Why pump up your hand muscles?
For most athletes, grip strength is important. This is especially true for representatives of strength sports and wrestlers. A bodybuilder can argue with this statement, because pumping up his hands will not affect his appearance. However, this indicator is important not only in competitions, but also in everyday life.
One common myth is that grip strength is entirely dependent on the size of your forearms, but these indicators are not directly related. On the other hand, some exercises for the forearms do involve the muscles of the hands, but if you want to fully work them, you will need to include additional exercises in your training program.
You can pump up your hand muscles not only in the gym, but also at home. Some exercises do not require additional equipment at all, while other exercises require basic equipment, which most sports fans have at their disposal.
Other ways to pump up your hands
Many people are familiar with the exercise of wrapping a rope around a wrist roller made from a wooden pin. Despite all its benefits, a problem may arise during execution: the deltoids and other auxiliary muscles will tire before the forearms.
To avoid this, try working with a long steel handle.
Hand training can be combined with back training. Insert hand exercises after any back exercise. If you want to work your back, use bands, and in this case, stand further away to load your hands.
Types of Grip Strength
To understand how to train your hand muscles and grip strength, let’s first figure out what grip strengths there are:
- Compressive. You can appreciate it with a handshake. Trains the compression grip mainly with the help of expanders.
- Holding. With this strength, you can hold objects for a long time. In sports, holding force is used, for example, during the stiff-legged deadlift exercise.
- Plucked. It is also called thumb strength. It allows you to hold an object between your thumb and index finger.
- Wrist strength. Take the chair by the leg and try to hold it with your straight arm. In this case you will feel your wrist strength. The strength of the entire forearm directly depends on it.
How does grip strength increase?
The biceps are practically not involved in the grip. Its strength increases as a result of active training of the forearms and hands.
Many professionals claim that they were able to develop a strong grip by doing pull-ups on a thick horizontal bar and using a bar with an increased diameter.
To increase your grip strength you must adhere to:
- The principle of progressive loads, which involves a gradual increase in working weights with each workout. To increase strength parameters and muscle growth, it is important to increase the number of repetitions and approaches.
- The principle of periodization allows you to avoid overtraining, which entails a stop in development. Therefore, it is recommended to perform exercises to increase grip strength no more than once every 7-10 days.
- According to the principle of super compensation, training too infrequently has the same negative impact on increasing grip strength as training too often. In case of loss of super compensation, the strength parameters of the hand return to pre-training indicators.
To increase such strength, it is important for the body to maintain a balance of serotonin, dopamine and testosterone. Excessive amounts of cortisol (a female hormone) greatly inhibit muscle growth. Overeating significantly reduces the production of growth hormone, so you should be very careful about the task of creating your own diet.
Exercises to work the muscles of the hands
Here are some simple and complex, but very effective exercises that will help you get into shape the muscles of your hands.
- Clench your hands tightly into fists and hold this position for 30 seconds. Repeat 2 times.
- Sit on a bench, rest your upper arm on your thigh, and take a lightly weighted dumbbell in your hand. Notice that the palm is facing up. Lift the dumbbell by bending and extending your wrist. Do 3 sets of 20 reps. Repeat the same, but with a palms down grip.
- Stand about 60 cm from the wall. Push up against the wall and then quickly push yourself away. Repeat 50 times. Over time, you can increase the load and perform the exercise on each arm separately.
Perform the exercises regularly to achieve results.
How to pump up your wrists
Strong, powerful arms build wrist strength. While pumping up your hands, you can train your forearms with regular wrist curls. Try working with a thicker bar or dumbbells. This will take the exercise to a new level of difficulty. To build mass, do no more than 6-8 repetitions per set.
The option of bending your arms at the wrists is considered more effective - with a weight plate, rather than with a bar or dumbbells. Simply place your forearms on the bench as in a regular curl, but now you're working with a plate (palms up or down). You hold the plate with a pinch grip, so this exercise has the double effect of working your thumbs and hands.
Take a 10-kilogram pancake and you will understand how hard it is. Another way is to curl your arms with a weight plate while standing. You can hold the weight vertically (as in the hammer exercise), or horizontally (as in a normal curl). The point is to keep your wrists in the same position throughout the exercise. Perform 6-8 repetitions.
Warning: Working in low rep ranges with heavy weights and a thick bar may cause wrist pain.
Another simple method for training your wrists, without using any fancy equipment, is to simply hold a dumbbell at one end (free of weights) and move your wrist back and forth, left and right.
In this case, the elbows do not work. If you are doing the exercise while sitting, you can rest your forearms on your knees.
In this case, work in the medium to high rep range.
Important: To avoid potential injury, heavy repetitions are not recommended. Do at least 6 reps.
Strong hands are very important for powerlifters. Excellent exercises that develop hand strength are one-handed plate lifts, a farmer's walk from extreme power - you can take two heavy plates with your fingers and walk the distance with them. Stop only when your fingers loosen and the pancakes fall out of your hands.
Try hanging from a weighted bar. Deadlifts with a direct grip without straps will also force the development of not only the muscles of the back and legs, but also the forearms, and most importantly, the hands.
In addition, you can do the following forearm workout at home.
Training with an expander
The advantage of training with expanders is that they involve not only the muscles of the hands, but also other muscles. To get the maximum effect, follow the rules for training with an expander. Start your workout with a light warm-up using a resistance band with a low level of rigidity. Repeat each exercise 5-15 times, unless otherwise indicated in the exercise description. Don't exercise every day! Give yourself time to recover. The optimal amount of training with an expander is 2-3 times a week.
Here are some simple exercises with this simple simulator:
- Squeeze and unclench the expander. Work for time (1-1.5 minutes - 1 approach) or for the number of repetitions (100 repetitions - 1 approach). Do 3-7 sets with 3-5 minutes rest between sets.
- Squeeze the expander all the way and hold it in this position for 3-5 minutes.
- Squeeze the expander all the way and unclench your fingers as slowly as possible.
SportSovety.ru
Many people ask how to pump up their hands at home with dumbbells, what needs to be done for this, what exercises are available, techniques and training regimen.
After all, in sports, not only exercises are important, but also the correct technique for performing them and nutrition. In the article you will learn how to pump up your hands at home with dumbbells, what sets of exercises are available and how to perform them correctly to achieve the desired results. It is important to train according to the schedule, not to miss classes and to do all the exercises correctly. Find out: how to pump up your hands at home and on the horizontal bar.
How to pump up your hands at home with dumbbells
The first thing you need to pump up your hands at home with dumbbells is to set a big and worthwhile goal that will motivate you to train to the maximum, regularly and correctly. Write this goal on a piece of paper, set a clear date by which you need to achieve the goal and hang it in a visible place.
The second thing you need to pump up your hands at home with dumbbells is to draw up a clear tinting plan to reach your goal. In your training plan, write down clear exercises, sets, repetitions, technique and time. Work out according to the plan 3 times a week or more often, depending on your desire, but do not skip workouts. Find out: Increasing hand strength.
How to pump up your hands at home with dumbbells - exercises
To pump up your hands at home with dumbbells, perform these exercises regularly, do the right approaches and repetitions, and then everything will work out for you.
Charger
To pump up your hands at home with dumbbells, you first need to do light exercises for your hands to stretch them and not injure them. After this, you can safely begin basic exercises on your hands.
Dumbbell Raise
To pump up your hands at home with dumbbells, you just need to take dumbbells in your hands and do any lifts, biceps, triceps, shoulders. This will not only pump up your hands, but also other parts of your arms.
Hold dumbbells for a while
To pump up your hands at home with dumbbells, take dumbbells in your hands and hold them for a while, standing straight. It is advisable to hold for 5 to 10 minutes. To do this, select a sufficient weight of dumbbells or replace them with backpacks or water bottles.
Pushups
Also, to pump up your hands at home, do simple push-ups from the floor with a narrow, wide and regular grip. Increase the load gradually and everything will work out.
Press the expander
To pump up your hands, you need a regular expander that you can squeeze in your hand more than 10 times. This convenient exercise can be done anywhere, at school, at work or at home while watching TV. Find out: how to pump up a girl’s arms in the gym.
How to pump up your hands at home with dumbbells - recommendations
To pump up your hands , you need to do all the exercises to the best of your ability. Do not do sudden or heavy loads during the week, let your muscles get used to the new exercises.
Also, to pump up your hands, you need to take care of proper and healthy nutrition. Eat healthy foods that contain more proteins and vitamins. Without proper nutrition, it is more difficult to build muscle. Also drink 2 liters of water per day.
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How to choose an expander
There are 2 main types of hand expanders:
- Carpal expander in the shape of a circle (donut). It is made of dense rubber. The main advantages of such an expander are ease of use and accessibility. Disadvantage: it is impossible to adjust the stiffness. However, you can purchase several of these exercise machines with different levels of rigidity and gradually increase the effort.
2. Butterfly expander. It consists of 2 handles connected by a spring and vaguely resembles pliers. There are models on which you can adjust the stiffness. This is convenient, since one simulator is suitable for warming up and for a full workout.
Steel hand expanders stand apart. Among them there are models whose rigidity reaches 160 kg. These are exercise machines for advanced athletes; they are not suitable for beginners.
Here https://bear-grip.ru/category/sportivnye_tovary/torsion_carpal_expander/ you can find different expanders that will help you pump up your hand muscles and increase your grip strength.
Pinch strength training
Even if you have strong hand pinch force, you may find that you have difficulty grasping objects with your fingers because pinch force is related to the strength of your thumbs. When working on other grips, it is quite difficult to develop, because when squeezing, the load is distributed evenly between all fingers.
The easiest way to train hand pinch strength is to pump up your thumbs using two smooth weights.
Place them together and hold them with just your fingertips. The sign of true strength is holding two 20-pound plates. It's a lot harder than you might imagine. Start with 5kg pancakes and just try to hold them with your fingers for as long as possible.
When trying to pump up your hands, remember the progress. To add weight gradually, you can place weights on a wooden or iron stick until you are ready to use heavier weights. You can also hold the pancake with your fingers by the hole, while the pancakes should be without rims.
This method of working on pinch strength is suitable for a heavy single or timed hold. Again, aim for the reference 20 kilograms.
You can also train your pinch grip using a homemade device:
- Take a small wooden block 5 cm x 10 cm and 10-15 cm long.
- Drill a hole in the center and insert a bolt with a loop on which you will hang the weight.
- The board is wider than the pancakes, so it is a little easier to work with. U
- hold the block only with your fingertips.
- To make the task more difficult, try working with a narrower block.
Finger training
Fingers also need attention. It is possible that your grip is quite strong, but your fingers are thin and weak. The main problem is that there are practically no muscles on the fingers, they are just tendons. As you know, developing tendons is much more difficult than muscles. However, if you show diligence, you can achieve success in this matter.
The ideal exercise to strengthen your fingers is finger push-ups. However, even if you know how to do push-ups correctly and a lot, do not try to immediately start doing push-ups on your fingers. They are really difficult and you can easily get injured.
To begin, stand in a plank position as you would for push-ups, but place one knee on the floor. Rise up onto your toes and gradually lift your knee off the floor. Try to hold this position for at least 5-10 seconds, gradually increase the time. If you feel pain or severe discomfort, do not force yourself, gently kneel down and shake your fingers.
Once you get used to the pose, try tightening your palms. And only after that move on to finger push-ups. Also increase the number of push-ups on your fingers gradually, do not do them every day, give your muscles a rest.
How to properly train this muscle group
Workouts consisting of finger exercises follow the same rules as regular strength training. They must have 3 components in their structure:
- Warm up;
- The main set of exercises;
- Cool down.
Each person requires a gradual increase in load, even if an experienced athlete begins training.
Note!
The basic rule of gymnastics is that the last repetitions of movements must be performed through effort.
The structure of the training is built so that the movements performed affect all the functionality of the hands. Therefore, 4 types of exercises are used:
- Compressive. The work of joints and muscles is regulated using an expander.
- Retaining. Training is carried out by lifting weights, as well as holds.
- Plucked. The emphasis is on holding weights with two or three fingers.
- Power. The load on the fingers and hand is carried out by bending the wrists and holding the object.
The training includes all 4 functional types of loads so that the muscles of the hand develop evenly.
Records in hand exercises
For many old-schoolers, feats of strength are a thrilling spectacle. We will briefly highlight some feats of strength that are rarely seen anymore.
- Ripping a telephone directory in half
- Tearing a deck of cards into two parts (into four parts for very strong people)
- Bending nails (and this is really very difficult)
- Horseshoe extension
All this can be done with pumped up hands with our exercises.
Greatest feat of hand strength:
Hermann Georner became world famous for the strength of his hands! He deadlifted 327kg with one arm. This happened on October 8, 1920. Georner used a lock grip, where the thumb lies under the rest. This is the greatest example of a one-arm lifting feat in history.
This technique is still used by professional weightlifters and simply those who refuse wrist straps. If you need strong hands, don't use these straps!
Taking sports supplements - creatine, arginine, intra-workout, bcaa amino acid and pre-workout complexes will help you increase your strength. These sports nutrition products are specifically formulated to improve performance in sports and fitness for men and women. Just add it to your diet and go ahead to conquer new heights!