms facing the floor.
• I gradually stretch my arms out in front of me, trying to stretch my wrists on the little finger side.
• I make sure to keep my hands interlaced and my palms facing the floor.
• I bring my hands back to my chest in the starting position.

On this movement, I am careful not to point my palms in front of me because that would change the mobilization.

As with the other movements, I perform this lateral opening movement for 30 seconds.

Exercise #6: Shaka Stretch

This stretch takes its name from the eponymous Hawaiian gesture .

It is done in this way:

• I stick my elbows to my body and place my forearms parallel to the ground with my fists closed.
• I extend my thumbs and little fingers.
• I rotate to bring the thumbs towards each other and then in opposite directions.

Exercise #7: Sagittal Shaka Stretch

For this mobilization, I start in the same position with the thumb and little finger extended and the palms facing each other.

Instead of rotating my wrists, I bend my wrist towards my little finger and then towards my thumb.

I repeat this movement for 30 seconds.

Exercise #8: Wrist Relief Position Stretch

This movement is used to relieve the wrists.

In fact, it mobilizes the joints in the opposite direction to that mainly used in Animal Flow training.

This exercise is similar to the Prayer exercise :

• I place my hands back to back , at hip height, fingers pointing towards the ground.
• Keeping the backs of my hands in contact and my fingers facing the floor, I raise them , placing my elbows at my sides.
• If I want to increase the mobilization , I lower my elbows when my hands are in the high position.

This movement is particularly interesting at the end of the session, especially if you feel that your wrists are tired.

That concludes this Animal Flow wrist mobility routine.

There are many other possible exercises and other ways to prepare your wrists before physical activity or simply to loosen up your wrists, but the important thing remains regularity .

If this kind of routine appeals to you, head over to my virtual workout room , the DOJO, to try several mobility routines and even Animal Flow workouts.

This article is part of my efforts to make knowledge about Movement and Mobility accessible to all , to help you achieve greater physical autonomy.

Thank you for your attention, my friend.

Nomad Slim
Founder of MOUVERS