Want to strengthen your grip? Try these hand exercises
What's the story
Improving hand grip strength is important for a number of daily activities and it can improve your overall physical performance.
A strong grip helps in lifting, carrying, even typing.
While most exercises target larger muscle groups, spending time on hand-specific workouts can do wonders.
Here are five unique exercises that strengthen your hand grip naturally without any fancy equipment or gym memberships.
Stress ball
Squeeze a stress ball
Using a stress ball is an effective way to build hand strength.
Simply hold the ball in your palm and squeeze it as hard as you can for about five seconds before releasing.
Repeat this process 10 to 15 times per session, ensuring both hands get equal attention.
This exercise targets the muscles in your fingers and palms, gradually enhancing grip strength over time.
Rubber bands
Perform finger extensions with rubber bands
Finger extensions with rubber bands are simple but powerful exercises to improve grip strength.
Simply place a rubber band around your fingers and thumb, and slowly open your fingers against the resistance of the band.
Hold this position briefly before returning to the starting point.
Three sets of 10 reps will strengthen the extensor muscles of your hands.
Household items
Try farmer's walks with household items
Farmer's walks entail holding weights at your sides and walking a certain distance or time period.
If you don't have weights, you can use household items such as water bottles or bags filled with books.
Walk steadily while maintaining good posture to effectively engage forearm muscles. This contributes significantly to overall hand grip strength.
Towel wringing
Practice towel wringing exercises
Mimicking the motion of wringing out water from a towel, towel wringing is all about strengthening forearms and hands, not drying fabric.
Take a dry towel in both your hands. Twist it tightly by rotating each wrist in opposite directions until fully twisted up.
Hold briefly before untwisting back again slowly under control throughout the movement range.
Repeatedly performing several times per set, performed regularly, helps improve endurance too.
Rock climbing
Engage in rock climbing activities
Rock climbing provides an amazing full-body workout, especially for gripping, as it depends on finger holds when climbing up and down.
Even if you are not near natural rock formations, indoor facilities have artificial walls built specifically for climbers.
This helps them practice techniques and develop stronger grips through repeated exposure to different types of holds encountered along routes.