I go relatively heavy on them (fail on 6-8 reps) because my grip strength affects my bench press, however i have started to feel some moderate pain on my left wrist (joint), it happens when i try to squeeze something. Is this normal? Also are there any other exercises that possibly don’t use the wrist joint as much?
My previous trainer had me do a protocol he called “Billy big boy grip strength”. I have not found it discussed anywhere else but it worked a treat. But definitely keeps wrists fixed.
He had me work out how long I could dead hang for and then at the end of every workout session he would have me dead hang for 1 quarter of my max hang time every minute on the minute for 8 minutes. He said I could do this after every session no stress. I would increase the time regularly. I stopped doing them when my grip strength caught up to my deadlift (the lift I was having grip troubles with).
The timing is probably not feasible if you dead hang for more than say 2 minutes, but I would suggest this is more a beginner protocol than an advanced protocol. If you can dead hang more than 2 minutes then I would be surprised your grip is holding back your bench. Maybe in that case work on your deadlift as one of the other posters suggested.
Will try this, and I’ll be surprised if its even more than one minute because after my back workout, i am barely able to even hold on to the bar.
Edit: should I have my thumbs over or under the bar?
You focus should just be gripping so whatever is most comfortable, I tend to use an pronated grip with a straight bar, but I’ll prefer a bar that lets me use a neutral grip if possible. You’ll want to engage your lats to pull your shoulder blades together and down when you hang to take the load off your shoulders, so whatever grip helps you do that the most.