Best Way to Exercise Your Hands

Hands are one of our most important features, used in every aspect of our life. To give yourself strong, supple hands, follow these tips regularly – you will feel the difference.

More important than hands that look glamorous or feel like velvet is to have flexible, strong hands whose joints will not stiffen and seize up in old age.

Releasing tension

Hands, and particularly fingers, are a prime area of the body for holding tension. If you destress your hands you can, in effect, destress your whole being and restore a sense of calm and balance. Make a conscious effort during the day of checking to see whether you’ve unwittingly clenched your hands into tight fists. If you catch yourself clenching your fists, shake your hands vigorously for 30 seconds to release tension.

Meanwhile to keep hands in good shape, do the following exercises which will maintain strength and supplenenss all life long. First, warm your hands up with a massage oil.

Exercising your hands

• Clench the fists tightly and hold for three seconds; then fling the fingers open, spacing and stretching them for a further three counts.
• Repeat the sequence 10 times, then rotate the wrists both ways 10 times.
• Curl the fingers one after another to make a loose fist, palms down. Slowly turn palms upward and gently unfurl the fingers one by one , stretching and relaxing them as you go. Repeat the exercise five times on each hand to achieve the maximum benefit from the exercise.

• To help your nails grow more quickly (and to prevent yellowing), improve circulation to your fingertips and hands by drumming them on the table as if you were playing the piano.
• Origins makes a “stress ball” that offers double benefits: it not only exercises the muscles of the hands, it is also effective at relieving stress.

• Alternatively, try piano lessons. According to a spokesman at Britain’s Royal Academy of Music, although the optimum age to begin piano lessons is between seven and ten, “it is never too late to take up piano – which definitely promotes suppleness and strength. People can successfully play piano through their seventies and eighties, with great flexibility.” You may never be a concert pianist – but your hands will love you for it.