Weak Wrists?

[Golden Arms]

I have noticed after injuring one of my wrist several months ago, that even though I was doing wrist strengthening excercises, when I finally was able to get back on the heavy bag, my wrist would buckle once in a while until my body sort of "remembered" how it was supposed to hold my wrists in alignment when I was hitting hard. My question is, do you have any wrist strengthening drills, lifting routines, etc, that will sure up your wrists while hitting, vs. just strengthening the muscles, or are they the same thing.....My personal view at the moment is that I just have to do heavy bag work to get my wrists used to aligning themselves and that wrist strength itself may possibly be a totally seperate thing. Opinions?

-Golden Arms-

[Ray Pina]

Your wrists are most likely bad because of heavy bag use. Not good for the wrist to take that sort of impact. Also, do you tape up or secure your wrists with glove fasteners? You shouldn't; makes your wrists lazy, when you hit without them you can hurt yourself.

Go to maybe a medium or light weight bag, but if you're having problems give it a rest for a while. I tore ligaments in my wrist back in August. Its healed now, but on some days it still pops a bit, but is 100% OK for striking.

[Golden Arms]

Hmm...okay..more background here...I dont wear any sort of wraps or wrist braces on the bag..and I am now fine to hit the heavy bag again...what I meant was more that I couldnt hit it because of a non heavy bag related wrist injury for a couple months, and even though i was doing wrist excercises (so I know i have actual wrist STRENGTH) that didnt seem to make my wrist any less prone to bend until I just started aligning it right again..do you think that actually hitting stuff hard is the best/or even the only way to actually train the wrist and if not, what excercises does everyone recommend? Hope this is not too confusing..I am getting confused ;)

-Golden Arms-

[shaolinboxer]

I'm sure your wrists are strong, but it is the alignment of your bones and the precision of your technique that will save your wrists from injury.

I use a square bag filled with beans to check my alignment (screwed into a brick wall). At first, I had problems with my wirst collapsing, but after a while and lots of experimenting I can strike the target squarely everytime.

Most people experiece the problem of being able to punch harder then their wrists can take. I recommend punching only as hard as you can and still get the alignment perfect. In the long run this will lead to great strikes.

[IronFist]

Wow I've heard of like 10 different things called "Taming the Tiger." Hehehe :)

I've heard knuckle pushups work, too, but I've never tried them.

Good luck,

Iron

[EARTH DRAGON]

Here is the best excersise for strengthening your writs. Take a broom handle and cut it to about foot and a drill a hole in it, then tie a rope through the hole and attach a 5 lb weight to the other end if it and then hold out the broom stick and wind up the rope. try it 2 or 3 x and your wrists and forearms will burn and also strengthen at an alarming rate.... good luck

[dezhen2001]

i found that hitting the bag wrong was more because of my sloppy technique than having no wrist strength. So if you concentrate on technique for a while, and not just power maybe it can help?

Also, at my boxing club i never wore bandages (and rarely even mitts). I prefered to develop my technique by hitting the bag with my fist (conditioning it also). That way if i was wrong i would know about it. Kinda silly but there ya go.

guohuen - did you manage to get my email? I sent a couple but my computer was playing up?

thanks,

david

[dezhen2001]

i did knuckle pushups during my 'old' karate days, as well as hitting a makiwara. It seems to work quite well, as i could work out on a heavy bag etc. without needing any supports or even gloves.

guohuen: no worries, my computer was being silly so just wanted to make sure :)


david

[Golden Arms]

Wow, all the responses are great! I have been doing the wooden dowel with the rope and a 10-15 lb weight for about a year now, that is a great excercise, and also fu jow/tiger pushups and knuckle pushups for longer, so I think you guys all confirmed what I wanted to know...I think I just got sloppy with my wrist from not using it to hit with for several months.....my alignment must have just gotten off.... Guohuen..Is that taming the tiger a reference to Gung Chi Fuk Fu Kuen (Taming/Subdueing the Tiger in an I Form, or however you choose to interpret it) as I have done those pushups, but never put a name to them as such...thanks again for the suggestions all! :D

-Golden Arms-

[Mutant]

I'd lay off the heavy bag for awhile (unless wrists taped) and work on non-impact conditioning.

-many good suggestions above

my personal wrist conditioning would be something like:

- rock climbing (excellent for wrist, finger, everthing strengthening

- practice chin na

- train with weapons

- taming the tiger pushups and variations (as described above, theyre excellent)

good luck!

[sanchezero]

Connective tissue develops much more slowly than muscle. You can do all the strengthening you want but your tendons and ligaments will lag. This is a major cause of injury. Develop your strength slowly, especially in a complex structure like the wrist and hand.

Punching a heavy bag is actually good for your connective tissue if you do it right. Repetetive, light to moderate impact has been shown to help develop or heal this tissue. So, if you start bag training slowly and continue to do more moderate pounding instead of trying to rattle the bolts loose you should be on the right track.

There are also several supplements reputed to keep your connective tissue healthy.

[Sam Wiley]

I learned a method for grip strengthening that might help you. Unfold two sheets of newspaper and hold one in each hand at the corner at arms length to your side. Then ball them up without bending your wrist too much.

Going lightly, or at least lighter, on your heavy bag for a while with no gloves on might help too.

It's just going to take time until things are back to normal.

[BiNKy]

I had wrist surgery in December due to a dorsal ganglion cyst that developed from heavy stress. They are common with gymnists. I firmly believe that over doing falling drills and heavy bag use caused the cyst. The heavy bag I train on is incredibly hard. The wrist surgery I had was painless for the most part. But I think something may be wrong considering the doctor said I should be back at 100% in 4 weeks and its been 6 and my wrist still has sharp pain with certain movements. So go easy on your wrists. As far as conditioning Im not sure about conditioning your wrist but I got tired of my knuckles bleeding when I hit the heavy bag. I took some fine sand paper and grinded my knuckles lightly each day. As soon as it became raw or bled a little bit I would stop. It left me with soft scar tissue that is barely noticeable. Now when I hit the rough heavy bag my knuckles dont bleed even if they glance and slide.

[EARTH DRAGON]

I did the jar thing also , 5 gallon pickle jars filled with sand until one sliped and broke all over my carpet, it took forever to get out and my wife said no more glass and sand so I stick with the winding. LOL take care E.D

[guohuen]

Five Gallons!!!! Yeowww!!!!
Hehehe,,,,, My wife came home one day and saw me doing crane stands on one leg with one gal. glass olive jars full of water at the time and said no no no, out of here with that! So I found two one gal. plastic jars with screw on lids. (Helmann's Mayo)

Golden, exactly. T.M.

[EARTH DRAGON]

To bad our wives are the ones who stand in the way of our training...LOL but seriously go to your localk pizzaria and ask them for an empty 5 gallon jar the have lots of them lying around.....

[guohuen]

He he... Bought my wife the 24 form Tai Chi tape from Li Mei Han & Li Baiqing. Maybe she'll stay out of the way now!LOL!!
Thanks for the tip! T.M.