Flexibility Training/ Sleeping Position

[avasatu]

Two parter, as you might have guessed:

1) what are your favorite mobility and flexibility drills for the fingers and wrist? Any specific ordering or routine you like?

I usually go opens/closes into fist rolls,open hand rolls, deep flexor wall stretch, wrist extensor wall stretch, supination/pronation stretch, thumb pad stretch. Then I do traditional tricep and shoulder stretches as well as a few different types of behind the back clasps. Generally everything is held for 30 or more seconds.

I also do a lot of a climber technique called scraping, as well as deep tissue stuff with a baseball. I also do ulnar glides if I feel like it.

Curious what kind of variety you guys can bring to the table.

2) what are your hands like while you sleep? This seems to be a huge factor in recovery for me.

I'm leaning towards hands fully open and arms as horizontal as possible, with slight elevation of not possible. If I sleep with closed hands, they can feel tight and restricted for a little in the morning.

I also try to keep my elbows no more bent than 90 degrees, and like them to be much more straight than that if possible.

Edited December 14, 2015 by avasatu

[EJ Livesey]

That sounds very uncomfortable. Why don't you just eat clean more often. Get good unbroken sleep and hot showers and tweak your training so you're not that sore you actually need to observe how your hands are when you sleep. This is something I'm sure no one ever pays attention to.

I'm kinda getting the troll vibe from you.

Edited December 14, 2015 by EJ Livesey

[Justin Matney]

Get good unbroken sleep

Lol

[HandsMcHanderson]

For stretches I do extensor, flexor, thumb peel, wrist deviation and thumb and 1st 2 finger stretch. I assume most do something similar. As for sleeping......I fall asleep, I don't control the position of my hands at the time, not that it should make a difference. You don't stay perfectly still as you sleep anyway. If your hands are tight then you probably aren't giving them enough rest or eating right/a combo of the 2.

[avasatu]

I eat very clean, take hot showers daily, and get 8-10 hours of unbroken sleep nightly. And it's not an issue of soreness, it just seems like little things like this in fact do help in my personal but limited experience. I'm not sure why you think I'm trolling. I asked 1 very legitimate question, and a second weird but definitely not rude or completely asinine one.

And I know for a fact other people pay attention to this. I have spoken to several climbers and arm wrestler who compete at a national level about this, but they are not gripsters, so I wanted to get an opinion from a third type of "arm" athlete. I suppose I'm sorry I asked.

It's also not an issue of my being sore or tight, nor is it an issue of me controlling my hand position all night. I just try to fall asleep with a more open hand and I find it aids a little in recovery and keeps things just ever so slightly looser in general. Nothing huge or revolutionary here.

Edited December 14, 2015 by avasatu

[EJ Livesey]

I just see you posting all these question that are some outlandish, how to remove stickers off a grip macine, come on bro. Then this question? Plus your updates are "huge pr on the hub" asking for advice and never posting any videos?? Let's see some videos.

[climber511]

How much of the stretches and recovery stuff do you do each day? One of the things I learned in rehabbing all my various pieces and parts over the years is that this kind of stuff requires its own "recovery period". If done seriously and for extended periods it is a workout in its own rite and allowances must be made for that.

[avasatu]

I just see you posting all these question that are some outlandish, how to remove stickers off a grip macine, come on bro. Then this question? Plus your updates are "huge pr on the hub" asking for advice and never posting any videos?? Let's see some videos.

The stickers ended up being quite tough to get off. Thought maybe someone had dealt with the issue before. No disrespect against Sorinex; they are probably my favorite grip company right now. Not going to defend the current question. It is perfectly legitimate in my mind. My hub PR was 15 pounds with zero training. Was pretty pumped about it.

I have figured out enough information via responses I got, posts I've read, and tidbits that have been posted to YT/Gripboard since my post since I posted my first thing on this site, and I no longer need detailed advice that would require me to post a video. My future videos will be milestone lifts. And I don't think my current levels are worth celebrating by posting a video to this board. I don't really want to get into it with anyone on this board. There are alot of nice and talented people here, almost all of whom are stronger than me, and I'm just here to learn. I like to think about things in great detail, and I'm not going to apologize for it.

How much of the stretches and recovery stuff do you do each day? One of the things I learned in rehabbing all my various pieces and parts over the years is that this kind of stuff requires its own "recovery period". If done seriously and for extended periods it is a workout in its own rite and allowances must be made for that.

Tell me if I am misunderstanding: You mean to say that stretching and tissue work require a fair bit of recovery? I always knew you shouldn't do them too much, but I hadn't considered giving them a workout's worth of recovery. I generally stretch after each of my 4 weekly workouts, and do the scraping/tissue stuff 1-2 times weekly. Anything else I do is sort of on an "as needed" basis.

Edited December 14, 2015 by avasatu

[EJ Livesey]

Document your travels via YouTube. It's not the destination in the grip world, it's the journey there. We all have tiny lifts, bends, closes etc etc. you are doing yourself a disservice by not posting videos. Here's the things about videos, you're not only showing us, but you're helping others that were as lost as you.

Edited December 14, 2015 by EJ Livesey

[avasatu]

Fair point. I will certainly consider it. Right now I just wanna get at least a little bit strong first, though. Worrying about camera setups is something I don't want to think about just yet (soon for sure), and I don't even have a scale to weight feats (I have someone take my stuff to their work where they have a thousand plus dollar scale), nor do I have anyone to film for me at the gym, and I have to say that most vantage points are terrible at LA fitness. Very few good places to put a camera. I do zero training at home, too, since I have no weight plates.

[climber511]

climber511, on 14 Dec 2015 - 4:19 PM, said: How much of the stretches and recovery stuff do you do each day? One of the things I learned in rehabbing all my various pieces and parts over the years is that this kind of stuff requires its own "recovery period". If done seriously and for extended periods it is a workout in its own rite and allowances must be made for that. Tell me if I am misunderstanding: You mean to say that stretching and tissue work require a fair bit of recovery? I always knew you shouldn't do them too much, but I hadn't considered giving them a workout's worth of recovery. I generally stretch after each of my 4 weekly workouts, and do the scraping/tissue stuff 1-2 times weekly. Anything else I do is sort of on an "as needed" basis.

Yes that's exactly what I mean - aggressive rehab can create it's own need for recovery - depending on what and how much you do. If you have ever had a very deep tissue massage you know what I mean.

[Justin Matney]

Yep. If I bear down too hard with the armaid I can feel it for a few days.

[avasatu]

I'm thinking I should recover a little less aggressively. I stretch very deeply and scrape and massage until I'm red and often have small bruises the next day. My workouts on the other hand feel great.

[exarmy]

one thing i've never given any thought to is "what position to put my hands in for the night"

surely you cant expect to put your hands in one position to sleep, and wake up and go, "ah, theres my hands, just like i left 'em!" I don't think you could keep them in in the same position for more than and hour, it will just last untill you move in your sleep the first time.

During heavy training periods i have often woken up and said to myself "i can't wait to finish this grip program!" as my hands are seized up like claws, but then by the time my cereal has gone down i've forgotten about it

[wobbler]

My hands feel better the day after a workout if I keep them mostly closed when I sleep, it's not that strange of a question (or maybe I'm just strange too...)

Details are spotty but I remember seeing a study on bicep training where the best strength increases came from completely immobilizing the arm during recovery. Obviously extreme and not practical, but the opposite extreme (constant hard stretching) having the opposite effect seems intuitive to me.

[wobbler]

Good old google:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1250263/

edit: Re-reading it, I guess it says it doesn't really work.

Edited December 15, 2015 by wobbler

[avasatu]

I find if I'm hugging a thick pillow during sleep, my hands and arms do in fact stay pretty much put. That's why I don't understand some of these "write off" responses. I talk about this all the time with people. Thanks for the response, wobbler. I'll read that for sure.

[Lucasraymond]

I personally prefer active recovery exercises to fill the muscles with blood. I also perform multiple hours of massage a day being a Physical therapist so I get some during work. Also have significant experience with Graston and IASTM I definitely agree there is a rdcovery period from it. If you are just doing maintenance work I wouldnt do it more than 1-2x/week maximum!

[avasatu]

Thanks, Lucas. Do you think traditional stretching can be done 4 times a week on the same muscle?

[wobbler]

I do dexterity balls, extensor bands, and light high rep thumb work every day. Leaving everything stiff isn't good, but I don't think heavy stretching all the time is either. I get a good stretch once a week after 1 minute of fast open/closes, like 240 a minute. Some light stretching 2-3 times a week if I'm really sore.

I'm never sore after light wrist roller either and that definitely gets the blood flowing, usually do that 2 days a week but don't consider it a real workout.

There is definitely something to gain from daily work, but you can't go heavy on stretching or working every day.

I change the order all the time, but heavy grippers once, block weights once, thin pinch or hub once, light grippers once, a week, keeps me busy but still have time to recover to some degree. I will be disappointed a lot of workouts because I'm not fully recovered, but slow and steady without getting injured wins the race.

[Lucasraymond]

Thanks, Lucas. Do you think traditional stretching can be done 4 times a week on the same muscle?

traditional stretching can be done daily, I wouldn't recommend the scraping (graston, etc) done daily instead only 1-2x/week (sorry if that was confusing)

I forgot to mention that my workouts consist of usually 2.5-3 hrs of grip work with Jedd (2-3 days a week) and only about 1 hour the other days...work and life gets in the way of those days

[KapMan]

I personally don't do a lot of anything and I'm paying for it. So this was a very informative thread. Thank you.