Hand health

jrams

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Shalom people of the S&C,

I'm wondering if anyone here does and is successful at some work for their hands/wrists/forearms?

Not too long ago I started upping the volume of my training which included daily snatches and snatch grip presses. As my grip sucked, I also brought my captains of crush to work and try to do some sets in between builds. I've had hand issues in the past and the inevitable happened where my thumb is pretty borked at this point. It clicks a lot, there's a constant nagging pain, and very sharp pain when holding the bar overhead with a snatch grip. I now get to do the fun thing of dealing with doctors to hopefully fix it.

In the meantime, I am trying to do some work with my good hand so that I can hopefully avoid this happening to that one.
 
In the meantime, I am trying to do some work with my good hand so that I can hopefully avoid this happening to that one.

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Just fap more, aim for 5-10x a day. If there's not enough time at home, do it at work.

I used to use heavy grips (cheaper ver of CoC), wrist roller, and plate pinching; At the end of the cycle, I found just deadlifting, BB rows, and pullups helped. At first 275lbs was tough on my grip, and I could barely get the reps on the cycle. Eventually when I got to 405-415 it felt the same when I was with 275.
 
Look into physical therapy.

I do a lot of stretching, rumble rollers ball/lacrosse brall, and ice on my hands. Work is brutal on them and the gym aggravates it quite a bit.
 
I'm not sure about the injury, but I assume you're using chalk? The captains + chalk fixed what grip issues I had.
 
I have a soft heavy filled with textiles, fluff and clothing and I use this for technique and general bag work. I also have a heavy bag that has soil and sand in which feels solid when hit. It forces me to hit it correctly and I think it's conditioning my hands and shins. I wear gloves and wraps with both.
 
If you search the archives you can probably find some threads. There used to be quite a few guys on here very into grip strength, and there were routines and recovery methods among them.
 
I've recently become a fan of nerve flossing for immediate pain relief, But in terms of long term recovery from hand workouts there's a couple things that have worked well:

-Callous maintenance : about once every 6-8 weeks I take a dremel to my callouses, sooner if one tears. A standard sanding bit (1/4" diameter?) on a rotary tool works great, and you can use a fresh piece of sandpaper every time without worrying about bacterial buildup from the last time. Constant movement, and stopping when you can feel the heat is the key. It'll remove dead skin and work down callouses, and your hands will feel baby soft in no time. Moisturize afterwards.

- Contrast baths help recovery. just like contrast showers for the rest of you, a dedicated set of tubs where one is as hot as you can stand it and one is a cold as you can stand it. 30-45 seconds in each,10 sets or untill you get bored.

- Sleeping with mittens on. Yes. Mittens. Preferably something that goes up to your elbow. Don't know why it helps, but I think the heat improves circulation, and that benefits recovery. Also a good time to moisturize your hands and use the mittens to keep it on there.

- Nerve flossing and compression in general. I use a bike inner tube (cause I'm cheap and don't care about the smell). Start with wrapping one hand. Flex. move, wiggle the fingers and wrist for a minute or two. unwrap and repeat with the other hand. Then wrap the forearm to the elbow on the first hand, flex, move, wiggle fingers for a minute or two. then the other side. Lastly wrap the elbows. I'm a fan of intermittent compression, but I don't like long term compression (wearing a brace or a wrap for hours) unless there's no alternative. I think of brief compression as essentially milking the area for fluids: old fluids out, new fluids in.

There are some finger exercises like the finger fitness exercises on youtube. They're not bad for active recovery and maintaining function and dexterity. Some people think the better coordinated your fingers are the better those central nervous system pathways function, the stronger your hands, but I've met some really limp wristed pianists, so I'm not sure that's the whole picture.

Hope that helps. Other than that, pop 4 ibuprofen and hope for the best.
 
@bad seed

its not letting me quote you for some reason what is the difference between just a thick rubber band from staples then a iron mind rubber band ?
 
I was with you up until the "shalom" thing....had to stop reading there.
 
Rice digs, knuckle pushups, and tenniss ball gripss
 
@bad seed

its not letting me quote you for some reason what is the difference between just a thick rubber band from staples then a iron mind rubber band ?
basically the same thing, except I've never seen rubber bands as wide and durable as the IronMinds.
 
basically the same thing, except I've never seen rubber bands as wide and durable as the IronMinds.
rubber bands dont do anything for my pain even the thick ones niether did captain of crush but i am going to try order iron minds rubber bands just really bad weakness , pain in my right index finger for over a month now
 
Captains of Crush grips FTW.
I would try a lesser grip with less tension for a while, but it sounds like you may need a doc to look at it.
 
I've recently become a fan of nerve flossing for immediate pain relief, But in terms of long term recovery from hand workouts there's a couple things that have worked well:

-Callous maintenance : about once every 6-8 weeks I take a dremel to my callouses, sooner if one tears. A standard sanding bit (1/4" diameter?) on a rotary tool works great, and you can use a fresh piece of sandpaper every time without worrying about bacterial buildup from the last time. Constant movement, and stopping when you can feel the heat is the key. It'll remove dead skin and work down callouses, and your hands will feel baby soft in no time. Moisturize afterwards.

- Contrast baths help recovery. just like contrast showers for the rest of you, a dedicated set of tubs where one is as hot as you can stand it and one is a cold as you can stand it. 30-45 seconds in each,10 sets or untill you get bored.

- Sleeping with mittens on. Yes. Mittens. Preferably something that goes up to your elbow. Don't know why it helps, but I think the heat improves circulation, and that benefits recovery. Also a good time to moisturize your hands and use the mittens to keep it on there.

- Nerve flossing and compression in general. I use a bike inner tube (cause I'm cheap and don't care about the smell). Start with wrapping one hand. Flex. move, wiggle the fingers and wrist for a minute or two. unwrap and repeat with the other hand. Then wrap the forearm to the elbow on the first hand, flex, move, wiggle fingers for a minute or two. then the other side. Lastly wrap the elbows. I'm a fan of intermittent compression, but I don't like long term compression (wearing a brace or a wrap for hours) unless there's no alternative. I think of brief compression as essentially milking the area for fluids: old fluids out, new fluids in.

There are some finger exercises like the finger fitness exercises on youtube. They're not bad for active recovery and maintaining function and dexterity. Some people think the better coordinated your fingers are the better those central nervous system pathways function, the stronger your hands, but I've met some really limp wristed pianists, so I'm not sure that's the whole picture.

Hope that helps. Other than that, pop 4 ibuprofen and hope for the best.

Why would you want to remove callouses? They're an adaption to stress, baby soft hands is a damn disability.
 
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