Exercises for arm

nick23

Im a badminton player (laugh if u want to) but lately i have found that my smashes and clears arent as powerful as i'd like them to be. Does anyone know of any weights etc i can do to increase the power of my smashes and clears?

Any help wud b great.

Flex

nick23 wrote:

Im a badminton player (laugh if u want to) but lately i have found that my smashes and clears arent as powerful as i'd like them to be. Does anyone know of any weights etc i can do to increase the power of my smashes and clears?

Any help wud b great.

TBH, Im not too sure what 'smashes and clears' are, but basically if you want more power hitting the shuttle cock Id be more inclined to do shoulder exercises rather than arm exercises.

For anterior delts Id do military press or front raises. For lateral delts Id do lateral raises. And for posterior delts Id do rear delt rows

heres a useful link
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ShouldWt.html#anchor1934542


Barbell curls and skull crushers are good for your biceps and triceps respectively, and wrist curls for your forearms. Good luck!

Dragan

Flex wrote:

TBH, Im not too sure what 'smashes and clears' are, but basically if you want more power hitting the shuttle cock Id be more inclined to do shoulder exercises rather than arm exercises.

Excellent point, i played badminton for many years, and the shoulder should be a much bigger part of your smashes than the arm, well, maybe the forearm and movement through the wrist but you know what i mean!

t-ha

Not really too familiar with badminton but do you think you might be able to recreate some of the movements with a bit of 'ooomph' on a punching bag? Some intense bag work might also help to improve general explosiveness.

I would have thought that it would be primarily a wrist 'flicking' issue, so I don't really see (just my own opinion, could be totally wrong) delt raises improving your ability to smash a shuttle-cock??

BrianD3

I would say just do general explosive and heavy compound weight training. I don't play badminton and don't know how exactly you do a smash but I assume that it's not just shoulders and arms, that there is some core and maybe leg work involved in the swing too. I know personally that both my punching power and my golf drive have benefitted from this type of weight training.

Lothaar

Work your rotator cuff, shoulder, arms and wrist. You'd also do well to work on overall strength, as if you're using correct form the power should come right up through your body from the legs up.

nick23

Lothaar wrote:

Work your rotator cuff, shoulder, arms and wrist. You'd also do well to work on overall strength, as if you're using correct form the power should come right up through your body from the legs up.

Any particular exercises you can reccomend for these parts?

For those of you who dont know a smash is a powerful shot which you use as a return shot. When your opponent raises the shuttle up high you return it by extending your arm fully and "smash" the shuttle to the ground on their side of the court. Basically the motion is extending your arm fully over the top of your head and then bringing your arm down by your side. Couldnt really find a photo as an example

Lothaar

nick23 wrote:

Any particular exercises you can reccomend for these parts?

http://www.westcoastoffense.com/

Ok, this might seem a bit weird. Go to the above site, scroll down and click on 'Playbook Index'. Then scroll right to the bottom and click on 'Arm Exercise Manual'. This is a selection of exercises for baseball pitchers and quarterbacks. I used to play badminton and I currently play quarterback - the throwing motion for QBs is very similar to smashing in badminton.

Use really light weights for your rotator cuffs. If you take it easy on these bad boys they'll get nice and strong, prevent injury and add a bit of punch to your smash. These aren't really the sort of muscles that grow big, so don't keep adding weight every time you work them.

nick23

Lothaar wrote:

http://www.westcoastoffense.com/

Ok, this might seem a bit weird. Go to the above site, scroll down and click on 'Playbook Index'. Then scroll right to the bottom and click on 'Arm Exercise Manual'. This is a selection of exercises for baseball pitchers and quarterbacks. I used to play badminton and I currently play quarterback - the throwing motion for QBs is very similar to smashing in badminton.

Use really light weights for your rotator cuffs. If you take it easy on these bad boys they'll get nice and strong, prevent injury and add a bit of punch to your smash. These aren't really the sort of muscles that grow big, so don't keep adding weight every time you work them.

Cheers for that.

Are there any specific exercises there you'd reccomend or should i just try and do all of them?

sillysuasage

While the exercises for arm strengthening won't do you any harm I'd suggest that the problem with your clears and smashes being weak is down to poor technique. If you are struggling to clear a shuttle full court then strengthening your arm / shoulder may help it but more than likely will in the long run lead to injury.. good technique does work as even the youngest of players with correct technique can clear and smash with great power.. power in most racquet sports comes from your hip rotation, follow through and form.. find someone who can help you correct your form and your clears and smashes will greatly improve.. as a first suggestion I'm going to guess that you stand fairly square to the shuttle when hitting.. therefore it requires alot of strength to clear and smash as you are purely using your arm / shoulder.. you should be side on to the shuttle.. ie left foot forward.. left arm in the air to strike the shuttle (assuming you are right handed) and your follow through when bringing your right foot through to strike should be generating most of the power.. it's hard to say as it could be footwork, form, grip, point of contact that is causing your problem.. go find someone at your local club who knows what they are talking about to give you some pointers.. specific strengthening for badminton include many techniques one of which is playing badminton with a squash racquet.. but again without proper technique i don't recommend this.. purely playing clears with a friend focusing on your technique rather than on where the shuttle is landing (at the start at least) will help you

Lothaar

Nick23: Just try and do all of them.

Sillysausage: I agree that form and technique is often the main contributing factor to lack of power in this situation. However, the question was about exercises to help with the OP's smash and clearance. I don't agree that the exercises I gave will lead to injury - quite the opposite, actually. The rotator cuff is under a lot of stress when playing racquet sports and the primary reason for strengthening it is to AVOID injury!

If the OP does these exercises and works on overall strength, the muscles used in these motions will get stronger.

Playing with a squash racquet would help too. Anything that increases the stress upon the necessary muscles will help.

sillysuasage

the exercises given of course won't in themselves lead to injury ( and apologies if I wasn't very clear in my point) .. but if you have poor technique and try to hit powerful clears and smashes by for example just using your shoulder you are risking putting undue stress on it and pulling or tearing.. the question was how to increase arm strength for hitting a shuttlecock.. well the question is working under the wrong assumption.. that stronger arm means stronger smash / clear.. that isn't the case.. I think if you want to notice a vast improvement in your power for badminton as I've said find someone to correct your form.. poor form will always lead to injury

nick23

I've already got a relatively good technique but the main reason i want to strengthen my ahoulder muscles especially is due to the fact that i have a reoccuring injusry in my elbow. It comes from my elbow locking out. What im hoping will happen is that by strengthening my shoulder muslces and restricting my elbow movement i wont destroy my technique and hopefully improve my over all smashes. I have no problems with smashing or clearing from one end of the court to the other. I only want to give my shots (especially my smashes) that little extra kick that will help in prevent any opponent returning my shots.

Thanks to everyone who contributed. Im sure ill b able to make use of all the info given.

Cheers!

T-SPA

t-ha wrote:

Some intense bag work might also help to improve general explosiveness.

Dear oh Dear

yomchi

T-SPA wrote:

Dear oh Dear

He's actually right spa.

punching a bag will increase functional strength.
To the OP take an exercise that the olympic shot put throwers use. Use a heavy enough medicine ball and throw it using the range of motion you use to smash. Make sure you are well warmed up. Any functional exercise using the shoulders will increase your strength for sure

Dragan

Indeed, i mean, who would have thought the the range of motion used to throw a looping overhand right ( as a side note while not being the best of shots in a boxing match, have you seen how many people get knocked out in MMA with this? :eek: ) would just be a less exagerated ( far less exagerated to be honest ) motion of an overhand smash ( the only thing that should change would be the arm position, ROM through the shoulder is almost identical ).

Also, the underhand swing is very similar to a low hook/uppercut ( see Eugene Jackson Vs Royce Alger or funnily enough Eugene Jackson Vs Keiichiro Yamamiya last punch thrown in each fight ).

So we have bag work which would improve cardio vascular fitness, hand eye co-ordination, footwork and local muscle endurance and explosiveness and it would also come reasonably close to replicating some of the movements from the sport as mentioned.

Chucky the tree

T-SPA wrote:

Dear oh Dear

Brought up a 6month old thread just to post that?



right so...