Help with strengthening hands and wrists.

[Fiendlover]

I'm sorry if this has already been a topic but I need some major tips on how to stregthen my hands and wrists.

I have a bag at home that I practice on and it's pretty good but it's not a hard bag and it needs more sand in the bottom and since I've been practicing on it I thought that my punches and strikes were pretty good. That's until I started going to the gym in March and trying my "good" punches on a very VERY hard bag and almost spraining my wrist.

So I need to know two things; what can I do to strenghten my hands so that my actual punch hits harder (and not the power behind it such as putting my body behind the punch) and how to strengthen my wrists so that it won't bend back when I actually punch the hard bag properly.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Josh Oakley]

knuckle pushups, and paying VERY close attetion to how your wrist is lined up. If it's lined up correcty the force should pass through your wrist into your forearm.

There are also wrist strengtheners you can buy, and you can do wrist curls. I'd also buy a pair of wrist wraps and hit that much harder bag more softly.

 

[jarrod]

hand strength is well & good: i'm a big proponent of hand strength BUT you need to consider that a heavy bag is not a human being. punching a person will not be the same as punching a bag. the dynamics are totally different, & if you strike a heavy bag as hard as you can over & over you WILL incur injuries. instead, use the bag to develop technique, speed, accuracy, & movement. a human being is not a bag full of sand suspended from above. a living opponent will move & react differently from a hanging heavy bag. we're not built to hit hanging bags of sand at full power, & even if we could it doesn't equate fighting ability.

now for the meat of your question. josh has already given you good advice. also, make sure you wrap your wrists properly before striking. farmer's walk, wrist curls, & general grip training are all good ideas. also, make sure your hands are wraped properly before training. hope this helps,

jf

 

[mook jong man]

I do towel pull ups which strengthen my hands and the whole forearm , as for the striking make sure your forearm and fist are in alignment or learn to love palm striking .

 

[hpulley]

This is going to sound crazy for training toward punching power but weapons training (kali/escrima, bojutsu, jodo, kobudo) is really, really good strengthing exercise for hands, wrists and forearms. Spinning and holding onto heavy weapons strengthens them a lot.

 

[kaizasosei]

This is going to sound crazy for training toward punching power but weapons training (kali/escrima, bojutsu, jodo, kobudo) is really, really good strengthing exercise for hands, wrists and forearms. Spinning and holding onto heavy weapons strengthens them a lot.

i second that idea! like holding a long stick at the very end with one hand, or finding an iron bar to practice weapons forms with. one of the most important types of strengths, i believe.

also, aside from doing knuckle pushups, concentrating on wrist alignment, i heard another good one recently at training, that is, doing towel pullups. hanging a towel(maybe even various sizes) from a branch or something and then grabing onto both ends to do pullups.

 

[KempoGuy06]

all the suggestions are great and things that i do (minus the weapons, not there yet in training)

this an excersise i learned in PT:

get a 5-10 lb weight. place you forearm on your leg (palm up) to where when you bend your wrist it lies flat against your knee. take the weight in you hand and drop it down holding it only by your finger tips. now slowly curl up using first your finger, then you hand/wrist then go in to a full curl. this will help with most of the musle in your hands/wrist/forearm.

hope it helps

B

 

[Fiendlover]

Thanks for the advive, I apprecate it. What is a farmers walk?

 

[punisher73]

Thanks for the advive, I apprecate it. What is a farmers walk?

Farmer's walk is grabbing a pair of really heavy dumbbell's and then just walking with them as far as you can. It is really a whole body exercise, but your grip gets worked ALOT.

Some other things are go to www.ironmind.com and get the "captains of crush" hand grippers. They are alot better than the cheap handgrippers you get at the store. Also, getting a tennis ball and squeezing it will help with your grip.

If you want to get into more traditional type training, look at the hojo undo used by okinawan arts (mainly goju ryu) and do the exercises with the chishi. It is a stick that is about 26 inches or so in length with a weight at the end of it (5-20lbs or so). If you aren't crafty, buy a 10lb sledge hammer with a wooden handle and cut it accordingly.

 

[mook jong man]

Usually it means pinch gripping some weight plates together or holding heavy dumbells and walking for a specified distance to build grip strength.

 

[Nolerama]

When you're working on the heavy bag, working on your mechanics. Throw proper punches instead of hitting the bag as hard as possible. Your power will follow. I also suggest using hand wraps and/or bag gloves. Your wrists and hands will thank you.

 

[Fiendlover]

thanks for the website. i'll check more into it.

I will also work on my mechanics more so thank you.

 

[chinto]

I'm sorry if this has already been a topic but I need some major tips on how to stregthen my hands and wrists.

I have a bag at home that I practice on and it's pretty good but it's not a hard bag and it needs more sand in the bottom and since I've been practicing on it I thought that my punches and strikes were pretty good. That's until I started going to the gym in March and trying my "good" punches on a very VERY hard bag and almost spraining my wrist.

So I need to know two things; what can I do to strenghten my hands so that my actual punch hits harder (and not the power behind it such as putting my body behind the punch) and how to strengthen my wrists so that it won't bend back when I actually punch the hard bag properly.

Thank you in advance.

my advice is simple, but not fun and easy.. do knuckle push ups. do them with your palms facing towards your feet so your hands are in the same position you would normally do push ups but do so with them in a fist and the wrist strait like when you punch. also do it on a hard surface and try to use only the first 2 knuckles! that will build your hands and wrists for punching.

 

[KenpoTex]

The "Captains of Crush" grippers already mentioned are great...you can develop some serious good grip strength pretty quickly with these.

another one that's good for general grip, wrist, and forearm strength is to get a dumbell or kettlebell in the weight you normally use for curls, then take a bath towel and either loop it through the handle of the kettlebell or use it like a sling to hold the dumbell (be careful not to drop it) then do curls by gripping a handful of towel. Using the bath towel instead of a smaller handtowel will force you to grip a bigger "wad" of cloth...this really fries your arms/hands.

The knuckle push-ups, farmers-walk, etc. also work well.

Also, do a search, there was a fairly long thread on this topic a while back.

 

[Fiendlover]

my advice is simple, but not fun and easy.. do knuckle push ups. do them with your palms facing towards your feet so your hands are in the same position you would normally do push ups but do so with them in a fist and the wrist strait like when you punch. also do it on a hard surface and try to use only the first 2 knuckles! that will build your hands and wrists for punching.

If I loved doing things the fun and easy way I'd wouldn't be a martial artist but a handball player lol just kidding!

No I will definately try this thank you so much.

 

[Fiendlover]

The "Captains of Crush" grippers already mentioned are great...you can develop some serious good grip strength pretty quickly with these.

another one that's good for general grip, wrist, and forearm strength is to get a dumbell or kettlebell in the weight you normally use for curls, then take a bath towel and either loop it through the handle of the kettlebell or use it like a sling to hold the dumbell (be careful not to drop it) then do curls by gripping a handful of towel. Using the bath towel instead of a smaller handtowel will force you to grip a bigger "wad" of cloth...this really fries your arms/hands.

The knuckle push-ups, farmers-walk, etc. also work well.

Also, do a search, there was a fairly long thread on this topic a while back.

ooooooooo thank you I will try this.

and i will take a look for the other thread. Danke!

 

[KenpoTex]

no problem...let me know what you think.

Also, forgot to mention earlier that when doing the "towel curls," make sure to keep your wrist straight. If you can't keep it straight, use a lighter weight until you build up.

 

[Babook]

Farmer's walk is grabbing a pair of really heavy dumbbell's and then just walking with them as far as you can. It is really a whole body exercise, but your grip gets worked ALOT.

Some other things are go to www.ironmind.com and get the "captains of crush" hand grippers. They are alot better than the cheap handgrippers you get at the store. Also, getting a tennis ball and squeezing it will help with your grip.

If you want to get into more traditional type training, look at the hojo undo used by okinawan arts (mainly goju ryu) and do the exercises with the chishi. It is a stick that is about 26 inches or so in length with a weight at the end of it (5-20lbs or so). If you aren't crafty, buy a 10lb sledge hammer with a wooden handle and cut it accordingly.

I second the gripper. You can alternate that with pushups on the knuckles. Someone told me that many years ago and it helped me a lot.

Tennis ball is weird. Somehow you can't get all the fingers on the ball and can't get a good grip.

 

[sjansen]

my advice is simple, but not fun and easy.. do knuckle push ups. do them with your palms facing towards your feet so your hands are in the same position you would normally do push ups but do so with them in a fist and the wrist strait like when you punch. also do it on a hard surface and try to use only the first 2 knuckles! that will build your hands and wrists for punching.

You can also use the bottom three knuckle for pushups. Use whatever your martial art uses for the punch. I use the first two, but in JKD and other martial arts they punch with the bottom three knuckles.

 

[Babook]

You guys mean just a knuckle or a part of the finger from knuckle to knuckle?
I do just knuckles. I hope it won't damage the wrist.