Wrists!

Funny, I never thought to do a post on this, and I've taught 5 workshops on the subject!

Wrist snap is a key component in both shotokan karate and taiko.

In the former, it's tied into the rotation of the arm both in punching as well as blocking. It adds a tremendous amount of torque at the end of a block, which when done correctly can fling an attacking limb away. It also gives extra penetration when punching into a target. Virtually every hand technique I do in karate has a sharp wrist snap of a twisting nature.

In the latter, effective striking technique is 95% wrist snap. People tend to focus on dropping the arm from a full extension, but regardless of where the strike is coming from, without an effective and clean wrist snap, it's pointless. It doesn't matter whether it's odaiko or katsugi okedo or shimedaiko, it translates across all.

I started the idea of teaching a wrist workshop when I saw far too many people in other groups (and even SJT) using way too much force to strike the drum and keeping the wrist stiff. I took a serious look at my own technique; what did I do and how could I teach what I did?

I calculated the average number of times I did a wrist-snap in taiko and karate combined and came out to at least 12,000 a week. That number really doesn't mean a whole lot, but when I look at my history, I'm looking at doing an intensive wrist-snap about 5 million times in the last 25 years or so!

In my wrist workshops, I teach basic concepts. This next workshop I'm going with: Grip, Relaxation, Speed, and Practice. GRaSP, I call it.

• Grip is the most basic fundamental. How does the bachi fit into my hand? How does my hand and finger position affect the bachi? How does the bachi affect my hand?
• Relaxation is all about recognizing tension in the body, which boosts fatigue and slows you down. Once you identify it, how can you get rid of it? How much relaxation can you get away with?
• Speed isn't about how fast you can play, it's about generating velocity. How much space do you really need to generate speed and power? Where are the "quick twitch" muscles?
• Practice is the easiest concept. If you at least think about these concepts while you practice a song or drill, that's a good way to figure things out. Even better, if possible, is to take a few minutes here and there just focusing on the GRaSP method without having to worry about song sequence, tempo, other people, etc.

I am a HUGE proponent of wrist strength and flexibility. They're such a small area of our bodies and often neglected. How often do you stretch them? Does your group include wrist stretches in the warmups? How are you going to play anything if you tweak/pull/strain something in your wrist?

Give those wrists some love and think about signing up for my workshops in the future! :)