Finger Dexterity Exercises
So much of what you do in life depends on the dexterity and strength of your fingers, especially if you engage in a sports activity. Finger dexterity exercises improve precision, strength and speed. They also prevent fatigue and injury when playing your favorite sport. As with other forms of exercise, begin each exercise session with a warm up and stretch by gently raising and lowering your fingers together as a unit and individually. (Ref 6)
Baseball and Softball
Baseball and softball pitchers need to control the ball effectively. Place uncooked rice in a bucket and reach deep into the rice with your closed fists. Open and close your hands as you grasp handfuls of rice and squeeze the grains together. Alternatively, use a 7-inch ball that weighs approximately 3.4 ounces and grip it with the pads of your fingers as you toss it to practice getting your pitches and spins on target. Another dexterity exercise walks splayed fingers of each hand up and down a sledge hammer handle as you suspend the hammer above the floor. You can also practice swinging the sledge to develop strength and endurance. Practice rolling golf balls or Chinese therapy balls forward and backward in your hand. You will also find juggling a good way to build dexterity and fast reflexes.
Football players also need firm grips to hang on to the ball, launch to another player and to grab the clothing of players during a tackle or while deterring the other team from catching or intercepting the ball. Practice grabbing a rolled up, swinging towel to exercise effective clothes-grabbing skills. You can also practice hanging on to both ends of a towel as you hang and pull up from a stationary bar. Practice your ball grip dexterity by spinning a football on your fingers, dropping and catching the football with the same hand, and catching the football with crossed hands or behind your back.
Build strength and endurance in your forearms, wrists and fingers by holding onto the ends of a large dowel rod and rolling a suspended weight from one end of the rod to the other. Begin with a 2.5-pound weight and work up to 7.5-pound weight. You can also benefit from spring-loaded hand and finger grip strengtheners that allow you to practice squeezing and releasing your grip to control a ball, bat, racket or other piece of sports equipment. Grippers that have separate springs for each finger allow you to individually work each finger for the best result.
After an Injury
Regain dexterity by gently touching the tip of each finger to the thumb in rotation, making an "O" over the palm. Repeat this until the fingers feel more limber. Next, touch the tip of each finger to the palm of the same hand. Repeat the palm touch two or three times a day to relieve tension and strengthen the fingers. In addition, practice picking up objects of different sizes, shapes and weights with your fingers.
- Stack: 7 Grueling Grip-Training Exercises
- Critical Bench.com: Grip Training Tips For Athletes
- Washington Post: Jim Zorn’s Worthless Tricks; Dan Steinberg; October 2, 2008
- JumpUSA.com: The Wrist Roller
- Prohands: Exercises Program
- FingerExercises.org: Finger Exercises
- WePlay: Youth Softball: Hand Dexterity Drills
- Christian Petersen/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images