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grip strength

Grip strength – key to so many exercises

February 9, 2016 Ken 0 Comments

Strengthen your weakest link

If you’re doing regular training, of any kind really, you’re only as strong as you’re weakest link. And the weak link is very often your grip. If you lack grip strength, or you have pains in the joints of your hands, it can badly crimp your style. It will affect virtually everything you do. So it’s vitally important that you do something about it.

Here’s a few exercises that can help you keep your grip up to par, and hopefully keep you free from joint aches and pains.

To start these exercises, just gently shake your wrists. I say gently because if you do have any aches and pains even shaking your wrists can prove pretty painful. So shake your wrists and loosen them up, but be careful how you do it if you have any aches and pains. Then put your hands together, just like a little child saying his prayers, only once you’ve done that I want you to push with the fingers of one hand against the fingers of the other hand.

Bend them right back, as far as they’ll go, and hold that position for several seconds. Now do it in the other direction, pushing against the other hand. Feel your joints stretching and loosening a little. Do this a few times and then shake it off again.

Now clench your fists. Tight! Now spring them open, and spread your fingers as wide as you possibly can. Now clench your fists again. And snap them open again. Each time, hold the position for a few seconds. Keep doing it for maybe a set of 10, i.e. clench and open, that’s one rep, and do that 10 times. Then shake it off again.

Now rub your hands together, almost as though you’re washing your hands. And rub your palms together. Feel the heat you generate in your hands as you do it. Do it several times, rubbing your fingers and the backs of your hands, and rubbing your palms together. Then shake it off again.

Slow motion exercise

Now do a bit of slow motion exercise. Stand in a relaxed position, knees slightly bent. Raise your hands to the sides, elbows strongly bent and wrists totally relaxed, almost like someone pretending to be a ghost. Now bring your hands slowly down, flipping your wrists so that your palms are now facing outwards.

Sweep your hands gently in an arc, up in front of you, so that your arms cross at the wrists. Now, as you do the first movement (raising your hands to the sides), stand a little higher, and make the movement slow and smooth. Once you flip your wrists and start the downward movement, bend your knees and drop down a little, and as you sweep your hands up in the arc, straighten your knees a little and stand a little higher. When your wrists cross, your palms should be close to you and facing inward.

That’s one rep. Now continue, and keep it nice and smooth. From that position (palms close to you and facing inward), drop down an inch or two as you sweep your hands to the first position again. Try to gently match your breathing to your movements. So, as you raise your hands to the side, you breathe in … as you sweep them down, breathe out … sweep them up again to cross in front of you, and breathe in.

This is a very simple movement, and takes a lot longer to describe than it does to actually perform. The benefits from this movement really do come from doing them quite slowly, very smoothly, and with your breathing matching the movements. It’s a very simple movement, but it encourages a proper flow of energy to your wrists and hands. And paying particular attention to doing it precisely calms the mind and helps you guide that energy where you want it to go.

Follow the energy with your mind

Visualise the energy any way you like. See it as a fine white mist flowing in the wake of your fingers, if you like, or imagine it flowing along your arms and into your hands. The important thing is to be aware of the energy. Don’t rush an exercise like this; take it slowly, and do it as carefully as you can. It might seem like an easy exercise, and therefore not every exciting or valuable, but in fact it is as important as any other exercise. More so, perhaps, because without this, or a similar exercise, you can end up with aches and pains that make other exercises either painful or impossible.

You want to do something more demanding? Okay, one more exercise, and this one is a bit more like the type of thing you might be more used to.

Something more demanding

Fill a washing up bowl with water and get an old hand towel. That’s all you need for this one. No weights! No cables! Nothing. Just a towel and a bowl of water.

Put the towel in the bowl and get it thoroughly wet. Now take it out and just wring it out. Grab the ends in either hand and twist them in opposite directions (you might need to fold it over so it’s shorter and fatter). Wring it out as tight as you possibly can. Now give the towel a shake and grip it at the ends again. Wring it out and see if you can squeeze a little more water out of it. Chances are, you will be able to. And you thought you’d wrung it out tight!

Okay, now drench it again, and repeat. Try to wring every last drop out of the towel this time … and then shake it loose and start again … and see if there’s any more water hiding in there. Squeeze it out, every last drop.

This is easy, right? Okay then … keep going! Do 10 reps, and try to literally squeeze every last drop out on the first wringing. But keep checking after each one, and give it a second go. And keep the pace up! You wanted something a bit more muscular … you got it! You want something to help you do it more forcefully? Okay, imagine you’re in a life-and-death situation and your only hope is to strangle the life out of this assassin that’s trying to kill you. That’s right, the towel is his neck! Now … squeeze it for all you’re worth!

Wash day exercise

A simple exercise like this can be quite demanding, and it can remind you how strong ordinary people, specially ordinary women, used to be. They had to do this kind of thing every wash day, and they weren’t doing it for fun or for exercise – if they didn’t do it properly and effectively, the washing would take forever to dry. It was no joke! And those women, if they got their hands on you, could probably wring the life out of you if you got on the wrong side of them.

So, you want to keep your hands healthy and your grip strong? Do these simple exercises from time to time and see the difference. No gym membership required! No fancy training gear, no special equipment. And you can do the whole thing in ten minutes, easy. Well ten minutes anyway … not so sure about the ‘easy’ bit!

If you’re still keen to do more exercises to improve your grip strength, and forearm strength, take a look at this short video. This guy, Paul Zaichik, is very strong, and very creative. You can learn a lot from watching this kind of thing.

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#fitness#strength#strong grip

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