Every Finger Counts

8.29.2011

Blog

Every Finger Counts

Grip strength is a result of the interaction of the muscles that originate in the forearm and hand and insert in the hand and fingers. Any limitation in joint motion or deviation from the normal course of movement of the tendons of the fingers reduces maximal force of an individual digit.

Fingers like to work together to apply force and one finger tends to generate muscular tension in other fingers. It can be said that each digit does not act alone.

Studying normal populations and looking at contributions to overall grip strength you will find the index, long, ring and little finger contribute about 25%, 34%, 26% and 15% respectively to the total had producing force.

What is extremely interesting and applicable to coaching is that, exclusion of a finger in gripping reduces the total strength of the hand and this percent of total power lost by the exclusion of that particular digit is greater than the power it could produce when gripping with the digit.

Example: the little finger produces about 15% of the hands gripping force, but when excluded from a maximal grip test the overall grip strength is reduced by 33%. Exclusion of the little finger and the ring finger from a maximum grip reduces grip strength by 54%, which is 10% more than the force they produce in individual maximum efforts.

Once a digit is injured in sport it must be rehabilitated, it will not just return to normal strength. Remember that an individual digits’ effect on the total power of the hand is greater than its power as a single digit. Make sure you Get those digits Strong and rehabilitated.

The Pendulum Gripper

6.2.2023

Closed And Open Chain

Open kinetic chain exercises of the lower limb are movements, where the distal segment is unloaded and free to move. The opposite is true of closed kinetic chain exercises, whereby there is enough resistance to prohibit free motion.

Closed kinetic chain exercises are movements such as squats, Pendulum Squat Pro, leg presses and lunges, while open chain exercises are actions like leg curls, leg extensions and the Pendulum Reverse Glute Ham.

The kinetic chain can be understood as interrelated joints and body parts working with one another during motion. This creates a chain of events that affects the movement of neighboring joints and segments.

The advantage of open chain movements is that they tend to be better at isolating muscle and often are selected for specific rehabilitation and used to accentuate performance. While closed chain movements in general would be classified as more functional and closely approximating movements that are used in sport and daily life.

Open Chain Reverse Glute Ham

Closed Chain Pendulum Power Squat Pro

Closed Chain Pendulum Power Squat Pro XT

5.11.2023

Arkansas Baseball Weight Room

5.11.2023

2-for-2 Method

Some trainers, coaches and athletes use what is called the 2-for-2 Method for increasing training load. The rule is if the trainee can perform two or more repetitions over one’s ‘repetition goal’ in the last set of an exercise, for two consecutive workouts, the weight is added for that particular exercise the next training session.