[headline_tahoma_medium_left color=”#000000″]Enlarging Your Wrist-Locks Body-Bubble[/headline_tahoma_medium_left]
by Keith Pascal
I have a lot of friends who wrist lock … for fun and profit 🙂
One phenomenon that I have noticed is that a fair percentage of them wait until the opponent grabs them or their clothing, before locking. In other words, they hit and kick for their “bread and butter” martial arts, and only use wrist locks when someone grabs them.
I think these guys could expand their wrist-locking body bubble. Let me tell you a fun exercise that I invented. The best part, you can practice without wrist locking anyone:
[headline_tahoma_small_left color=”#000000″]Quick Wrist Locks Story[/headline_tahoma_small_left]
A few years ago, I was teaching a martial-arts class out of my downstairs entertainment room. On this particular day, only two students showed up for class.
One of the two was a “wrist locks freak.” He loved anything that caused a lot of pain, controlled the enemy, and took very little effort.
For the last half hour of the class, we practiced the two wrist locks mentioned above — the Handshake and the reverse, Live Long and Prosper. At first, we practiced each from a grab, either latching on with fingers pointing up (or horizontal), or pointing down.
The instant we felt the grab, we’d go straight into a lock based on the finger orientation.
[headline_tahoma_small_left color=”#000000″]Now, this is where it gets good….[/headline_tahoma_small_left]
We decided to practice the locks, just as contact was being made. That was a lot of fun, and upped the ante … for about five to ten minutes. So, we practiced effecting the wrist locks, before contact was made.
We kept increasing the distance. (Next week, we’ll talk more about this.)
This took a bit of “tracking,” but eventually, we were able to start our grab, as someone was reaching in from about a foot away.
No matter how they reached for us, we’d respond with one of those two locks.
[features_box_red width=”75%” + border=”2px”]Note: We did NOT try to take a punch directly into a wrist lock. This was a response to someone reaching for us. The distinction is important.[/features_box_red]
[headline_tahoma_small_left color=”#000000″]And now, the icing on the cake … this is the best….[/headline_tahoma_small_left]
Something strange and good happened after that practice session. For about a week, any time someone’s hand got close to me, for any reason, I imagined grabbing it into one of those two locks … again, depending on the finger (or palm) orientation.
The goal in my mind was to bend those fingers back to the wrist. I was mentally snapping on the perfect wrist lock.
I did this all week long.
The next week, when I got together with my students, I felt a difference in my locking ability. This mental practice worked wonders.
I realized that I could watch people’s hands anywhere. As money was passed across a counter from a cash register. As someone reached in to brush off a piece of lint from my coat. As food was passed around the dining-room table.
I could also watch, and imagine locking, hands on TV.
You should try this. Call it your tonic for the week.
And here’s the follow-up wrist-locks blog post.