Fingers and Hands

I have one of these at home.  It's a Gripmaster, and it's purpose is to strengthen the fingers.  They come in light, medium, and heavy tension.  I brought mine several years ago, and didn't notice that is was heavy tension.  The workout for my fingers is very tough using the one I have.  But it's not only just to help with boxing.  I type also, and it helps keep my fingers strong.  It can help with any other sport, and musicians use them too. 

As seen in an article by Joshua McCarron on LiveStrong.com: "You can perform several different exercises on the Gripmaster to work your fingers, hands and forearms. For overall grip strength, place the palm bar across your palm and fingers all across the buttons and squeeze. You can curl your fingers to rest your fingertips on each button with the bar on your palm and squeeze. You can place the Gripmaster sideways with your thumb on the end button and bent fingers under the palm bar to squeeze in a key pinch exercise. You can also place your thumb tip under the bar and a fingertip on one of the buttons to squeeze. Alternate through each finger."

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/295045-gripmaster-hand-finger-exerciser/#ixzz24bsIe8aF

I have two pair of these fixed resistance grip exercisers.  Some say these aren't as good for the hands as say, the Gripmaster type of hand exerciser, because it's more for building wrist and forearm strength.  These are just squeezed in the hand for so many repetitions.  I use them when I think about them and happen to notice them on the end table in my apartment.  I don't have carpal tunnel like a lot of typists seem to have -- and I don't remember as many cases of carpal tunnel when there were only typewriters, but there have been a lot of cases since computers were introduced into the workplace.  I like to think that the fixed resistance grip exercisers helped with keeping that at bay.

My warm-up routine in the gym consists of shadow boxing for three rounds, then stretching.  I roll my wrists in circles to loosen them up for the rest of the workout.  Ever since I sprained my right wrist several years ago as the result of using a pair of poorly padded bag gloves I used to own, I've been mindful of my wrists and hands in general. 

I remember watching a documentary about "The Dean Martin Show" a few years ago.  For those not as old as me, here's a brief history.  Dean Martin was a singer and an actor.  He was once part of a comedy team with comedian Jerry Lewis, and Martin was a member of Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack.  From the mid-1960's to the early 1970's, Martin headlined his own variety show on NBC.  I watched it every week.  My mother would grumble that Martin couldn't sing, but I digress.  The guy who produced the TV show was interviewed during the documentary.  He commented that Martin held his hands in a certain way and was always careful about his hands.  Martin had been a boxer for a brief time when he was a young man, and that was most likely a habit he carried over from that time.

All boxers need to be careful about their hands because without them, well. . . .there's no participating in the sport.  I mentioned two exercisers here.  I will post other hand exercises as I find them.