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An alternative grip exercise that can be done anywhere and avoids the injury risk of climbing, is to alternately make a fist and then open your hands as far as

by 1e-9 7y ago

An alternative grip exercise that can be done anywhere and avoids the injury risk of climbing, is to alternately make a fist and then open your hands as far as possible while spreading your fingers apart. Start slowly and gradually increase the speed and repetitions. Be sure to have at least one rest day between sessions (I actually think two rest days is better). After a couple of weeks, you should be able to do it extremely quickly for hundreds of reps until your forearms are completely fatigued. In each workout, try to open and close your hand more quickly than the previous workout. Make your fingers look like a blur of motion. It is surprising how completely fatiguing this can be after just a few minutes.

Cpoll 7y ago
Do you know what this exercise is called?
- 1e-9 7y ago
  The closest thing I've found is called a "Fist Flex," so I just call this a "Rapid Fist Flex." I adapted it from a rehab exercise I was given after an injury, which instructed you to only do 10 to 20 slow repetitions. Once I was largely recovered from the injury, I found that doing 20 repetitions at a slow rate did little for me, so I experimented and determined that just increasing the rate and exercising to fatigue allowed me to continue to strengthen as effectively as any weight-bearing exercise I had done. I think of it as using acceleration/deceleration to generate force rather than using weights, which is similar to what sprinting does for the legs, core, and arms. Take a look at a 100m sprinter. Rapid movement is very effective at strengthening and it works your full range of motion. If you want some extra resistance, just put your hands underwater in the bathtub when doing it.
pfooti 7y ago
I did something similar quite often in my aikido classes. There was also a twist exercise - start with your fingers together palm parallel to the ground facing down, and rotate the forearm rapidly so the palm is facing up, and then back again. Repeat until you can't. Go back to the open close motion. Do those pairs 3x daily. I stopped akido due to a knee injury, but yikes were my wrists strong for a while.

by 1e-9 7y ago

Cpoll 7y ago

Do you know what this exercise is called?

1e-9 7y ago
The closest thing I've found is called a "Fist Flex," so I just call this a "Rapid Fist Flex." I adapted it from a rehab exercise I was given after an injury, which instructed you to only do 10 to 20 slow repetitions. Once I was largely recovered from the injury, I found that doing 20 repetitions at a slow rate did little for me, so I experimented and determined that just increasing the rate and exercising to fatigue allowed me to continue to strengthen as effectively as any weight-bearing exercise I had done. I think of it as using acceleration/deceleration to generate force rather than using weights, which is similar to what sprinting does for the legs, core, and arms. Take a look at a 100m sprinter. Rapid movement is very effective at strengthening and it works your full range of motion. If you want some extra resistance, just put your hands underwater in the bathtub when doing it.

pfooti 7y ago

I did something similar quite often in my aikido classes. There was also a twist exercise - start with your fingers together palm parallel to the ground facing down, and rotate the forearm rapidly so the palm is facing up, and then back again. Repeat until you can't. Go back to the open close motion. Do those pairs 3x daily. I stopped akido due to a knee injury, but yikes were my wrists strong for a while.