Importance of wrist flexibility

[Nabakatsu]

I was curious about what everyones thoughts were about what wrist flexibility does to aid your wing chun/tzun ect ect..
In siu nim tao where the upside palm strikes are flat, at least in the lineage I'm familar with, I wonder if there some benefit aside from being able to execute such a palm strike effectively. seems like some of the wooden dummy stuff does that though.. I hope my derange rambling has sparked some possible ideas.. thanks in advance!

 

[cwk]

You need strong,flexible wrists if your serious about punching hard.
A miss timed, badly aimed or pretty much any punch that's not perfect could hurt you more than your opponent if you have weak wrists. The circling of the wrists is repeated over and over again in the forms because it's an important exercise.
I also do push ups on the knuckles, sledgehammer/dumbell tilting, rolling a weight attached to a peice of wood by a piece of rope up and down and use those grip strengthening thingies as part of my home workout.

 

[mook jong man]

Yes it would be nice to have good wrist flexibility and be able to do those upward palm strikes as they are meant to be done , but after more than a few years in this gig I realise it probably wont happen.

Although I perform the Huen sau 's and other movements in a strict fashion my wrists just aren't built for that sort of range of motion.

It doesn't seem to hinder me at all , except I'll probably never be able to do the Po Pai movement properly thats all.

 

[matsu]

for a bigger guy i seem to have a weakness in my wrists and esp my left. i think in the form and static drills it is noticeable but in practical applications i have found that i change my angle or direction to make it effective,perhaps i wouldnt use the strike from a position someone else may be able to,but it doesnt stop me using it.
dont know if that helps anyone ?
matsu

 

[dosk3n]

I luckily dont have a problem with this. Always had flexible wrists. Guess you could just push on a wall loads.

 

[Poor Uke]

the knives are really good for strengthening and stretching the wrtists.

 

[hunt1]

Huen Dao is your friend. Lots and lots of huen Dao's. Long necked beer bottles filled with sand then capped will work well too. Draw back you find that one day your expensive watch no longer fits and you have to buy more links for it.

 

[Nabakatsu]

Thanks for your replies, can you explain what a huen dao is for me hunter? thanks much.

 

[yak sao]

The way it was explained to me is in application the erect palm (fingers up) would be used for attacks to the upper gate (face, chin, solar plexus)
the lying palm (fingers sideways) would be used to the middle gate (stomach, ribs) the reverse palm(fingers pointing down) would go to the groin.

In fact, at a training seminar back in the 90's before Emin started EBMAS, LT taught us a version of SNT that he had learned on mainland China ( I believe he said Fatshan) that had the reverse palm going to the groin. It was bong sau, tan sau as normal, then the arm would drop down to forearm parallel to the floor with the fingers pointing downward (as if hooking an arm down and out of the way with the back of your wrist) followd by a strike to the groin. It was his belief that Yip Man changed it to a high attack for stretching purposes.

 

[geezer]

Yes it would be nice to have good wrist flexibility and be able to do those upward palm strikes as they are meant to be done , but after more than a few years in this gig I realise it probably wont happen.

Although I perform the Huen sau 's and other movements in a strict fashion my wrists just aren't built for that sort of range of motion.

It doesn't seem to hinder me at all , except I'll probably never be able to do the Po Pai movement properly thats all.

What Mook said goes for me too. I do tons of huen sau's both ways (noi huen sau and oi huen sau), palm stretching and supplementary exercises. They do strengthen the wrist, but I reached the limit for my range of motion a long time back... and it's way short of ideal. But there is a limit, and it's genetically and structurally determined. Some folks may be able to bend their wrists like those traditional Thai dancers, others may have to work like heck just to get by. "System" or not, WC is not equally easy for all physical types. I find that I can manage. But I believe that there are certain physical types that may do better in another system. Whoops, sounds like heresy. Forget I ever said it.

 

[Vajramusti]

IMHO of course wrist flexibility is important in wing chun motions. Using instruments including the bjd and kwan can build up strength- but for flexibility doing wrist motions from the forms again and again can provide the foundations for later strength.
In both wing chun and taiji---free hand controlled motions first---knives, poles, spears etc later.
For wrist flexibility development avoid tensing muscles when doing huen and other motions including fook and tan.

joy chaudhuri

 

[hunt1]

Huen Dao is a Huen Sao done with the knives.

 

[geezer]

Huen Dao is a Huen Sao done with the knives.

Thanks ...now if you practice with old wine bottles, is it huen jow? LOL


Actually one other exercise that has helped me a bit is doing various twirls and abanicos with Eskrima sticks. You grab them at one end and use wrist rotation to whip them back and forth in a fan-like motion (hence the name "abanico" or "fan"). If that's too stressfull, you can do the same motion holding the sticks (or any short dowel that's about 2ft. long) in the center rather than near the end.

 

[Vajramusti]

The huen circling motion is very important wing chun motion imo- you see it at the end of each section of all the sets.

joy chaudhuri

 

[geezer]

The huen circling motion is very important wing chun motion imo- you see it at the end of each section of all the sets.

joy chaudhuri

Very true, Joy. And for wrist strength the classic tools are the Long Pole and the Bart Cham Dao. But what about those massive wooden club-things in your garage? I'd guess that swinging those on a regular basis would either build some monster wrist strength ...or else cause painful tendonitis! Do you still train with those? --Steve

 

[qwksilver61]

I don't know if I would worry about my wrists...I too have limitations..so adapt.Geezer would tell you the same thing (I do not speak for geezer,but I do not feel I have to justify anything at all) worry more about proper positioning..skill,speed, power.The wrist thingy will come over time..hundreds of single drills believe it or not,will rectify this,If not adapt and overcome
( hey wasn't this some 80's movie quote?) puzzled moi?faux shizzle?
ixnay on the istwray? ebeet shibitt?my pizzle! LOL!,

 

[Poor Uke]

quick I think his meds are wearing off!!