Strong Hands

I am often asked about what the single best "thing" to do is. I usually say "I don't know" because I translate that as "I'm really lazy and don't want to do any work, so what is the least I can do without breaking much of a sweat." I always want to say "Sprint to the roof of a really tall building and jump off". Frankly I don't think that people like that are much of an asset to human kind, but in the interest of avoiding conflict, I play stupid. But sometimes, people will legitimately ask me what to prioritize. I always vote for strength.. Always do thing that make you stronger, otherwise you're getting weaker. Then I provide a short list of simple things to do and move one with my life.

Lately, I have spent a little more time pondering this. I thought about where the most vulnerable areas of the body are to weakness. Essentially, it boils down to the very top of the upper body since it's the highest point of the axial skeleton above the center of gravity. Imagine balancing a baseball bat on your palm. The very top of the bat is the tipping point, thus the most susceptible to the demands of mean ol' Mr. Gravity. That is why over-head movements are so challenging. So developing and maintaining control through the shoulder girdle is key. Many people simply call it "upper-body strength". We call it scapular control.

So scapular control may be the most important to general strength. This is easily done by strengthening and utilizing all of the shoulders' ranges of motion. Especially external rotation. Meaning: keeping your shoulder blades in the back pockets during movements like push ups and pulling them back during rows. Keeping the elbows in and forward during presses and in and tight during push ups and prowler sprints. This is why we put our finger at 11:00 and 1:00 during the push ups. It's why we push our chests through the arms during a dead lift. Why we pull our chest up during a squat. It's all in the shoulder girdle, and strength there becomes strength almost everywhere.

There is one last piece of this puzzle, without which, the puzzle would fail altogether. Upper-body strength expresses itself through your upper limbs. Those are called arms. Think about a boxer throwing a punch. The power of that punch comes from the body pushing against the ground, but expresses itself through the fighter's arm and ultimately the fist before transferring into the opponents body. That leads me to believe (along with many others) that hand strength and wrist control are absolutely, positively vital to developing any other strength anywhere else in the body. Seriously.

Think about it. When you go to lift anything, the first thing you do it feel its weight with your hands. At this point, you're actually establishing a neuro-kinetic pathway through your central nervous system (CNS) to transmit vital information for performing a specific task. Essentially, the CNS needs to be able to trust the body. Guess what; your hands are going to determine that and often times, they are the weakest link in the kinetic chain. If the CNS can't trust the body, it will shut down the output that you were counting on to perform the task.

Think back to that dead lift or that clean that you missed. It was only a pound or two heavier than your max that went up seemingly easy, but when you went for it, it was as if there was nothing in the tank. Ring a bell? That's your CNS saying "forget about it, it ain't gonna happen, so don't waste precious energy on inevitable failure." And it cuts off the output. No joke. The CNS is the driver and your body is a vehicle. The CNS just slammed on the breaks.. hard. Lift failed. And it slips through the hands as your back rounds out as if to rub in what a failure your are.

Now think about a successful dead lift or clean. Usually, your hands hold tight the entire time and it just goes up. You're not over-gripping the bar, but it's not dangling in your finger tips either. It's sitting just right in the hands and it's secure. This is your hands telling the CNS "Trust me, I can do this. Hit the gas!" And sure enough, it happens. Long story short: If you can hold it, you can move it. Hand strength is the most important in the context of lifting.

How to make your hands strong? Use them. Challenge them. Develop them. Grip things. Squeeze things. Hold heavy things. I like hanging from a bar for period of time. This makes my hands strong and stretches the shoulders. I have a bunch of grippers that I use while sitting in traffic. Makes my hands strong and helps tolerate traffic. I palm heavy things. I squeeze things tighlty for periods of time. Basically, I try to challenge my hands and wrist throughout the day. That way, when I go to lift something heavy, my hands are confident and ready.

Anyway, hopefully you get the point that hand strength leads to general strength, especially the elusive and vital scapular control. Everyone likes a good hand shake, anyway.




Some fun in the sun:


10 rounds for time:
- 25m Butt-kickers (put your hands faceing out on your glutes. Run and kick yourself in the hand with your heel during each stride. Take short steps and kick back hard.
- 15 situps
- 25m Broad Jump (as few jumps as possible.. keep track)
- 15 leg levers


Enjoy.