Many fighters think that the hook has nothing to do with the wrist. It’s a huge mistake, because nothing is separate in martial arts. Each muscle group and tendon work as a whole. The problem is that many people don’t notice the huge disproportion between their wrist and biceps, triceps and forearms. When training biceps, they forget that the proportion in strength between wrist and biceps should be 60% wrist, 40% biceps. Remember that the first thing to move after “Ready, go!” is the wrist. If the balance of strength is improper, one cannot use their biceps a 100%, and wrist injury is right around the corner. Then again, if the wrist has the 70-80 % advantage over biceps, elbow, biceps and triceps injuries are your certain future.

Preparing your arm to a tournament is a work of art in a way. All in all, the most important thing in a fight is not to get injured, so that you don’t have to stop training after a tournament. In order to achieve that, you need to work on your strength and technique.

How to calculate the strength proportions between wrist and biceps?

It’s not a very hard thing to do. If you can curl 40 kg for biceps (max weight hold for 3-4 seconds on a prayer bench, from a right angle for example), and wrist curl 60 kg – the proportions are proper. If the other way round – you are lacking some additional 45 – 50 kg in the wrist. Remember that the wrist is a very specific area to train. Let’s explain what we mean by “wrist”.

Wrist in armwrestling.

In armwrestling the wrist is understood as a proper, strong alignment of fingers, palms and wrist / finger flexors, allowing us wrist curls with thick grip, pulldowns or hammer grip curls. The proper way is to train wrist and fingers together, but in this text we will focus on the wrist only.

The key wrist exercises are pulldowns with a thick grip, using a regulated pulley. This movement is very close to the first phase of attack or defense in a fight.

OFTEN-MADE MISTAKES DURING A FIGHT

Left – contestant / right - opponent

When attacking over the top, many people make the basic mistake coming from the weak fingers / wrist combo. After “Ready-go!” the attacker pulls the fingers of a weak-wristed opponent and thus extends the wrist easily. It often happens in this case that the weak-wristed opponent has to break grip. If he doesn’t, his hand will overextend and he may lose by foul (elbow off the pad).

When going over the top, another mistake is weak wrist (hammer grip). After “Ready-go!” the contestant wanting to launch a counter lowers his wrist, allowing his opponent to take his arm down easily.

The contestant’s wrist in the left picture is useless. In the right picture, he’s attacking with a supinated wrist. This is a technique used by people with strong wrists. If your wrist is weak, this technique can lead to serious injury.

ETHODS OF TRAINING WRIST

SIDEWAYS WRIST PULLDOWNS ON REGULATED PULLEY

Despite the fingers / wrist alignment, this exercise targets the elbow fastenings. I recommend to do this exercise no more than twice a week, with medium weights: 6 sets, 8-10 reps; or once a week with heavy weights: 4 sets, 4-6 reps.

WRIST PULLDOWNS ON REGULATED PULLEY

Despite the fingers / wrist alignment, this exercise targets the biceps fastenings. I recommend to do this exercise no more than twice a week, with medium weights: 5 sets, 8-12 reps; or once a week with heavy weights: 3 sets, 4-5 reps.

ISOLATED WRIST PULLDOWNS ON REGULATED PULLEY

Exercise recommended if there is a large disproportion in the wrist / biceps alignment. Perform no more than once a week with middle weights: 6 sets, 6-8 reps. If the disproportion is really big, perform once a week with large weights: 4 sets, 4-6 reps.

HAMMER GRIP WRIST CURLS

Performed with a bent grip. This intensifies pressure on the wrist in the last phase of exercise. Perform twice a week. Choose weights allowing for 4 sets of 8-12 reps.

UNDERGRIP WRIST LIFTS

Classic thick grip exercise – a real test for your wrists. Choose weights allowing for 5 – 7 sets of 12 – 4 reps.

WRIST SUPINATION

Performed with a bent grip, which intensifies the pressure on the wrist in the last phase of exercise. Perform once a week, 4 sets, 6 – 8 reps.

ISOLATED WRIST BENDS USING PULLEY, FOREARM REST AND STRAP GRIP

The Mazurenko Armwrestling Equipment regulated pulley has an additional forearm rest to facilitate better wrist isolation. The extra strap grip intensifies the workout by winding the strap onto the grip. Perform once a week, 5 sets, 6-8 reps

Igor Mazurenko