Wrist strengthening and flexibility exercises

Do you think it is worth doing these at such an early stage in my JJ training. Or would the time be better spent practicing the kamae I have been shown?

 

Hi Martin, couple of questions:

What makes you think you need to strengthen your wrists or make them more flexible?
In which directions do you want to become more flexible/stronger?
Why only your wrists? (Why not everything? )
Is it actually wrist strength or grip that you want to strengthen?
Have you injured your wrists in the past, or recently?
If so, was it in training, working out, writing/typing, something else?

My instinct would be to say "your JJ training should make you better at JJ" both technically and athletically, but I don't really know your personal history or goals. Do you need to speak to your GP/physio (injury), or your instructor (if it's related to something happening during your JJ class).
Cheers,
Harry

 

I think I need to improve my wrist flexibility and strength to decrease possible damage to my wrists from training. Relevant injury info would be that my right wrist has been broken multiple times and my left arm has been broken twice. Certain locks don't work properly on my right wrist unless they're really "cranked" I just want to be able to improve my JJ as much as I can out of class without a training partner. So afaik it's exercise and practicing footwork and postures.

 

This is obviously a tricky one to diagnose and make any real recommendations over the net, so I'll just share my experience and hope you get something useful from it!

I broke my right wrist once (distal radius/Colles' fracture), and now most wrist locks go on a lot quicker on my right wrist (flexion, extension and spiral), I therefore tap super early! I know this may not be ideal for a training partner of mine trying to learn when their lock is 'on', but I can't afford to be injured in that way, and everyone reacts differently anyway.

I added gripper training to my workouts about 2 years ago in order to help my wrestling and, as well as improving my ability to hang on to people, I think it has improved the stability of both my wrists, and means that when someone is trying out a new lock (and may have the tendancy to crank it without realising), I have a bit more strength to resist/slow down the crank in order to give myself time to ask them politely to stop...

Summary: TAP EARLY, work within one's own limits (only you know this), consider adding gripper work to one's workouts (like most new exercises: nothing too strenuous to start with).

Hope this helps
Harry

 

Thank you Harry and Simon

 

Actually, I don't really see why you should do additional wrist conditioning.
When I did Ju Jitsu, normal locks training worked fine to strengthen them - I'd also had previous injuries to the wrist tendons so I was in a similar situation. This, of course, unless you are practicing with some phyco who tries to break your wrist on every lock
Also, during class we did knucles push-ups and fingers push-ups, which also worked fine.

 

Following on from your earlier thread, keep practicing kaiten and ukemi - it may not seem like it now but these are the things that over time will save your wrists.

If I may offer some advice, speak to your instructor, their advice on other things looks to be in line with what you'd expect from an x-Kan - you're new to the art and want to go 100mph straight away, I know the feeling, but what you really need to do is practice what you've been shown, again, and again, and again, continued!!

Has your instructor told you to do wrist strengthening exercises? I'm guessing not as you wouldn't have posed this question? - do you follow?

 

Yes I think I see what you are saying

 

If Genbukan/KJJR, just curious, do you have Seigan no Kamae? With fingers spread out apart?

This isn't off topic

 

Yes. My instructor likes us to do as much as we can with our hands opened up like we're holding a ball. I can't remember the kamae name but both hands are opened up. Leading hand pointing at opponents face and the guarding hand is palm down and slightly bent. Middle finger pointing at leading elbow and your arm and shoulders kind of make a o shape

 

That's good, sounds like he's being specific enough. Too many people neglect Kamae.

I don't want to jump the gun and tell you anything before you're ready, but practicing that Kamae will help strengthen your wrists if your hands are positioned correctly.

 

Oh! I didn't know that

Hehe, so it seems I'm already doing a wrist strengthening exercise lol

 

This is what people often misunderstand with traditional arts, not just Japanese but eastern in general, like with the whole cross training thing

Instructors teach things a certain way, they don't always explain everything they do, or why it's done that way, this is a very western way of working. In eastern martial arts, you do as instructed, how you're told, for how long you're told to, you trust your teacher to do what's best for your training, it was explained well in your other thread with 'you do what your instructor tells you to, not what you choose to do' sorry not verbatim and too late to go back and check!!

 

My instructor has explained some further points to me about the kamae we use and positioning of hands etc...

having no preconceived ideas about JMA I made assumptions (yes yes, I know) about what we were doing and why, these assumptions were of course wrong and I now know a bit more about what we are doing, why we are doing it, and what it develops.

I also know quite a few things that I can practice on my own which is always good.

 

I had posted that I use Captains of Crush hand grippers. They have them from 60 lbs all the way up to 395 lbs IIRC. I started with the 100 lb trainer and then went to the 140 which is level 1 and then moved to the 167.5, I moved to the 195 to help me to close the 167.5 which worked and now i'm using the 237.5 to help me get strong enough to close the 195. You would think it would tighten the wrists more... but before I go to class I am actually very warmed up (I squeeze them on the way to class) and very flexible. With taking Combat Hapkido, there's nothing wrong with adding a little more to your grip IMO.

 

There's a great product that martial artists, musicians or anyone that uses there hands can benefit from. It's called Handmaster Plus and it is the best hand/wrist strengthener that you can buy. My first order I bought the three pack because it contains the light, medium, and hard balls. Chances are you'll never use the hard ball as it is very hard. I recently placed a second order for a three pack of mediums. This product just works.

http://www.handmasterplus.com

 

On a necro topic..........

Interesting.......

These are no different than the "stress relief" balls circulating the office

 

Basically that with rubber bands attached.

Funnily enough all the reports I've read on Amazon about them basically say that after a couple of months the elastic was wearing out and snapping.

 

lemons, my first red medium is still going strong after eight months of daily use. I speak to Doc Zac regularly about setting up a recycling program when the bands wear out. The bands do wear about after about three to four months. They wear out faster then the ball itself but I like it better then the captains of crush which only give you one way to exercise your hands. Handmaster exercises all of the muscles of your hands.