Kung Fu practitioner wanting to tough up his hands

[Alan Armstrong]

Hi danbrendel; welcome to the forum.

You could start a new topic on hand conditioning or any topic for that matter.

I will however share my perspective on hand conditioning.

Hand conditioning should also involve equally strengthening the wrists.

As with the rest of the body strength should be combined with flexibility.

In Chinese martial arts there are parallels to the body to take in to consideration.

Fingers and toes.

Elbows and knees.

Wrists and ankles.

Shoulders and hips.

Forearms and shins.

Conditioning one area of the body will connect with another part by default.

Such as with push ups can be done by making contact with the ground with only fingertips and toes.

Conditioning hands can be compartmentalize, such as push up based:

Using the palms.

Back of the hand.

Finger tips.

Edge of the hand.

Using the fists.

Doing hand stand pushups against a wall surface is popular practice before starting class.

Hands can be conditioning by using the squeezing method.

Such as small rubber balls or balls of wax.

Or squeezing sand and pebbles.

Modern day, spring loaded hand grips that come in a variety of strengths are easy to come by.

Note: Squeezing and releasing with the hands will also condition the forearm making them stronger also.

Hands can be conditioned by using the holding and twisting method.

Climbing rocks or trees is a natural way to strengthen hands.

Holding heavy objects with only the fingertips is a method used by many Chinese martial artists that practice Chin Na.

They have heavy stone or concrete cones located in entrances, as they walk to one entrance to another they pick up the cones from one entrance to another with their finger tips.

Hand dexterity or flexibility is also something to keep in mind for conditioning hands and wrists.

Nin-Jitsu and Aikido practitioners often do an extensive amount of finger, hand and wrist conditioning exercises before their workouts, well worth taking the initiative to find out what they do.

Weaponry training such as with a sword or a bow staff is another way to condition hands and wrists. I personally, mostly use a 6 kilo exercise bar.

Slapping sand bags or punching bags are great hand conditioning equipment.

Depending on the hand/wrist conditioning exercise, light weight gloves are inexpensive and handy to use.

Hand and wrist exercises are varied, I've just touched on a few ideas here; hope you get the chance to try out a few of these techniques on your next workout.