Has your trainer or gym coach ever had you do those one arm dumbbell rows like in the picture below?

What sensations did you feel?

How about pushups or pullups?

Similar to the lower body where the feet connect to the glutes, the hands connect to the lats. The abs at the center of it all.

Through a series of fascia tensioning exercises in the hands we can develop a fascial connection to the lats and get as close as possible to having wings.

Just as our feet are our root to the ground, our hands are our secondary "root". Think of how warriors would wield a sword, spear, or even just fight with bare hands.

The key is to put fascial tension in the palm of your hands and work with intent. Sensations will differ based on your history and athletic background. In the beginning, you will likely feel it in the wrists as fascial tension is being built there.

Push Hands

Two Variations: heels down and heels elevated

Breathe out on as you push the hands out and breathe in as you bring the hands toward you. Work towards 5 minutes straight with heels down before trying heels elevated.

• Go slow
• Take notice of the hand position
• Aim for smoothness
• Feeling wrist, forearm, and lats will be expected

Towel Twists

• Maintain Tension in the palm
• Don't lose grip of the towel
• Don't roll the towel too thick or too thin
• Towel needs to be just right in size
• Feeling wrist, forearm, and lats will be expected

Heavens & Pogo Wall Bounce

Maintain Tension in the palm

• Don't let wrist collapse
• Don't go too slow
• bounce on the contact point behind the middle finger on the palm
• Feeling wrist, forearm, and lats will be expected

Ball Hold

‍

Dead Hang

• Breathe deep into the position
• Long exhales
• Push yourself
• Try not to fiddle around when hanging
• Remain still

Scheduling

This workout can be done 3-4x/week.

• Push Hands 3-5mins
• Towel Twists 2-3mins
• Heavens Wall Bounce 2-3mins
• Pogo Wall Bounce 30-90 seconds
• Ball Hold - Build up to 2 minutes
• Dead Hang - 2 minutes at least of total time

How to work in classic bodyweight exercises

Now this is where you can begin introducing push ups, pull ups, and dips for example to see how the fascia work has changed your sensations. Fascia work should be the priority, but once you have the hand to lat connection then it's fine to do this work more often.

You can decrease weight on pushups by doing incline, a band on pullups, or putting a foot down on dips. This helps you tap into the fascial tension. If there's too much weight the body will just resort to muscle. Increase weight as possible (going to full bodyweight).

You can also try the above basic bodyweight positions as an isometric hold as your fascial connections grow so you see the difference in sensation. Start with 1 minute holds and build up.

‍