Wrist weights/ankle weights training

[Cappadonna]

i was looking into buying some weights for the wrists, and ankles while training at home and while doing some heavy bag work.

any cons? are these bad on your joints or anything like that?

[sanjuro_ronin]

i was looking into buying some weights for the wrists, and ankles while training at home and while doing some heavy bag work.

any cons? are these bad on your joints or anything like that?

Never, ever, use ankle and wrist weights in a high impact exercise.
Slow moving and controlled ones like Hulkout suggested are fine, but never anything ballistic.
You can use them when doing BW exercises like Bodyweight squats, dips, chins and such.
If you wanna add weight to your arms during HB work use the big 16OZ Boxing gloves, but I don't like the artifical and enlarged striking area they create unless you are very disciplined in keeping your strike zone very small.

[SteveLau]

Never, ever, use ankle and wrist weights in a high impact exercise

That is probably valid. I would recommend against striking bags while carrying weights.

Using rings will be good in slow or speedy exercises instead of wrapped weights. It trains us to have good control of our move. There is a likely shortcoming in striking air, especially in the braking part of a strike.



Regards,

KC
Hong Kong

[Cappadonna]

thanks for all the tips..

so what type of exercises would you guys suggest i do while wearing ankle/wrist weights?

[Frost]

thanks for all the tips..

so what type of exercises would you guys suggest i do while wearing ankle/wrist weights?

i suppose the first question to ask is what are you looking to get out of using them, are you trying to build strength, speed, stamina? do you have a goal in mind that you think using the weights will aid you in reaching?

[Cappadonna]

i'm interested in strength/stamina

[Mr Punch]

Cons:

1) It is nothing like mimicking the stresses on your limbs of an unweighted punch.
2) It is teaching your muscles to overcompensate to slow down, so as to not injure your joints and muscles. Especially for any air punching.
3) It does nothing to increase strength at those weights, and causes bad form.

Pros:

1) It could increase endurance without damaging your form assuming you are using very light weights and doing upward actions (i.e. uppercuts, lifting kicks etc)
2) Er...

Conclusion.

Don't bother. Certainly doing it in the air is dangerous unless you are doing it very slowly with controlled muscle use as part of a stretching programme at the end of your workout. If you want to use weights on the bag, 16 oz gloves are about all that you need.

[solo1]

bad form and for the legs: shin splints. Pass.

[hulkout]

This may not apply to what you're asking about heavy bag work, but I used wrist weights early on when I was learning the Sil Lim Tao form of Wing Chun. It's important to imagine downward pressure on your arms when your extending them out for the first part of the form. This prevents you from raising your shoulders and also helps keep everything centered. It was a big help since I didn't have to imagine downward pressure. I had real downward pressure. I know back in the day, Bruce Lee and some other guys used iron rings for the same purpose. But I found wrist weights to be just as effective. I just put them up higher on my forearms so I could move my wrists and hands freely. As far as punching goes, I don't think it's a good idea. I've never tried it, but I'd imagine that it would be pretty hard on your joints if you're using fast motions like punching. Using weights for forms like Wing Chun or Hung Gar that are slower and more controlled can help, but punching seems risky.

[sihing]

This may not apply to what you're asking about heavy bag work, but I used wrist weights early on when I was learning the Sil Lim Tao form of Wing Chun. It's important to imagine downward pressure on your arms when your extending them out for the first part of the form. This prevents you from raising your shoulders and also helps keep everything centered. It was a big help since I didn't have to imagine downward pressure. I had real downward pressure. I know back in the day, Bruce Lee and some other guys used iron rings for the same purpose. But I found wrist weights to be just as effective. I just put them up higher on my forearms so I could move my wrists and hands freely. As far as punching goes, I don't think it's a good idea. I've never tried it, but I'd imagine that it would be pretty hard on your joints if you're using fast motions like punching. Using weights for forms like Wing Chun or Hung Gar that are slower and more controlled can help, but punching seems risky.

For Wing Chun, I would have put the weights around my elbow area, not on the wrist as this would kick in the shoulders as you extended your tan/fok in SNT. The with the weights around the elbow area you would get that downward sinking feeling for the elbow, but it wouldn't kick in the shoulders which is a no no in WC. Also, imagining downward pressure in WC is incorrect as well (now you are chasing hands, or going away from your opponent), as you should be thinking forward pressure with a heavy elbow attached to it. http://www.thechinaboxer.com/2009/09...lbow-soft-arm/ , good explaination here.

RE: Ankle weights, back in my early years I experimented with them, as like others have said I didn't do any ballistic movements, rather I just walked around with them on, and did slow extensions with my side kicks or round kicks, using the wall as balance. To a 4 count, raise up, extended and hold, bring back, then down, then repeat. Raise up only to the point of comfort for your flexibility level, otherwise you might hurt your flexors and lower back. Stretch/warmup without the weights before. They say the only way to work the muscles for kicking is to kick, slow extensions helped in that manner, but they are not for everyone.

James