Hands

[rolomac]

There was a great article in the American Rifleman last month about aging. It really hit home for me. I'm 78 and honestly in great shape (except for my knees) for my age but there are a few things of concern, like vision and hands and the article addressed both of them. I've had cataract surgery on both eyes and they are very good except for that distance to the front sight. After reading the Rifleman article I went searching and found safety glasses with a 1.25 power that my optometrist recommended and now that ol' front sight pops up clear as a bell like it should. The hands are another concern. I've known that my hands aren't anywhere near as strong as they once were and that has to affect my shooting. After reading the article I went searching for a hand exercising device and settled on a PROHANDS GRIP MASTER - about fifteen bucks on Amazon. And I'm amazed with it. It came with no instructions which I thought was odd until I handled it a bit and came to realize that no instructions are needed. You pick it up and it just becomes natural to squeeze, flex and work it. It feels good and I'm looking forward to improved strength in both hands. Using it leads to some thought about hand strength. I found that my left (support) hand is stronger than my right. Seems odd since I'm right handed, but it's obvious with the Grip Master. It has individual springs for each finger and I can compare finger to finger and hand to hand. Also realize that my ring finger on both hands is my weak finger. The little one on each hand is actually stronger. The exerciser comes in various strengths and I opted for the blue - light tension - model since everything I could find said go for a lighter tension since more flexes with lighter tension is better than fewer flexes with heavier tension. Anyway - I just wanted to pass this along as I'm really impressed with this little thing and feel positive that it is going to help my hands and my shooting.

rolomac

 

[ContinentalOp]

I like the Captains of Crush grippers. I also use their rubber bands to exercise the opposite muscle groups to try and keep things balanced. Though I have to admit I don't use them as much as I should.

I know my left hand is stronger than my right, but I think that's at least partly from having played guitar for several years. I'm also more likely to carry things in my left hand; from martial arts and security training as a young man I got into the habit of keeping my right hand free when possible.

I also have some concerns about the effects of aging. I've had hand issues a number of times over the years, mostly from repetitive stress. It's one of the reasons I went to carrying an easier to shoot Beretta PX4 Compact from a S&W 642-1 as my primary EDC gun (I'll still carry the 642 as a BUG or only gun from time to time).

 

[mckenney99]

rolomac,
The Gripmasters work very well and it is eye opening to find out how little strength you have in individual fingers. I have had a couple sets of them and gave one set to a little female trooper that came to our post who was having trouble qualifying with our issued DAO firearm. She was so weak, if she didn't squeak by on the initial firing, her subsequent scores would just get worse as she didn't have the reserve hand strength to make it through the course.
One word of caution when using them however, don't over do the number of repetitions. I typically take and use them while I am out for my walk and I have over done it using the heavier models and wound up with tendonitis in my right forearm.

 

[ContinentalOp]

Also realize that my ring finger on both hands is my weak finger.

I forgot that I wanted to respond to this.

This is not unusual. When I studied piano, our instructor would have the class do coordination drills with our fingers on our desktops. For the drummers, think paradiddles but with the fingers. He said that, if I'm remembering correctly, due to the way the tendons were arranged with the ring finger, it was the weakest and most difficult finger to develop independence compared to the other fingers, so we often spent more time developing our ring fingers.

 

[URIT]

This was a good article and worth taking the time to read and adopt some of the suggestions. I'm an NRA member and get the American Rifleman magazine, but for those who aren't receiving the magazine look here...

American Rifleman | The Aging Defender

ENJOY

 

[Nevada Ed]

Exercise is a MUST for the older generation for muscle tone and heart rate.

If you can't walk or jog, free weight or a tread mill system will work or at least some heavy duty rubber strips hanging from a wall or door jamb, to get some strength training.

Many of us hate sit ups or push ups, now that we are past 50.

Get er done.......

 

[fiasconva]

If you don't want to spend a lot of money and want to improve your grip strength you can just get yourself a tennis ball and squeeze it as often as you want. It works very well and you can find them almost anywhere. I see them lying around tennis courts all over the place. Players hit them over the fence and are too lazy to retrieve them.

 

[Rustyt1953]

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lXMbGTMTUdw[/ame]

 

[walkinghorse]

Per today's Ripley's Believe It or Not, your pinky finger has 50% of your hand strength!
https://www.ripleys.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200113_Cartoon.jpg