Fast Fitness - Grip Strength and Endurance

Friday, November 14, 2008

Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM

Here is Friday Fast Fitness - Strengthen and increase endurance of hands, fingers, and forearms.

Farmers Carry - Hold a heavy briefcase, suitcase, bucket, grocery bags, or other weights with a handle. Hold arms down at your side (or out to the side to add shoulder exercise.) Babies and children love to be swung (safely) forward and back in slings and other inventive carriers held in farmers grip.

Finger Carry - Hold (non-living) items down at your side, to the front, and out to sides with four fingers, three, two, then each one. Don't tighten your hand. Learn to apply strength in relaxed manner. When lifting with one arm, stand straight and get built-in core stabilization exercise, instead of leaning to the other side. You don't need to lean to counter balance the weight - use your muscles instead.

Pinch grip - Increase different grip ability by holding the weight pinched between the pads of your fingers instead of resting the weight inside the curled fist. Hold a book or heavier weight down at your side with 'pinch grip.'

Photo uploads still not loading. Several posts and reader stories have been postponed. Grip techniques on today's Fast Fitness are (hopefully) easy to visualize. Click the photo credits to see them on Flickr.

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Suitcase carry photo by Dr John2005
Pinch grip photo by py3mdwg (look sideways to visualize downward pinch grip)

Labels: fast fitness, grip, hand, strength