Hand exercisier surprise

[tjcurtin1]

A couple of months ago I bought a Planet Waves 'Varigrip' guitar player's hand/finger exerciser. I actually bought it because I injured a right hand finger this summer and the doc told me to work it with some kind of rehab squeezing thing. I wasn't surprised as a right-hander to find my right hand stronger and more 'capable' than my left, but I was kind of stunned to find that, despite finger exercises and playing, my left-hand fingers were way less independently operable than my right. This was most noticeable with the ring/pinky combination. On my right hand they are easily independent of one another, but on the left hand I could not depress one without the other! If I held back the ring finger, I could not depress the pinky and had a hard time restraining the ring (and to a lesser extent, the middle). Using it daily on the drive to work I am beginning to be able to build some separation, but I was really surprised. FWIW, I am finding that using the exerciser is increasing usefully for guitar playing the strength and dexterity (hmm, 'dexterity' comes from the Latin for 'right hand'!) of my left hand.

 

[Spudman]

Sounds and looks interesting. I mentioned something a while back about when I was weight lifting it got easier to play guitar. This looks like a pretty simple way to get some strength without the cost of a gym membership.

 

[Robert]

How about playing the trumpet?

 

[otaypanky]

These things always made me curious ~
http://www.powerballs.com/

 

[deeaa]

I got one of those powerballs, it's pretty kewl. The trouble with all these gadgets is pretty soon you forget to use them now and then...but I can recommend one of those.

BUT the NSD powerball is very good wrist exercise. You can also grip it by fingertips for finger exercise, but the wrist is where it works the most. I used it for a few weeks like almost every day for a while, and noticed I had to lenghten my wristwatch band!

I'd say it's good wrist exercise and also a good way to warm up your entire arm up to the shoulder, gives you mostly stamina to for instance keep picking rather fast for extended periods. If you could remember to use it daily I bet it'd give very good results, and I'm happy I got one if only for the novelty's sake, it's fun to show people and make them do some exercises or achieve some rpm level etc...it can REALLY feel very tough to keep it rotating after a minute or two.

 

[otaypanky]

Yeah, it looks like it can give you a workout. I watched some funny vids on YouTube with guys going ballistic trying to surpass 16,000 rpm's

 

[Ch0jin]

There's always this method :rollover :rollover :rollover

 

[deeaa]

LOL I had to FB that...

 

[marnold]

I have something similar to that Planet Waves thing that I got when I was rehabbing my hand injury. It really helped with that, I know, although I wonder about its guitar applications. It shouldn't surprise you that you are pretty much better at everything with your dominant hand. I ought to go to occupational therapy and see if I can use their grip strength tester to see what my right hand is like after 10 years since the accident.

 

[tjcurtin1]

Yeah, I should have mentioned that the Varigrip has a separate button for each finger (I've joked with myself about the trumpet similarity, too!). You can adjust the tension on each one separately, though I haven't changed any of them yet. It's not so much about being really hard to press down - I can bottom them all out easily enough - but more I think about having individual resistance for each finger.

Also, you can hold it in a variety of ways (they provide a little diagram) - palm and fingertips, palm with the thumb pointing out, thumb and fingertips - and you can feel it working different parts of the hand, wrist and forearm.

On the fixed side, under the gray removable hand rest, is a surface simulating wound guitar string - so you can turn it over and use it to keep your callouses in shape!

Deeaa - I keep mine on the dashboard of the car which gets me to use it for about 20 minutes morning and afternoon on my way to school (the highway portion only!).

Lastly, it's pretty cheap - $10 or $12.

 

[NC Zeppelin]

lol shake weight lol, you deserve a medal

 

[marnold]

(hmm, 'dexterity' comes from the Latin for 'right hand'!) of my left hand.

Yep, dexter is right. You know what left is in Latin? Sinister!

This has been your dose of Latin for the day.

 

[Ch0jin]

lol shake weight lol, you deserve a medal

Haha thanks Makes me laugh that the nature of the Internet is such that I post the first ever step by step guide to modifying a particular pedal and get one response, but post a video of women who look like they are, well you saw the video... and someone wants to give me a medal Classic.

That other post has got thefret.net to the first page of Google results for "mod a micro pog for true bypass" though so I got what I wanted

Also, Love the Latin lessons!!!! I put my dexter and sinister together :applause :applause :applause :applause

 

[Spudman]

I've been using the Varigrip for a week now and have noticed improvement, mostly in my pinky because that's what I'm exercising the most. Also seeing less fatigue while playing too. I just leave it on my desk and when I have a few free minutes I pick it up and do a short workout. Thanks for mentioning it TJ.

 

[Tig]

My Varigrip has allowed me to beat Chuck Norris in arm wrestling!

 

[tjcurtin1]

Yeah, there is a big difference after a few weeks in pinky strength but more importantly I think in its freedom of movement from the ring finger (and vice versa).

 

[tjcurtin1]

Revisiting this post after many months to say that this has proved a really valuable tool. When I first got it, I could not work my ring and pinky on the left hand independently of one another. Since then, I have developed much better control over the individual fingers, not to mention finger strength and hand strength generally. One good use is holding it so that it emulates bar chording in order to strengthen those muscles to increase barring stamina.

One maintenance suggestion - if the pistons get to feel a bit sticky, shoot a little Lockease graphite into them and they'll work really smoothly.

 

[Spudman]

Good to hear that the benefits are noticeable, and thanks for the lube tip.