You're excited to be out on the track with a lot of experienced riders. But after a while, you start to feel a little pain in your grip, even cramps. This makes what should be a fun downhill race painful and dangerous - and I'm sure you don't want to leave your life hanging on your weak fingers. Here are some basic exercises that will help your hands get stronger.

The importance of the hand that holds the handlebars during cycling as a fundamental point of control over your ride cannot be underestimated. While more cycling exercises will give you a stronger grip, these exercises below will shorten the process of getting stronger. Like other exercises, these are best done by starting simple and then gradually increasing in difficulty. The secret to a quick fix is to do them as regularly as possible - and you can add them to your routine!

Building your wrist strength with these exercises will not only be good for cycling, but will also make your life a lot easier.

Exercise 1

Hold a dumbbell in each hand and start with your hands vertical on each side of your body, palms forward, then bend your forearms until your hands are bent to 90 degrees. Then continue to lean your hands up and toward your body until your knuckles are pointing at you. The second half of the movement is repeated 5 times before the hands return to their natural downward position. This exercise is performed 4 times as a set.

Exercise 2

Hold a dumbbell in each hand with the back of your hand forward. Bend your hands upward and pin your upper arms to the sides of your body as much as possible. This toughens the muscles in the back of your forearms. If the dumbbell weight feels right, this exercise can be divided into three sets of 15 reps each.

Exercise 3

This exercise requires the use of lighter dumbbells and care must be taken not to injure yourself. Stand up straight with your hands bent at 90 degrees to your body, elbows clamped to your ribs, and then rotate your forearms and wrists 180 degrees. Focus only on the forearms and wrists, trying to get only the relevant muscles worked. Repeat 20 times with each hand.