bubba29 Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 (edited) I have been strength training for sports, strength, and health for about 27 years. Just recently i discovered I have weak ass wrists. I finally got my hands on a 1/4" grade 5 and couldn't even budge. I have been playing with wrist strengthening for only a few months but I have really been humbled. My question is why isn't wrist strengthening done at all in conventional training for sport? I cannot think of many sports where it wouldn't help. Is it because people have not figured out a way to make money selling stuff for the wrist? Is it because there isn't much research to support it? I wish I discovered this 20+ years ago. Edited September 25, 2012 by bubba29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 I have been involved in strength training for 10 years and no one ever told me about training wrist strength. The only thing you see guys doing in the gym are wrist curls and reverse curls. I noticed my wrist were weak when I started competing this year in grip comps. I'm working really hard to bring them up because I loose way too many points in medleys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel reinard Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 The only athletes I see doing wrist stuff is baseball players. It's popular for them to do wrist roller work. I've seen pitchers do various exercises as well, mostly antagonistic or prehab though. Yes, the wrists do a ton for lower arm strength. I wish I knew about it back then too. I'm sure it would have helped for baseball and even volleyball, not sure about basketball though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba29 Posted September 25, 2012 Author Share Posted September 25, 2012 The only athletes I see doing wrist stuff is baseball players. It's popular for them to do wrist roller work. I've seen pitchers do various exercises as well, mostly antagonistic or prehab though. Yes, the wrists do a ton for lower arm strength. I wish I knew about it back then too. I'm sure it would have helped for baseball and even volleyball, not sure about basketball though. i bet long jump shots would become easier with a stronger wrist. did climbing help your wrist strength? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoggoth Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 The only athletes I see doing wrist stuff is baseball players. It's popular for them to do wrist roller work. I've seen pitchers do various exercises as well, mostly antagonistic or prehab though. Yes, the wrists do a ton for lower arm strength. I wish I knew about it back then too. I'm sure it would have helped for baseball and even volleyball, not sure about basketball though. Hockey players work their grip and wrist strength as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel reinard Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Not sure a strong wrist would help a long jump shot alot. A little yes, but maybe not alot. Power in basketball comes from speed, not strength. Practicing long shots would probably be the best thing. Of course assistance work might prove wise. I forgot hockey players train grip. That's an obvious smart thing to do. Takes strong wrists to one hand through traffic. Sorry I stole your thunder Tommy. Man, I remember a pitcher I met once 10+ years ago. I still remember how fricken huge his hands were. Like catchers gloves they were. Just blew me away how strong they looked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teemu I Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 I played hockey, done a bit of coaching as well..and talked to some elite level hockey players as well. Some players do train wrist strength and grip some, but for most it is unfamiliar, even on elite level. It is quite of an edge over competition if they do, as how hard you can shoot the puck comes down to grip and wrist strength. One of my friends is a professional player in the Finnish elite league. I got him to training grippers and wrist strength with sledgehammers. We had a talk and I just asked him, does he feel that his grip/wrist strength allows him to transfer his total body strength to his shot. His immediate answer was no, so he was convinced. He was really surprised that through all those years he has played, their coaches have not instructed them to do any grip or wrist exercises. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedd Johnson Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 What you are seeing is an example of the overall neglect of well-rounded grip training. Most people think grip training is squeezing a tennis ball and hitting wrist curls at the end of the workout. Forget about working the thumb or training for actual strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba29 Posted September 25, 2012 Author Share Posted September 25, 2012 (edited) What you are seeing is an example of the overall neglect of well-rounded grip training. Most people think grip training is squeezing a tennis ball and hitting wrist curls at the end of the workout. Forget about working the thumb or training for actual strength. my thought is, in most sports, their is usually some sort of rotational torque upon the wrist that could happen many times throughout a competition. not to mention the flexion resistance upon the wrist. i made many tackles in my football days, i also missed some. i wonder how many more i would have made had my hands and wrists been as strong as my pecs and legs. lord knows i did a ton of chest and leg work back in the day in pursuit of improved performance. little to no wrist and hand work. Edited September 25, 2012 by bubba29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
climber511 Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 What you are seeing is an example of the overall neglect of well-rounded grip training. Most people think grip training is squeezing a tennis ball and hitting wrist curls at the end of the workout. Forget about working the thumb or training for actual strength. This. Jedd has it right - so many people get on the GB and then sort of fixate on a certain goal - and neglect developing the broad base of all around forearm - wrist and hand strength it takes to not only become stronger but to become injury resistant as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedd Johnson Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 What you are seeing is an example of the overall neglect of well-rounded grip training. Most people think grip training is squeezing a tennis ball and hitting wrist curls at the end of the workout. Forget about working the thumb or training for actual strength. my thought is, in most sports, their is usually some sort of rotational torque upon the wrist that could happen many times throughout a competition. not to mention the flexion resistance upon the wrist. i made many tackles in my football days, i also missed some. i wonder how many more i would have made had my hands and wrists been as strong as my pecs and legs. lord knows i did a ton of chest and leg work back in the day in pursuit of improved performance. little to no wrist and hand work. This has been my principle mission of education through my site since 2004. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba29 Posted September 25, 2012 Author Share Posted September 25, 2012 What you are seeing is an example of the overall neglect of well-rounded grip training. Most people think grip training is squeezing a tennis ball and hitting wrist curls at the end of the workout. Forget about working the thumb or training for actual strength. my thought is, in most sports, their is usually some sort of rotational torque upon the wrist that could happen many times throughout a competition. not to mention the flexion resistance upon the wrist. i made many tackles in my football days, i also missed some. i wonder how many more i would have made had my hands and wrists been as strong as my pecs and legs. lord knows i did a ton of chest and leg work back in the day in pursuit of improved performance. little to no wrist and hand work. This has been my principle mission of education through my site since 2004. in your expert opinion, why are these types of strength aspects ignored or given little focus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
climber511 Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Because people care more about what they bench than what they can sledge lever . Jedd's message is getting out there - I see a lot more people that start with grippers but move on to a more complete program over time than I used to. It's getting better in some athletic circles but there's a lot still to be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Squat More Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 I am pretty sure offensive linemen in football have strong wrists, because of the nature of the position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellswindstaff Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 plate curls... ftw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedd Johnson Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 What you are seeing is an example of the overall neglect of well-rounded grip training. Most people think grip training is squeezing a tennis ball and hitting wrist curls at the end of the workout. Forget about working the thumb or training for actual strength. my thought is, in most sports, their is usually some sort of rotational torque upon the wrist that could happen many times throughout a competition. not to mention the flexion resistance upon the wrist. i made many tackles in my football days, i also missed some. i wonder how many more i would have made had my hands and wrists been as strong as my pecs and legs. lord knows i did a ton of chest and leg work back in the day in pursuit of improved performance. little to no wrist and hand work. This has been my principle mission of education through my site since 2004. in your expert opinion, why are these types of strength aspects ignored or given little focus? Because people in general do not understand that the hands are limiting factor. They would rather just use straps to cover it up like a band aid. When in reality if they strengthened their hands, all their lifts would go up due in part to sheer strength, but also due to tension management. I could go on for hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifesnotfair Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Perhaps many of you will find this funny, but the sport I enjoy playing the most, tennis, actually builds quite a bit of wrist strength... in ONE wrist. But you have to had played for quite a while I guess. The different shots using a one-handed backhand (slice, flat, topstpin, shots at the net) plus all the same for the forehands and the overhead smashes and Serves.... Every man I've met who got to at least past intermediate level (and hit the ball hard when playing, not novice play) has a somewhat strong wrist, even if they look skinny. As a sidenote to this, an elite armwrestler from Europe once told me he built his world-famous wrist strength by attaching a small plate to a tennis racquet and playing this way. He sounded serious, but I have my doubts. One more thing: I think the wrist moves in many planes and only a few are targeted in the gym. There is virtually NO lift that trains pronation/supination.... so even guys hitting wrist curls and reverse wrist curls hard will lack in this very important directions. Years ago I discovered that using a screwdriver after not using one for a long while gave me the same bone-deep soreness in the forearms than doing sledgehammer rotations gave me (after not having done it for a while, of course). That made me think of mechanics and people using tools and wrenches for a living.... no wonder they all have good grips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba29 Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 Perhaps many of you will find this funny, but the sport I enjoy playing the most, tennis, actually builds quite a bit of wrist strength... in ONE wrist. But you have to had played for quite a while I guess. The different shots using a one-handed backhand (slice, flat, topstpin, shots at the net) plus all the same for the forehands and the overhead smashes and Serves.... Every man I've met who got to at least past intermediate level (and hit the ball hard when playing, not novice play) has a somewhat strong wrist, even if they look skinny. As a sidenote to this, an elite armwrestler from Europe once told me he built his world-famous wrist strength by attaching a small plate to a tennis racquet and playing this way. He sounded serious, but I have my doubts. One more thing: I think the wrist moves in many planes and only a few are targeted in the gym. There is virtually NO lift that trains pronation/supination.... so even guys hitting wrist curls and reverse wrist curls hard will lack in this very important directions. Years ago I discovered that using a screwdriver after not using one for a long while gave me the same bone-deep soreness in the forearms than doing sledgehammer rotations gave me (after not having done it for a while, of course). That made me think of mechanics and people using tools and wrenches for a living.... no wonder they all have good grips! i agree with the bolded above. in my years of being coached by strength coaches, the only wrist exercise i did was unsupported wrist roller which is pretty much a shoulder exercise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellswindstaff Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 One more thing: I think the wrist moves in many planes and only a few are targeted in the gym. There is virtually NO lift that trains pronation/supination.... http://www.gripfaq.com/defimages/thumbs/tsidelever.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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