[P95Carry]

Anyone who read my ramblings about the course I taught last weekend may remember that one of my students was an older lady using a LadySmith - and struggling. One of her problems was poor hand strength - coupled with the std rosewood grips on the gun.

I am starting to have some arthritic hand probs but these are for now at least more a stiffness deal than a strength loss - I still frequently shake hands and over do it! Strength is still good.

This all tho got me to thinking just how critical is this general area - grips on the gun of choice need to be ideal - plus having good hand strength, even if it means excercizing (tennis ball, whatever).

I liked the factory SIG grips but was overjoyed when I fitted the CT grips to find that the feel was even BETTER! They provide the best I can imagine, for me.

Most std 1911's I have handled never feel ''quite right'' - whereas those with after market grips (bit like the grips I like on my P12-45, which are rubber, stippled and not at all tacky) - feel way better. My hand size needs some filling laterally so any grips with fairly generous palm swell usually do better.

So - how do you folks choose grips and do you have any regime for keeping up hand strength? I doubt this applied at all to the younger guys here.

Gun and trigger control are somewhat critical.

 

[rocky]

I am a younger guy, but strength train with weights and use a hand gripper and clay to improve grip strength. I really like the new horizontal ribbed grips from Taurus. Too bad ya can't try some for other pistols.

 

[SSKC]

I bought a Gripmaster http://www.gripmaster.net/gripmaster/ that I keep in my truck. When stopped in traffic, or on a straight stretch of road with no traffic, I'll use it to exercise my hands. I also have an old fashioned grip exerciser, the V-shaped hand-aqueezer type, that I keep in my office and use from time to time during the day. Finally, wrist curls, reverse wrist curls, and pull-ups help with forearm strength.

With the above-mentioned Gripmaster, with whom I am not affiliated, one of the exercises I do is squeeze and hold with my middle, ring, and pinkie fingers to simulate gripping a pistol, then make smooth, controlled squeezes with my trigger finger. My goal is to move my trigger finger, both squeezing and relaxing, without changing the grip with the rest of my hand. This is as much a coordination exercise as it is for strength.

Since we lose muscle later in life, I think it is important to engage in strength training, whether you're a shooter or not, for general health and quality of life.

SSKC

 

[havegunjoe]

My problem isn't so much grip strength but sweaty hands when at the outdoor range in hot weather. The gun tends to twist in my hand so grips, or gloves tend to be improtant for me. Those smooth rosewood grips you mentioned I would think would be a problem. You might suggest shooting golves to start out with before she replaces the grips.

 

[KenpoTex]

I do quite a bit of grip-strength training. Really, for me it's more geared toward the MA/Hand-to-hand realm (remember the scene in Roadhouse? :biggrin: ). However, I definately see the application for shooting.

I'll have to pick up one of those gripmasters, I've never tried one of those. One piece of equippment that I really like is the Gyro-ball or Power-ball. These things will work your entire forearm, wrist, and hand (don't buy them from the site, you can find them elsewhere for cheaper :wink: )

 

[rfurtkamp]

Hand strength isn't something I've ever had to work on, but I play guitar and bass and that's more pressure and more movement etc than shooting ever is. ;0

 

[P95Carry]

You might suggest shooting golves to start out with before she replaces the grips.

She actually was using a thin fingerless glove Joe when we started the session - it screwed up her shooting even more!! She had this lack of strength in trigger finger and with glove was twisting gun round even more to get the grip - sure, she was less beat up from recoil; but heck - the gun was about 5º offset to right in her hand - compared with her forarm long bones!!

Oh and another thought - re gloves - no way to guarantee they'll be on if a situation occurs!!

She needs some decent grips and I hope she will explore that avenue, as well as excercize.

 

[bubbygator]

I had a 10 year gap in pistol shooting & when I came back I felt my hand strength weak. I resolved this by exercising by grabbing a 5 pound dumbell by one end (like gripping a pistol) and rotating my wrist up and down. It strengthened both my finger and wrist muscles and control.

 

[JT]

Here's a great exercise for grip and wrist strength...


get a Kettlebell..

and do some "bottoms up presses"

Any work with Kettlebells will help your grip and wrist tremendously, but the bottoms up press will take you to an extreme level.

 

[bubbygator]

Wow, that's even better than my dumb-bell exercise. I didn't know those things existed. What a cool form for hand/wrist work!! But in a quick scan with Google, I couldn't find any lighter than about 15 pounds - that's a mean weight for just hand exercise. I'll have to look some more. Thanks for the info.

 

[JT]

They make them as light as 9lbs, but Kettlebells are really too expensive to get one just for one exercise. Most men will start with the 35 lb Kettlebell (1 “Pood”). At that weight, most people will not be able to go right into the bottoms up press. You really need to start with the standard military press with a Kettlebell, and then work your way into the bottoms up press. I’ve never done it with two Kettlebells, like the picture. It takes my complete concentration to do it one at a time.

If you are interested, check out this link…

http://www.russiankettlebells.com/?kbid=1934

It’s Pavel Tsatsouline’s web site. He’s the one who started the Kettlebell craze in America. Startup cost is a little high. The recommended startup equipment is a 35lb Kettlebell, “The Russian Kettlebell Challenge” book , and video. These three things will run you about $155, plus about $30 in shipping. A good chunk of change, but after reading up on it I was ready to give it a try, and it turned out to be the best workout decision I ever made. At first, I though I could do it without the video, but after reading the book, I wanted to see these exercises in action, before I attempted them. If you do them correctly, they aren’t dangerous, but you really do need to follow proper form. I’ve been doing them for a year and a half and have had no major injuries, just normal sore muscles and a few bruises. When I was doing standard free weights, I would hurt myself every few months.