Tag Archives: grip exerciser

Hand Grip Strength Exercises to Increase Blood Circulation

Posted on by
Reply

Hand grip strength exercises are essential for overall wellness, performance, and injury prevention. Despite their importance, hand muscles are often overlooked in fitness routines. Dr. Terry Zachary sheds light on why training your hands with the Handmaster Plus hand grip strengthener can enhance blood flow, improve strength, and support overall hand health.

The Importance of Hand Grip Strength Exercises

Your hands play a crucial role in daily activities, sports, and rehabilitation. Strengthening these muscles can:

  • Improve grip strength for better athletic performance
  • Enhance dexterity and endurance
  • Prevent injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive strain injuries
  • Boost blood circulation and lymphatic drainage

Blood Circulation Results from Squeeze-only Hand Exerciser vs. Handmaster Plus

Using thermographic imaging, Dr. Zachary demonstrates how blood circulation in the hands changes with different hand grip strength exercises.

These images provide a clear, visual representation of how effectively an exercise targets muscle groups by showing blood flow.

The areas of the hand that show the most intense color indicate where the exercise is most effective at engaging muscles, highlighting the benefits of full-range exercises in increasing blood circulation

Thermographic Image Comparison of Blood Flow of Squeeze-only Exercises VS Handmaster Plus

Three side-by-side thermographic images comparing hand grip strength exercises blood flow

The white color indicates the areas with the strongest blood flow, while red indicates moderate blood flow.

After one minute of using the devices, you can see the following differences in the thermograph image:

  • Left: Squeeze-Only Hand Exercise: After one minute, there is minor (white) blood flow increase into the wrist.
  • Right: Handmaster Plus Full-Range Motion Exercise: A significant increase in blood flow (white), reaching deep into the wrist and hand muscles, enhancing circulation and oxygen delivery.

Why Traditional Hand Grip Exercises Fall Short

Most people train their hands using squeeze-only devices, which primarily engage closing muscles but neglect opening and stabilizing muscles. This imbalance can lead to:

  • Limited muscle engagement
  • Reduced blood flow and oxygenation
  • Poor lymphatic drainage, leading to toxin buildup

Handmaster Plus: A Game-Changer in Hand Grip Strength Training

The Handmaster Plus revolutionizes hand grip strength exercises by engaging the entire hand, wrist, and forearm through full-range-of-motion training. Instead of only squeezing, it also involves opening and spreading the fingers. This simple yet effective movement:

  • Trains all 18 hand muscles (9 for closing, 9 for opening)
  • Activates 9 stabilizing forearm muscles through figure-8 exercises
  • Enhances blood flow and lymphatic drainage
  • Promotes balanced strength and flexibility

How Squeeze-Only Devices Train Fewer Muscles

Squeeze-only devices primarily engage the muscles responsible for closing the hand, neglecting the muscles that open the hand and stabilize the wrist and forearm.

While they do target the 9 muscles that close the hand, they don’t fully activate the 18 muscles of the hand or the forearm muscles. This limited range of motion leaves out important components like:

• The 9 muscles responsible for opening the hand

• The 9 stabilizing muscles in the forearm, which contribute to overall grip strength and wrist stability

• A comprehensive boost in blood circulation and lymphatic drainage, which is vital for hand health

This can lead to imbalanced strength development. A more comprehensive approach to hand training can result in a stronger grip and decreased pain.

Who Can Benefit from Handmaster Plus?

  • Athletes: Golfers, tennis players, climbers, and weightlifters looking to improve grip strength.
  • Musicians: Guitarists, pianists, and drummers seeking better dexterity.
  • Workers: Those who use their hands in similar repetitive movements daily (tradespeople, massage therapists, office workers, etc.).
  • Individuals with Hand Pain: Arthritis or carpal tunnel sufferers who need improved circulation and mobility.

Final Thoughts

Hand grip strength exercises are vital for maintaining hand health. The Handmaster Plus provides a superior way to strengthen, balance, and enhance blood flow.

Whether you’re an athlete, musician, or someone looking to improve hand endurance and circulation, incorporating full-range-of-motion training can make a significant difference.

Shop Handmaster Plus here

Hand Exercise for Grip Strength & Balance – Nature Always Knows

Posted on by
Reply

Nature Always Knows.

Grip strength is not super-complicated, but if you are like most (even most health & fitness professionals), grip strength and hand exercise training is not what you think. You see, grip strength and hand exercise training have traditionally been depicted as a grip ball-, coiled grip trainer- or spring loaded gripper-related exercise.

When I was a young aspiring Canadian golf professional, I was told by EVERYONE to strengthen my hands by squeezing a ball. Moe Norman did it, so how could it be inaccurate?

But hand exercise is not a ‘close-only’ exercise. In fact, far from it. Nothing could be further from what our Nature and anatomy (as humans) tells us – in relation to the strength & stability of the fingers, thumb, hand, wrist, carpal tunnel, forearm or elbow. In fact, there is evidence that ‘grip-only’ training of the hands could lead to repetitive grip injury. If we hope to begin to: a) maximize performance, and b) prevent the plethora of modern RSI injuries of the hand, wrist, carpal tunnel & lower arm, we must look seriously at our own Nature – and smarten up! Nature always knows…

Our hand muscles are a collection of approximately 18 muscles, 9 that close the hand (yes, only half) that are generally located on the FRONT of our hand, wrist & elbow… and 9 that open the hand that are generally located on the BACK of our hand, wrist & elbow. ’50/50′ for hand closing vs. hand opening muscles should tell us something… and be our first hint that hand opening muscles are important.

Then add in the study of natural grip mechanics of any grip activity…. and the evidence for grip training reform is overwhelming…

It is super easy study Nature’s mechanical grip design and to illustrate, via sEMG (surface electromyography), that both hand opening muscles and hand closing muscles fire aggressively when the fingers and thumb grab, close, flex or grip. Why do BOTH muscle groups contract at the same time?

Many people believe that ALL ‘opposing’ muscle groups perform in a reciprocal agreement… when one acts, the other relaxes.. and vice versa. But the Nature of hand muscles shows otherwise.

We now know that the so called ‘opposing’ muscles of the hand (the opening and closing muscles) work in a cooperative/supportive contraction. They are in fact A KEY CORE FACTOR of the ‘kinetic chain’ of grip. The finger extensor muscles CONTRACT to support the finger flexor muscles as they CONTRACT.  The problem is, the finger extensor muscles contract in a small static ROM (range of motion) all day, every day, all year round… and are never exercised properly by most.

In sports, music or workplace, when your hands tire/fatigue from duration activity, I can almost guarantee you, it is your hand ‘opening’ muscles that have fatigued first to cause grip fatigue/weakness. Nature’s design has been ignored. Hand opening muscles are key stabilizers for grip, but have been ignored for years.

These key muscles are the reason I developed Handmaster Plus. And it is my goal to change the way of thinking of the WORLD when it comes to hand exercise and grip strength. It is not a big change, but it is a change. Proper hand exercise addresses both hand closing muscles AND hand opening muscles. As Nature has designed it!

Needless injuries (and perform limitations) could be a thing of the past. We need to understand the hints and messages from our own Nature. Look at the anatomy. Study the sEMG patterns of grip activities. LEARN. And always question the status quo.

These weaknesses and imbalances are SUPER-EASY to prevent, but are SUPER-TRICKY to correct, especially when we don’t understand our own Nature, and the CAUSE of these imbalances. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Tennis Elbow, Golfer’s Elbow, Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, Dupuytren’s Contracture, DeQuervain’s Tenosynovitis, wrist tendonitis and much more, have a deep underlying hand muscle imbalance as their core cause.

Handmaster Plus brings strength, balance, endurance and circulation to the muscles of the fingers, thumb, hand, wrist, carpal tunnel, forearm and elbow, resulting in stability and maximum performance/productivity in sports, music, workplace and everyday activities.

Dr. Terry Zachary is the developer of Handmaster Plus. His goals are to: 1) change the way the world views hand exercise & grip strength training, and 2) provide a complete, convenient and cost-effective solution that ANYONE can and will actually use and understand.

For more information about Handmaster Plus or how to purchase as a partner or individual, visit www.handmasterplus.com or email us at info@doczac.com

Finger and Hand Exercises for Osteoarthritis

Posted on by
Reply

5 6

Regain Your Hand Strength & Range of Motion

Many people with osteoarthritis are instructed by so-called experts to exercise the hand in a grip-only approach to regain back blood flow and muscle loss. Unfortunately grip-only habits may have contributed to their arthritic condition in the first place. This is the reason we often say that stress balls (grip balls) cause stress. The natural motion of the hand is fully open and spread, and fully closed. If you want an effective exercise to combat arthritis, move the hand through its full range of motion. First start without Handmaster Plus. If that is too easy, move to Handmaster Plus SOFT, next (if necessary) Handmaster Plus MEDIUM.

Fundamentals of the Handmaster PLUS

Handmaster Plus allows the hand, fingers and thumb to move through through their full natural, 3-dimensional range of motion resulting is best case scenario blood flow improvements, in turn creating maximum repair and restoration.

The Science Behind It

Full range of motion exercises stimulate blood flow and can help you restore and maintain function in your arthritic hands. This will help with pinching, opening jars, opening doors, and carrying. With our product being rated #1 in the market, you can feel confident now knowing there is a safe, complete, controlled solution to your osteoarthritis. Be sure to contact your health care professional before starting Handmaster Plus… start without resistance, then move to SOFT, the move to MEDIUM, if necessary

Click here to get your solution started today!