Favourite Finger / Grip Strengthening Exercises

[5thBrother]

Any favourite or recommended finger and grip strengthening and/or toughening exercises u like?

both for impact/striking and griping/clawing Gungs?

Both solo and 2 man exercises?

[mok]

Rock-climbing.

Helluva lot less boring than grip exercises, it's a ****ed good general workout (and especially upper-body), and provides a nice "yin" balance to some the harder southern styles (e.g.: Hung gar).

Only drawback: rapidly addictive, can take a chunk out of your "other" training.

[syn]

Tension excercises, there's alot of southern chinese forms involving those in the beginning, like Sup Ying Kuen (I think that's the right form).

[Shaolin Wookie]

There are a set of Eagle Claw tension exercises I learned in a physical fitness class offered by my school to try to stress functional fitness exercises for our martial artists. These exercises were excellent. Other than that, just do finger pushups, changing the fingers. A lot of people just tend to pick up the outside fingers to get down to the thumb and forefinger. Now start trying to balance on different combinations: index, ring, and pinky.....just a thought.

[Ao Qin]

Get a small coffee can (or some other metal can), fill it half way with cement. Hold the can by the empty part, using only the tips of your fingers & extend can, push it out, pull it in, etc.

ta - aq

[Lama Pai Sifu]

Here are some one's I've been doing over the last 20 years;



Fingertip pushups
Squeezing a Handball
Dynamic Tension/Heih Gung Excercises
Catching a canvas bag filled with Sand or Iron pellets (w or w/o a partner)
Lifting bricks, blocks, etc, with just your fingertips.
Hold 2.5 and 5 gallon wide mouth jars (mason jars) filles with liquid



Here are just a few that I do and or done. You also have to pick some methods of evaluating your training, i.e., breaking things, bending things with your fingers or claws.

Peace

[WinterPalm]

Instead of telling you to do something that will injury you, I'd suggest you consult your Sifu for relevant informed knowledge.

[qiphlow]

you have a pillow, right? squeeze it 100 times daily (if you don't go blind or grow hairy palms, you'll get good grip strength in no time)

[SevenStar]

squeeze your CoC. Really.

[SevenStar]

Captains of Crush:

http://www.ironmind.com/ironcms/export/IronMind/Main/captainsofcrush1.html

[Sang Feng Fan]

Place a sheet of newsprint flat on a table and place you hand flat dead center, squeeze and crush the piece in a ball making as tight a fist as possible.

Repeat at least 20 sheets a hand.

When you run out of paper take the balls out and flatten and smooth them out one at a time on the same flat surface.

Making sure to spread the hand and fingers out as far and flat as possible in the same manner you made it tighter but reversed by making the hand as loose and relaxed as possible.

Take care not to tear the paper.

Use newsprint not newspaper, while ink may be sterile it may also be toxic.

Those other methods can leave you with a claw, not a hand.

Work the muscles both ways.

[Ao Qin]

A few others...

Get a bucket of mungbeans / dried peas, push hands into them, then rotate wrists both directions and slowly squeeze...try to crush them into powder.

With partner, throw a medicine ball to each other using very short power and catching & throwing the ball only with fingertips and minimal large muscle movement in the arms / body.

Constant lop sao exercises - grinding hand, etc.

Swallow Spit exercise. Grip hands directly in front of body, elbows in (arms 105 degrees). Thrust out (biu ji) - tense fingertips - slowly grab, pull in, repeat...(many variations)

Give your partner long massages, all the time.

Cheers - aq
Roll the baoding balls...(don't let them touch...)

Best one of all...open hand, close hand (tun to) hundreds of times a day.