So we’re on West Coast morning time this week thanks to having to make the most of the sunlight and get out shooting bikes, ahem.
I finally got the cast off my arm last week, and although that was great, nine weeks of injury have resulted in an impressively weakened wrist and hand. Add to that a lack of movement in the wrist and there’s some serious work needed to get back up to strength and back out riding technical trails again.
First off is the need to support my wrist while I start riding so I’ve acquired a SixSixOne wrist brace (ta Dan) to protect it while I’m out on the bike getting some pedal time in.
Introducing the hand gym…
I’ve also been busy building up a hand gym to get started and help speed recovery. With some help and advice from James Richards, and our Dan, here’s what I’ve gone for.
First up is a Grip Master
Given the current pathetic grip strength I’ve currently got I’ve gone for a medium tension to start off building up some squeeze power. Once I’ve mastered this one I’ll be looking to replace it with a firmer one. It’s nice and pocketable and easy to use everywhere though out the day.
Next up a Handmaster Plus
This should help with follow up squeeze resistance and introduces some wrist flex and finger stretch work too.
Then there’s the Powerball.
To work on wrist flexibility and forearm strength I’ll be harnessing the gyroscopic power of the, erm,Powerball.
And lastly…
Traditionally a bit of broomstick is used but I improvised with a Truvativ bar and Odi grips. This one requires a bit of winch and wind to lift a weight and help with the wrist and strengthen forearms too.
I’ll be swapping weights as strength returns so hopefully forearm pump will be a thing of the past by the time I’ve finished.
It’s all handy kit that’s easily transportable and can be used at work without too much disruption.
Comments (5)
Comments Closed
I used those 661 wrist guards last year after breaking my wrist and can report they work like a charm! (even when chucking oneself off an Alp just 8 weeks after the break……. 😉
Powerballs are great for broken bodies and a bit of fun!
That is the worst knuckleduster I’ve ever seen.
The winch is clever,I hadn’t thought of doing that.
Hope the first ride goes well!
Hope it works well for you.
Does anyone know – what’s the full name if that technical orange thing? Please Googling is failing me!
Got a link perhaps?
Thanks