I try to train my wrist strength when I can. I usually do wrist curls, reverse wrist curls, or train those same muscles using the weight-on-stick method. The strength difference between the left and right sides were never astonishing. Today, I decided to do some wrist twists to hit the supination/protonation wrist muscles. Basically, I added some weight to one side of an adjustable dumbbell and grabbed the other empty side. I would then start the weight pointing up, lower it so that the dumbell is parallel to the ground, and move it back up again in a controlled motion. (Did not swing it from one side to the other like a pendulum.) I did this with protonation and supination motion and with both hands. I was surprised to find that the same muscles in my racquet arm were far stronger than in my non-racquet arm. (I was able to do more than double the number of reps with the racquet arm.) Given that the relative strength of the other wrist muscles were very close, this large difference makes me believe that the protonation and supination wrist muscles are the most important muscles in badminton. (Or perhaps the colliary, that these muscles are the most useless outside of badminton.) In any case, for the people training their wrist strength, it might be useful to train all of them. I guses people with gyroscopes probably have the easiest time with this since they can readily hit all the wrist muscles, correct?
Forearm muscles Great training regimen! But...I don't believe that there are any muscles in the wrist per se. It's all tendons from various forearm muscles. In reality, you are actually training your forearm muscles (& perhaps strengthening the tendons as well? don't really know).
but what sort of muscle fibres do you want for badminton? Fast-twitch or slow-twitch? And which are you training here?
Muscle fiber types Good question! Slow-twitch (type I) muscle fibers have the greatest endurance but are not used for explosive power. Marathon runners have a high percentage of this fiber type in their legs. There are 2 (maybe 3) types of fast-twitch muscle fibers. Bodybuilders primarily bulk up the type IIa fiber. This is really a medium twitch fiber that has somewhat less endurance than type I fibers. The real fast-twitch fiber is known as type IIb. This is where the real explosive power is generated. Power is also know as speed strength. Sprinters & ppl who can jump very high have a high % of type IIb fibers in their legs. However, this type of fiber has very little endurance. Plyometrics primarily trains this type of fiber. There may be another fiber type that may be trained to be act as one of the other slow- or fast-twitch types. This is known as type IIc. I'm not sure if this type of fiber is speculation or if it is really known to exist.
But there are muscles in the forearm, and saying wrist muscles is a lot more convient than naming the various wrist flexors and wrist extensors that connects the hand and elbow. As for differentiating between the different muscle types... I don't think we really need to worry about that too much. We want a balance of endurance and power, so we don't want to lean too heavily one way over another.
I think differently. For badminton you want the speed. If you work on a building site you want endurance. If you train the muscle to contract slowly, that's what it'll be good at.
Good explanation on the fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscle group. Definitely learn something new there. So how do one train each of the above type? Do merely lifting weight (say one sided dumbell for pronation/supination) builds fast-twitch or slow-twitch ? If lifting weight only get slow-twitch type, then would that mean that all that muscle that is build would still not help in generating a fast racket speed from pronation/supination ? Hopefully someone here would answers my questions. Thank you in advance.
Lifting weights does not necessarily train slow-twitch muscle fibers at all. Often, weightlifters don't train that much of the slow-twitch fiber. It really depends on how you train them (how much weight, number of reps, length of rest period, speed of movement). As I mentioned before, bodybuilders often primarily train the intermediate fast-twitch, type IIa fiber, cuz this is the type that bulks up the most. Olympic powerlifters , on the other hand, train both type IIa and type IIb fibers for more explosive movement. Type I, slow-twitch fibers are used primarily for aerobic endurance exercise such as marathon running. Training for this fiber type might involve a very high number of reps (with very short or no rest periods) involving very light weights. Altho' badminton requires endurance, it is not really an aerobic activity... it is anaerobic for the most part. Therefore, we are not looking for much slow-twitch training for badminton. Type IIa, intermediate fast-twitch fibers are what badminton players need for moderate effort for extended periods of time. This fiber type has quite a bit more endurance than type IIb fibers. Type IIb fast-twitch fibers are the ones that are recruited for maximal efforts (for very short durations). Therefore, badminton players need both type IIa (for anaerobic endurance) and type IIb (for very explosive, short duration movement). Medicine ball exercises (that involve explosive movement) and other plyometric and ballistic exercises are what is needed for development of both versions of fast-twitch fibers required for badminton. Weightlifting & interval training can also be incorporated for fast-twitch development. Check out these links for more on muscle fiber types & training: http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/exercisephysiology/a/aa080901a.htm http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/betteru25.htm http://www.indoorclimbing.com/muscles.html
