Hardening my hands and wrists

Hey guys, im pretty new to boxing, started a month and a half ago, and recently my wrists, metacarpals and some knuckles have been feeling really sore and fragille. this results from punching the bag.

I dont think im punching it wrong, im punching hard but im not punching through it, im minimizing the contact time as much as i can(same as i did when i practised karate), so i can only assume that it hurts because the hands are still getting used to punch the bag.

I talked to my coach about it this morning and he said that it would help if i mixed some salt with hot water and just let my hands in the solution for a while "do that for a while everynight before you sleep and you'll be fine" he said.


So, i just wanted to know what you guys thought about this, and what other solutions are there to fix this.


Cheers, and thanks in advance ;).

Soaking your hands in brine water (Heavy salted water) is one of the oldest and proven techniques of healing and hardening the hands. It goes back to the bare knucle days of boxing. Some even used a vinegar solution. Get a tennis ball or hard rubber ball, and as your sitting around the house, take each hand and do squeezing exercises with it. That will toughen up the wrists

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Originally Posted by Gray Lion

Soaking your hands in brine water (Heavy salted water) is one of the oldest and proven techniques of healing and hardening the hands. It goes back to the bare knucle days of boxing. Some even used a vinegar solution. Get a tennis ball or hard rubber ball, and as your sitting around the house, take each hand and do squeezing exercises with it. That will toughen up the wrists

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So the solution is soaking the hands in brine and doing squeezing exercises.

Gotcha, thanks for the input mate ;).

Edit: BTW, for how long must i leave my hands on the brine water? 10-15 min?

best workout,.

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Originally Posted by Joao

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gray Lion

Soaking your hands in brine water (Heavy salted water) is one of the oldest and proven techniques of healing and hardening the hands. It goes back to the bare knucle days of boxing. Some even used a vinegar solution. Get a tennis ball or hard rubber ball, and as your sitting around the house, take each hand and do squeezing exercises with it. That will toughen up the wrists

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So the solution is soaking the hands in brine and doing squeezing exercises.

Gotcha, thanks for the input mate ;).

Edit: BTW, for how long must i leave my hands on the brine water? 10-15 min?

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I consulted a boxer who used this method and he said he soaked his hands three times a day for about fifteen to thirty minutes. It takes weeks. He also pointed out that he performed manual labor tasks with his hands such as shoveling, using an ax, and farm work. He said a substitue was 'slapping leather streached over a rock or log to build up hardness of the skin. Now I have never hear of this, so I have to take him at his word.

The best thing to do for the bones would probably stay sports specific if your after this kind of effect, then do this, not that. right? im not 100% sure i believe the whole wolfs law stuff but i believe a densening of the bones of some kind can be achieved and that it doesnt require hardcore hitting solid object repetition type cycles to build upto.

I think its enough to just work the bag with mitts and just wraps and eventually bare handed, its very important to punch like you cant bend your wrists, only twist them, also to be accurate, otherwise you'll fold your wrists and skim the bag, i remember in TKD we would kick and punch, barehand and foot a heavy nylon bag and i would get countless injuries, some foot injuries that have stayed with me for life, to this day i will work bags without gloves and wraps but i know its only because im using good bone allignment now from the shoulder down, if i misjudge bone allignment then i would injure myself like i have done so many times before i took up boxing, because the weakest muscle in my forearm isnt strong enough to support the wrist during a strike using all the other muscles in my body if allignment in the arm has gone wrong, if anyone tells me theirs can, theyre telling me they have a very weak punch, i dont care how many wrist curls you do. if the weakest muscles in the wrist can support the force from the rest of your body then the rest of your body is increadibly weak. what im saying is good technique is the most important thing when not breaking your hand or injuring wrist when hitting somthing.

The Thai's kick bannana tree's because of their stringey bark, they arent rock solid like a palm tree, you want somthing soft that will conform to the shape of your hand rather than vice versa, like a heavy bag or hitting thai pads bare handed. i feel this missunderstanding is what has lead to the crazy shin conditioning you see going on in some MMA classes.

Hi Joao, well I think your hands , wrist, and knuckles are sore because your getting used to the impact of punching. How long have you been boxing? If your new at boxing that happens... I had that problem too...make sure you wraps your hands properly, and even get longer wraps (180) instead of 120 if needed. Also proper punching technique is very important...don't bend your wrist! Practice punching and your bones in your hands will develope more density...Also cheap gloves are useless...get good gloves if your serious about boxing. Cruiser

Best thing you can do is soak the hands like recommended and talk to a professional about the punches you're throwing.

For a while, I thought I was throwing a punch the right way, but turned out to be wrong. It's crucial to have an expert to review with.