Stretching has long been an important part of our daily exercise. Most people start their daily workout with stretches because it helps in improving the body’s flexibility and strengthening the muscles. Eventually, you will see that you will gain flexibility and this will reduce the chance of injury due to loss of flexibility in your body. Most of the stretches that are used for improving our body function revolve around the back muscles, legs, or neck region. However, people usually neglect that our forelimbs play a much important role while lifting weight. From the time we move around to the time we lay down or sit, our hands are always doing something. We open the door, lift shopping bags, throw a ball or play games and it all involves our arms and hands.
However, most of our daily activities involve the use of hands and wrists, we still do not focus on our hands and arms workout. Even if we look at our workout patterns, most people work on the strength of arms. They want to increase the girth of their biceps and triceps but they do not care about the actual hands and wrists.
With the help of this article, we will look into the anatomy of hands and the muscles along with the bone structure. We will further discuss why it is important to work on the strength of our hands and arms and how to stretch our hands by using simple starching techniques. We will mainly talk about the methods to help you relieve the wrist and arm pain as well.
Importance of Hands and Wrist Workout
We have seen that within our hands we have so many small bones. These bones are interconnected and they are relatively strong. With so many joints it gets easier to lift things so most people do not feel strain like in other parts of the body. However, in repetitive works like using a mouse, typing, cooking, or painting, wrists’ movement gets pretty painful. This is where stretching comes in. Since most people complain that there are no specific machines for the wrist and hand starching, we have listed down some simple exercises that you can perform with the help of simple household equipment. These stretches will help you improve the stretch of your grip and you will be able to lift things for longer.
Five Finger Stretch
These stretches will help you get rid of strain in the fingers, wrists, and palm area. If you have been using a mouse, touchpad, or pencil for a long time you need to start with this. Hold your hand straight and then bend it at the elbow. Now close your fist with full force and open it up. Hold it for a few minutes and then close it again.
Buddha Stretch
For this, you need to hold both palms together and then settle them under your chin. Now keep moving your hands below till it reaches the stomach. Now keep it there for a few seconds before letting go.
Pray Finger Stretch
This is the combination of Buddha stretch and five-finger stretch. You have to stand in the prayer pose but rather than keep your hand firm, open up your fingers wide.
Ball Grip
The simple yet most effective stretch is where you will hold a ball in your hand. Now, clench it with full force, squeeze it tight till your knuckles go white and then let it go.
Band Stretch
This is a simple stretch where you will hold the resistance band in both hands and try to pull it apart with full force. Hold it for a few seconds and then let go.
Tips To Help You with the Workout
- Stretches can be complicated because they help you with flexibility only if you keep doing it. In case you start after a year, you might have to start from the beginning.
- Make sure you are starching daily
- Start your workout with starching
- For starching reps and sets and not important so take your time.
- For stretching you need to take care of technique so do not over-stretch otherwise you might end up with a pulled muscle.
- You do not need any special equipment for the stretches so you can do it in your car or when you sit in your office.
Bottom Line
To sum it all up, the strength and flexibility of your forelimb are very important. Most people focus on the shoulder and arm region, however, your wrist and hands play an equally important role. Simple manual activities like cooking, lifting, painting, cutting, typing, etc. require the constant use of wrist and hand and so you will feel a little strain. With the help of these simple stretches, you will be able to get rid of the strain right away. All the stretches mentioned are very simple and you can easily use them on a daily basis without using specialized gym equipment. To help your arms, you can start with light stretches and then move to normal stretches and finally, you can use bands as well. In case you want to work on the strength of your arms and wrists for improving grip for weight lifting, you need to use proper bands and increase the intensity of the workout accordingly.
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