Waterman 2.0 by Kelly Starrett

Author:Kelly Starrett [Starrett, Kelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MobilityWOD Inc.
Published: 2018-09-04T21:00:00+00:00

STANDARD #9

DO YOU HAVE FULL WRIST FLEXION?

MOTIVATION

Are you able to paddle with junky wrists? Absolutely. In fact, I’m living proof (see the upcoming Me, My Wrist and I sidebar). And yet if our wrists are not coming close to end range flexion, we’re severely limiting the capabilities of our hands as sensation absorbers and steering rudders. And I don’t care how good your J-stroke is: you’re not going to out-technique crappy positioning.

If the wrist is at an odd angle, then the elbow flares out. Suddenly, the shoulder is unable to sit back in the socket and so it compensates forward. Now you’re working around your pec each stroke. As you’re no longer generating power through rotation, you make another compromise and start hinging from the thoracic spine. Now the cervical spine is upset and overextended, and your head moves forward of your midline.

The lumbar spine also gets thrown off kilter by all the upstream drama, and now the relationship between the lower back and pelvis is messed up. You push your butt back to provide artificial stability, while the knees cave in and the arches follow suit. Yes, poor lower arm positioning can start a volcanic eruption of positional doom that’s very difficult to stop (the opposite of the mechanical mudslide that happens when things go wrong further up the chain, like when the head, neck and shoulder are misaligned).

BRIEFING

If the wrists lack full flexion and extension, then the sensory organs of the hands are going to be compromised from both neuromuscular and mechanical perspectives. Similarly, if you can’t get your wrists in the correct position to either move your hands through the water or manipulate your paddle or oar, then you’re unlikely to get close to your speed and power potential.

In today’s world, our fingers are constantly on the go—hammering away at our keyboards, swiping our tablet screens and picking away to send text messages. Putting the wrists, hands and fingers in these weird, unnatural positions feeds undue neural tension up through our arms thousands of times a day. Is it any wonder we’re bedeviled by carpal tunnel syndrome, junky forearms and elbow tendonitis (aka tennis, golf and paddler’s elbow)?

We’re going to see how badly all of these behaviors have messed you up, and have a go at improving your wrist flexion capacity.

WRIST FLEXION QUICK TEST: PLANCHE PUSH-UP

Carl Paoli, friend, creator of freestyleconnection.com and author of the bestselling book Free+Style, can perform push-ups in just about any conceivable position. When he’s feeling particularly sadistic, he likes to put me and our athletes into variations like the planche, which quickly raises mobility and motor control red flags.

In this case, you simply cannot get into and maintain the top position of a planche push-up if you’re lacking full wrist flexion, let alone complete a full rep with correct form (shoulders externally rotated, elbows tucked in, etc.).

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.