Strengthining Hands and Wrists

[_lax4life_]

Alright guys, today i was playing wall ball and i was practicing one handed throws and catches. I noticed that i could not cradle w/ my left hand as well as my right hand. I'm pretty sure it's because my left hand is alot weaker thatn my left. (my fingers as well) Any exercises or anything to help strengthen my hand?

[Jmalins23]

get one of those stress balls and squeeze it a ton......

[lacrossefanatic]

Yeah throwing one handed will help... if u have a cheap stick lying somewhere or just an old shaft... fill it up with rocks and sand make sure its well sealed and put ur head on it and practice practice practice practice... u can also get those squeeze springs and like during school if u sit in the back of the class squeeze it... Except academics first!

[_lax4life_]

Yeah throwing one handed will help... if u have a cheap stick lying somewhere or just an old shaft... fill it up with rocks and sand make sure its well sealed and put ur head on it and practice practice practice practice... u can also get those squeeze springs and like during school if u sit in the back of the class squeeze it... Except academics first!

Wait, when i fill the shaft up with rocks... I throw with both hands right? Not one handed throws? And how far should i fill up the shaft?

[lacrossefanatic]

Well it depends.. if u have a heavy stick to begin with don't fill ur head and throw with your left hand only... If your stick is light fill it and throw with ur left hand only as well. It will be difficult at first and probably will hurt however its a gradual process and will improve your performance on the field. Cradling is a fundamental of lacrosse perfect it before practicing any tricks etc.. Pass shoot and cradle

[Diesel4958]

this may help you out, http://www6.mailordercentral.com/ironmind/ also pm me for exercises if you are really serious about it...

[freestylewalkin]

tie a weight with a long peice of sting to a cylindrical peice of wood.

then spin the peice of wood with your wrists very fast so the string goes around the wood repeat for glorious wrists

[lax4life56]

yah that (^^^) is definetly the best workout for the wrists. i did that for a just a couple of weeks and your wrists get a lot stronger really fast.

[_lax4life_]

tie a weight with a long peice of sting to a cylindrical peice of wood.

then spin the peice of wood with your wrists very fast so the string goes around the wood repeat for glorious wrists

Not sure what you are talking about. Any videos or pics?

[Trilax03]

get one of those stress balls and squeeze it a ton......
stress balls work and so does this...http://www.shapeupshop.com/fitness/gymacc/wrist_roller.htm ...it's a wrist roller...i use it occasionally and it works well

[Monkey grass]

Not sure what you are talking about. Any videos or pics?


http://www.shapeupshop.com/fitness/...rist_roller.htm he is talking about a home made one of these that was already posted in the thread a little ways up.

[MaKiMaKi13]

whatever happened to the good old reliable wrist curl? that'll help to strengthen your forearms and your wrists left handed just squeeze a tennis ball or something heavy just over work your left hand really thats all i can suggest

[marflax33]

get one of those stress balls and squeeze it a ton......
yeah. Those are easy to use during math class too. :thumbsup:

[Diesel4958]

also try holding two ten pound plates smoothe side out for as long as possible with each hand. that strengthens thumbs, and fingers.

[robi]

farmers walk bud
look on e-lax workouts if u dun kno how 2 do it

[Lampen69]

forearm strength is what determines your grip strength mainly, good forearm exercises are wrist curls(dont really bulk you wrist since its not very possible there are very few muscle fibers there so you wouldnt be able to build them up fast at all) go to a grip machine(hurts fingers more than works forearms), or get one of those grippy spring things..also weider makes a forearm exercises..looke\s retarded but works well. Best forearm exercise= wrist curls(and reverse wrist curls) wrist curls are preformed with either a barbell or dumbell with ur wrist hanging off a bench or u leg and ur fore arm completly motionless and u curl the weight up with ur wrist...forearms are muscle u use all the time so u can do as many sets as u want i do 5 once a week just for mass but you could do them as much as u'd want and u wont overtrain them..u'd run out of ATP before u can overtrain the forearms since they recover so fast and u use them alottt

[Diesel4958]

it is very easy to overtraiv your forearms, and hands because the muscles areso small. Try captains of crush grippers.

[Cburylax]

I often times have athletes throw towels over pull up bars so that they hang down. Grip the towls with a neutral grip and do some pull ups. Rope climbing also works well....

[TRELAX1201]

use a hand gripper, the things wear u put ur hand around it and squeeze, its not a ball, sort of like an up-side-down V Shaped tool

[Diesel4958]

Captaians of crush is the best brand of gripper

[CreaseD]

u can make those really easily u shouldnt have payed for it

[LaxBoy92]

theres a hand strengthener at GA lacrosse. it seems like it would work.

http://www.lacrosse.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=2&pcount=&Product_Id=110467&Key_id=

[stnyk]

i slid a ten pound weight down near the head of one of my old sticks and kept it there with a glob of tape. with this i cradle with my right and left hand. it should make your cradling stronger and faster with both hands.

[scruffy221]

grab like a 20lbs dumbell and hold it in your hands, the make the cradling motion and squeeze hard it works those muscles in your wrist

[RYU]

That link Diesel4958 provided has links to lots of other great info. This page discusses and differentiates the differences between crushing, pinching, supporting, and wrist/forearm strength and how to train for each specifically.

http://www.ironmind.com/ironcms/export/IronMind/Main/crushedtodust1.html

I think for lax, the emphasis would be on supporting and wrist/forearm strength.

Lately I've been working on rafter pull-ups (and by "working on", I mean I'm no where close to performing one). You do a pull-up while pinching the smooth sides of two rafters, as pictured below.

http://www.dragondoor.com/images/bjohnson_1484.jpg

http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/137/

To the OP, there are other threads on this topic. Do a forum search using, "forearms".

[AusLax234]

what other thing could i use other than barbells??? something that everyone at home would have?

[Diesel4958]

bricks, broom stick, RYU those are so hard, I haven't even attempted one. I agree with you on the supporting/wrist strength for lacrosse. I'm more focusing on crushing, and supporting grip though. I think once you can hold a couple of heavy plates together (smooth side out) with a pinch grip you will be fine. My goal is to tear a deck of cards in half by next year.

[RYU]

^^^
Diesel, I'm still on step 1. I'll be happy if I ever get to the point that I can support my own weight by pinch gripping, nevermind actually performing a pull-up. Let us know when you can tear that deck of cards or pinch hold to 45s together.

[Diesel4958]

If is the key word not when, but yes if I do I will dedicate a thread to me ripping a deck, or a half deck for that matter of cards in half, and there will be pictures... It's hard work, but stick with it, you see changes with grip strength very quickly. Good luck.

[NVLaX15]

Well, you can pulverize your package, tenderize your meat, smackaround the ole' sausage , or last but not least pet the palentologist....

[Diesel4958]

Never ever I repeat myself ever post again, thank you, that is all...

[laxattack1616]

You could also put two balls in your stick and cradle around with that. It adds a little more weight and works pretty good.

[GarysGod]

get that thing were you hold a small bar directly in front of you and cradle the wieght thats attached to a string up untill it hits the bar. its hard to explain, but those who have seen it know what im talking about.

woo 300 posts

[bigDman]

theres a hand strengthener at GA lacrosse. it seems like it would work.

http://www.lacrosse.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=2&pcount=&Product_Id=110467&Key_id=
These suck i broke one squezzing it
waste of money if you ask me

it is very easy to overtraiv your forearms, and hands because the muscles areso small. Try captains of crush grippers.
Not true... Forearms heal very quickly. I and other people i know can train forearms everyday and not overtrain... I personally train forearms 2-6 times a week

^^^
Diesel, I'm still on step 1. I'll be happy if I ever get to the point that I can support my own weight by pinch gripping, nevermind actually performing a pull-up. Let us know when you can tear that deck of cards or pinch hold to 45s together.


YOU CAN PINCH 2 45's togther smooth sides out... that is one of the biggest grip strength feats... OMG i offically envy you
If is the key word not when, but yes if I do I will dedicate a thread to me ripping a deck, or a half deck for that matter of cards in half, and there will be pictures... It's hard work, but stick with it, you see changes with grip strength very quickly. Good luck.
Tearing cards/phone books is mostly technique check this out
http://www.heavysports.com/emag/Clay_Edgin/cards.html
http://www.heavysports.com/emag/Clay_Edgin/phonebooks.html



Now to answer the question


Grippers
http://www6.mailordercentral.com/ironmind/products.asp?dept=8 (being able to close a #3 or #4 is amazing)
http://www.wwfitness.com/ (beging able to close a grandmaster or above is amazing)
http://www.handgripper.net/neu/www/index.php (being able to close a 260 or above is amazing)
http://www.heavygrips.com/ (closing the 300 is a good feat of strength)
plate pinching(get some plates smooth side out. if you can do 2 45s your an absoulte monster. 5 10's is pretty good to)
Static Holds Get a barbel and load it up with a whole bunch of wieght and hold it for as long as you can(800+ lbs for more then 10 seconds is very good)
Wrist/Reverse wrist curls 300+ lbs is amazing for wrist curls not sure about reverse wrist curls
a great but expensive tool for devloping great wrist strength is the formulator
http://www.functionalhandstrength.com/formulator.html
Plate Curls do wrist curls while pinching plates smooth side out
Levering Get a sledge hammer or axe(be very carful) Hold your arm stright out in front of you and the sledge hammer should be perpendicular to the ground. With only moving oyur wrist and keeping your arm locked bring the sledge hammer slowly and controlled to your head and or shoulder. Bring it back up then go and lever the sledge till its parrellel to the ground(so its like an extension to your arm) do it like this
http://www.heavysports.com/emag/Clay_Edgin/cards_files/image005.jpg
Tearing As you can see int eh links above you can tear stuff for good forearm strength(a deck of cards and a phone book bigger then 2 inches is amazing[/b]
Bending Bending nails and wrenches and horseshoes with your hands is a good forarm exersize
http://www6.mailordercentral.com/ironmind/prodinfo.asp?number=1236-EX50
http://www.fat*******barbellco.com/BENDERSBAG.html
Thichbar Doing thick bar(2" in diameter or greater) deadlifts anbd static holds is great
1/2 finger deadlifts do your deadlifts with only one finger on each hand

if you are going to be doing all this grip strength you have to workout your finger extensors to preven tennis elbow and hand injury... TO do this you can fill a protien powder jug with sand or peppels or coins stick your hand in it and open your hand and try and hold the protien jug up like so
http://img180.exs.cx/img180/5710/sandlift7ju.jpg
also put rubberbands or livestrong braclets around the tip of your fingers and try to open your hand

[hitmenrule]

Fill a tennis ball full of pennies and try cradling with that.

[Diesel4958]

BigDman- I know they heal relatively quickly, but like any muscle group a beginner, or anyone who wants to go "balls to the wall" could hurt themselves, which would slow down training if they happen to do some thing incorrectly. RYU never said they could do 2 45s in a pinch grip, RYU instead said WHEN you can pinch 2 45's in one hand tell me, when being the key word. Thank you for the site although I have seen it, and decided to go with the #2 grip, also it is technique, but one does need a ton of strength. I would do thickbar training, but there aren't any in my gyms, and they are way too exspensive. I am doing grippers, but I found out recenlt I have a problem with the nerves in my right arm, so I will start that back up after it is fixed. Are you a part of the Iron minds grip newsletter? If you are not you should become one, I think you would like it. Nice post though.

[bigDman]

BigDman- I know they heal relatively quickly, but like any muscle group a beginner, or anyone who wants to go "balls to the wall" could hurt themselves, which would slow down training if they happen to do some thing incorrectly. Good point I would recomend to ease into training starting with 2 times a week and then slowly add voulme. Experment with voulme find what works best for you

RYU never said they could do 2 45s in a pinch grip, RYU instead said WHEN you can pinch 2 45's in one hand tell me, when being the key word.
Must of read to fast my bad


I am doing grippers, but I found out recenlt I have a problem with the nerves in my right arm, so I will start that back up after it is fixed.

Work your extensors jjust as much as your gripp that will help this problem.. Also after any grip heavy workout take contrast baths put your handand forearms in cold water for 2 min then hot water 2 mins repeat 3-4 times



Are you a part of the Iron minds grip newsletter? If you are not you should become one, I think you would like it. Nice post though.

yes i get it

[slice n dice]

One handed wall ball. That's all you need.

[TearOWrist]

One of the best forearm exercices is the farmer's walk. Grab two heavy weights, and just walk with them in a circle or a line in the weight room. You should be able to hold them for about 30 seconds and your forearms will kill. Repeat as necessary. Another good exercise is one you make. Take a dowel rod and attached a rope to it. Attach a ten pound weight at the end of hte rope. With your arms fully extended at shoulder level infront of you, turn the bar with your hands to bring up the weight. Then lower the weight by turing the rod in the other direction. Great exercises

[Diesel4958]

BigDman-great advice on the warm water, cold water baths. I'll have to try that out.

[Jmalins23]

diesel ur pm box is full.... i was going to pm you so ill do it once u delete some things

[RockfordAttack9]

Squeeze a Tennis Ball, Wrist Rollers, but what I do is take two 20 pound Dumbells and start out with them diagonal in my hands. Then I flip them over so they are horizontal. I do this about 20 times.

[robi]

wrist curls