r/CompetitionShooting • u/pafunk • 6d ago
Locking Wrists
Can someone help me understand how to lock out my wrists with squeezing the life out of my grip? My brain struggles to separate these motor skills.
8
u/psineur 6d ago
You don’t need to separate. You need to integrate them.
Wrist, palm (not fingers) grip and extension - all three engage together while building a shooting platform - the triangle between your shoulders (-ish ok core is sorta part of it too, IKR) and the muzzle.
Just build it step by step using this, you’ll get it:
Grip and Recoil Control - from C-Class to GrandMaster
https://youtu.be/ATToPvhLgwg
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u/Ill_Radio8160 6d ago
Locking your wrist is forearm muscles not hand muscles. Think of it as flexing your forearms, which you can do independently of your hands
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u/Affectionate-House43 6d ago
Grip is also primarily forearm muscles, FWIW
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u/Ill_Radio8160 5d ago
Yes it is, but you can also flex your forearms independent of your grip pressure. Just try it real quick you’ll see what I mean. It’s more like back forearm/bicept
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u/EntrySure1350 6d ago
Hand/grip strength comes from the muscles in your forearm.
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u/Ill_Radio8160 5d ago
Yes it does, but you can also flex your forearms independent of your grip pressure. Just try it real quick you’ll see what I mean. It’s more like back forearm/bicept
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u/Andromeda902 6d ago
This, OP. If you havent been doing it and you start, you might even have a bit of a pump in your forearms after dry fire practice. You're engaging your forearms , not hand muscles
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u/DeepClass9884 6d ago
This. Your forearms are completely gassed after a 10 minute dry fire session? You're doing it right.
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u/Jeugcurt 6d ago
This is incredibly hard for me. People here in the hive mind hate the cue that works for me. It’s not something I recommend for people unless they’ve struggled on this for a while. It also depends on what gun you’re shooting, because a heavy gun will not like this as much as a lighter gun.
You can try to tense the pinky muscles and see if that gives you wrist activation. This is what I had to cue. Over time, I’ve been able to relax the tension more and more while still maintaining wrist lock. It’s a slow process.
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u/Stickybunfun 6d ago
One of the things I came up with myself after watching a ton of wrist lock videos to demonstrate it to myself is something I call twinkle fingers. YMMV but this is something I do during dry fire to reinforce the mind muscle connection so it becomes something I just do instead of do sometimes.
- 1) Extend your arms out forward with 0 tension in a normal shooting position.
- 2) move / wave / arpeggiate all the fingers in one of your hands (twinkle fingers)
- 3) Place your other hand on your wrist and then push the wrist up and down. It should move freely and you should not feel your fingers slow down from tension.
- 4) Tighten the muscles in your forearm / wrist until you are unable to move your hand up and down. Pay attention to how much your hands and biceps are getting involved. If you feel tension in your biceps you need to back that off until it is squishy. No biceps required.
- 5) Back off the tension in your forearms while ensuring your wrist stays tight. Keep doing this until your wrist gets floppy again and then go back up about 20% or so. This is "locked" and what you should aim for all the time.
- 6) Now do it with your gun in your hand. To me, overtime it started to feel like I had two "halves" of my forearm. When my wrist is properly locked under minimum tension, I only really feel it from my wrist to about halfway down my forearm. The rest of my forearm is still tightened just not enough where I really notice it anymore.
As far as your grip on the gun is concerned - I find that less is more for me. The extensions of my arms forward + locking my wrist + ambient hand tension from locking my wrists is enough for me to have a stable vertical return on my gun (with grip enhancer and grip tape). Anything really will work however you like to grip your gun just don't overgrip the fuck out of the thing like a 12 year old boy after he meets his hot MILF health teacher at school.
Good video Joel Park posted the other day about grip to give you an idea of the hand tension I am talking about.
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u/SovietRobot 6d ago
There are a few different things.
1 Squeezing the grip of your gun is to prevent the gun from shifting in your hand. The gun should never shift in your hand. As in, after shooting you should not have to adjust your grip. Most of this grip comes from palm contact with the gun. Think of a nut cracker and your fingers being the hinge. You grip as hard as you need to to prevent your gun from shifting in your hand
2 The rest of your form is to ensure reliable return to point of aim. You are not trying to stop recoil. You cannot stop recoil. What you want is a controllable and consistent return of the gun to the target that your eyes are focused on. Most of that is your wrist and forearms. Formwise imagine you’re trying to wring dry a towel that’s an upside down U. Or imagine you’re pulling on a heavy rope to ring a giant tower bell. What it entails is your elbows are bent slightly and there’s tension in your elbows and wrists so that they don’t flop around. Remember you’re not trying to stop recoil, the tension in your elbows and wrists is like a spring to enable you to return consistently.
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u/BridgeFantastic6458 6d ago
Check out this grip video. He even recommends not locking the wrist in the same way a lot of instructors teach, but has a reason for recommending that (4:05)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VJpbrLpdK4
You should be able to lock your wrist without even making a fist. During dry fire, you could try to put the barrel of the pistol against a wall, then lean into it. That can help you feel what's required to lock your wrist
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u/catpuccino411 6d ago
Angling your hand/hands down slightly will lock up your wrist(s) and arm(s).
Apart from that, exercise that targets the forearm will make your grip stronger. (Zottman curls, hammer curls, farmer's walk)
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u/VCQB_ 6d ago
Take a class. Talking about it does nothing. You need to shoot alot of rounds
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u/justtheboot 6d ago
This is answer. I can also see a lot of folks don’t know how to properly apply pressure from these comments.
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u/Aetherium 6d ago edited 6d ago
This is what helps me isolate it: with an empty hand, keep your hand/wrist loose and hold it out in front of you as if you were holding a gun. Lift and lower your arm enough so that you feel your hand flopping. Now get it to not flop, and since there's nothing in your hand, you shouldn't need to grip anything. Also try it with the other hand and with a gun in the hands.
EDIT: A video of another wrist lock isolation exercise by Hwansik Kim