Different / Alternate Training Ideas

[Chris Nagel]

Forearm Exercises

Here's one but hard to explain very good for strong hands. Put your arms in front of you at shoulder height. Now bend the arms so they are above the head, fingers pointing up, keeping wrist in line with the knuckle. Now keeping the fingers straight, drop them so their 90 degrees with the knuckle. This is the good bit, keeping the fingers straight start alternating and quick dropping the fingers past 90 degrees with fingers still straight while turning the hand slowly left and right. Happy cramps.

I like it Scrap. The old climbing ones are the best. Here's another one. Arms out straight in front (or even better straight above your head). Rotate arms fully so the palms are facing away from one another. Flex wrists fully then slowly make a fist - really squeeze and hold for 6 secs. Repeat until it starts to tingle slightly.

[Chris Nagel]

Learning with 'Tag Boxing'

If you get the chance to work with a partner, have 3 rounds of tag boxing in the gym. No gloves. The aim is to tap your opponent's thigh or shoulder with an open palm...and not get tapped yourself. Some things to remember when having a go:

1. Don't bend at the waist to hit the thigh, bend the knees.
2. Use lots of feints.
3. Short, explosive movements with the feet; push off the front foot to move backwards, the back foot to move forwards.
4. Aim for very short foot movements, looking to feint, push out (6-8cm) and then straight back in to get your tap in.
5. Don't be tempted to 'pull' your leg out of the way of a tap; it's cheating and it ruins your stance (as well as missing the entire point of the thing!)
6. Stay relaxed and learn about the subtle movements involved in hitting whilst not being hit.

You sound like you're enjoying the sport and doing well, stick at it mate.

Fran