My Hand Hypertrophy experiment results

[mcalpine1986]

3 months ago I decided I would do a Hand hypertrophy experiment to gain some palm thickness. I've always had quite large palms but not very thick, I'm light in bodyweight so gaining hand thickness has always been slow going for me in the past so I decided to do a phase of purely focusing on gaining palm muscle size. 

I trained my hands and arms 3 times per week doing an overall quite high volume doing a variety of exercises. Mainly thumb Pronation with a strap like arm wrestlers do, high rep grippers, riser curls over the knuckles with a strap and Thumbless extensor bands doing high reps often to failure. 

Before and after I recorded a couple of tape measurements and used calipers to measure the Adductor pollicus meat between the index finger and thumb and also hypothenar (pinkie pad) thickness.

I was surprised that it worked very well  I've gained a lot of hand thickness and also the Dorsal Interossei muscles between the metacarpals on the top of my hands have grown a lot as well. As a bonus ive gained some a decent amount of forearm size. 

Edited December 14, 2023 by mcalpine1986

[John Knowlton]

nice work

[mcalpine1986]

36 minutes ago, John Knowlton said:

nice work

Thanks John, I've put in a lot of hard work.

[Blacksmith513]

2 minutes ago, mcalpine1986 said:

Thanks John, I've put in a lot of hard work.

Yes you have.. your hands are thicc

[mcalpine1986]

23 minutes ago, Blacksmith513 said:

Yes you have.. your hands are thicc

Thanks, I've still a long way to go though. I'm going to focus more on strength for a bit now but still keep doing the hand hypertrophy lifts just not as much frequency a new volume. 

[Florian Kellersmann]

Good results!

 

[Charlie Hayes1]

Hi, Just asking for context. Are there any advantages to thick hands? I recognise that having a thick thumb pad is good for helping with a gripper set, as you can push the palm-side handle forwards, but otherwise? I can't imagine any aesthetic advantage, esp. on a fairly slender physique.

I have always had moderately thick hands, even when I was much lighter than I am now, possibly because of being disabled and having to use my hands all the time. Maybe also because of frequently falling and catching myself on my palms. But I don't see them as in anyway advantageous. For example, I am injured at the moment and have to use a wheelchair. It is one I can propel myself, but the wheel rims eat through gloves. Finding gloves that fit my hands is a real pain. I have to go a size larger than I should according to width/length measurements - precisely because the charts don't allow for thickness. Even with fingerless gloves, I struggle to get a pair that fits comfortably. When it comes to standard gloves, a pair that is large enough to contain my hands will have fingers that are too long and which get in the way. So, even though this injury leaves me almost housebound, I can't buy gloves online. For most people, this will be a trivial or non-existent problem, but for those of us disabled who have to use gloves, thick hands represent an added hurdle.

[Skenderbeu]

Amazing Progress. Good job! I am about to start my hand "growth" training from tomorrow on too. Hoping to achieve the same.

[mcalpine1986]

10 hours ago, Charlie Hayes1 said:

Hi, Just asking for context. Are there any advantages to thick hands? I recognise that having a thick thumb pad is good for helping with a gripper set, as you can push the palm-side handle forwards, but otherwise? I can't imagine any aesthetic advantage, esp. on a fairly slender physique.

I have always had moderately thick hands, even when I was much lighter than I am now, possibly because of being disabled and having to use my hands all the time. Maybe also because of frequently falling and catching myself on my palms. But I don't see them as in anyway advantageous. For example, I am injured at the moment and have to use a wheelchair. It is one I can propel myself, but the wheel rims eat through gloves. Finding gloves that fit my hands is a real pain. I have to go a size larger than I should according to width/length measurements - precisely because the charts don't allow for thickness. Even with fingerless gloves, I struggle to get a pair that fits comfortably. When it comes to standard gloves, a pair that is large enough to contain my hands will have fingers that are too long and which get in the way. So, even though this injury leaves me almost housebound, I can't buy gloves online. For most people, this will be a trivial or non-existent problem, but for those of us disabled who have to use gloves, thick hands represent an added hurdle.

Yes there are advantages to most grip lifts, with grippers in particular as the thicker the palm as the handle will bed down more and bigger the thumb pad the easier it is for the gripper to stay out and not slide back. The thumb pad keeps the gripper in place so the more size you have the better.

I'd say it's better for pinch training also but it could be possibly detrimental with thick bar training as you get less wrap around the bar although the chances are your hands will be stronger. 

My hands are stronger now so In that respect it will help with every lift and although my main goal was size to help with me with grippers it was also for aesthetic reasons. I've got wide long palms never had the thickest hands so they take a lot of filling out so to speak and pretty light in bodyweight at 168lbs. I just think thick hands is a cool look. 

I can imagine buying gloves will be a nightmare for you, do you find your grip training helps with pushing yourself in your wheelchair in anyway? 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by mcalpine1986

[mcalpine1986]

8 hours ago, Skenderbeu said:

Amazing Progress. Good job! I am about to start my hand "growth" training from tomorrow on too. Hoping to achieve the same.

Thanks, I'm sure you will have good results as long as you are consistent and put the work on. I pretty much did the same workout 3 times per week for 3 months but it never became boring as i was getting the results I wanted.

 

[Gabriel Tallent]

Thicker palms could also help with trad climbing depending on your goals. 
 

Very cool.

[Charlie Hayes1]

On 12/30/2023 at 6:39 AM, mcalpine1986 said:

Yes there are advantages to most grip lifts, with grippers in particular as the thicker the palm as the handle will bed down more and bigger the thumb pad the easier it is for the gripper to stay out and not slide back. The thumb pad keeps the gripper in place so the more size you have the better.

I'd say it's better for pinch training also but it could be possibly detrimental with thick bar training as you get less wrap around the bar although the chances are your hands will be stronger. 

My hands are stronger now so In that respect it will help with every lift and although my main goal was size to help with me with grippers it was also for aesthetic reasons. I've got wide long palms never had the thickest hands so they take a lot of filling out so to speak and pretty light in bodyweight at 168lbs. I just think thick hands is a cool look. 

I can imagine buying gloves will be a nightmare for you, do you find your grip training helps with pushing yourself in your wheelchair in anyway? 

 

 

I get it. My palms are thick-ish at the wrist end and I do have a prominent thumb muscle pad. But wide-ish/square palms also add to the problems of buying gloves. I have always had hands of this sort of configuration, not only the basic shape, but thick hands. This may be because I didn't walk until I was around 5, so crawled a lot and even when I began to walk and for years after, I fell often and caught myself on my palms. They have become thicker with weight training - esp. Deadlifts and heavy Pulls and with Grip training - and the thumb-pad has gained a little size. I think my size and thickness is probably mostly genetic, with some impact from environment - training and general living. My hands are bigger than my Father's were and he was a strong man. He also had thick-ish hands, with strong thumb muscles, so genetics is probably a part. On the other hand, he was athletic as a younger man - swimming for distance and water polo - and after the War and some near starvation, he built himself up with weights. He was into George F. Jowett and even Charles Atlas. He also worked as a miner, foundry worker and did heavy manual labour, so it wasn't all genetics. He died in his 50s, sadly, but he still had a very good grip up to the end - tearing apples in half (although he may have "cheated" a bit by using his nails to cut into it) and then squeezing the two halves until they were almost dry and drinking the juice from a pint glass!

On thick hands: A sadly deceased friend of mine was a mechanic working on heavy goods and was very strong and had the typical thick hands of someone working on cars and trucks/lorries all day. When I weighed around 150 lbs, he lifted me over a mid-torso height fence with one hand and also lifted me up with one hand when I fell down the side of a (very small) cliff. I was hanging on at ground level, like the top of a chin up and he just grabbed and pulled. Nevertheless, he struggled to close the CoC #1 and even when I gave him a lighter gripper, that I could close, he still struggled. He said he had the strength - which I don't doubt at all - but he said the skin in his palm would fold up and catch between the handles and prevent the close. Whether the lumbrical muscles in his hands were extremely developed or whether having skin that was constantly exposed to oil, grease and petrol (gasoline) was a factor, I don't know. But I watched him attempt it and he had no reason to lie and as I knew he was much stronger than me, he had no reason to hide weakness behind an excuse.  

Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot. I used to be in a wheelchair in my early senior school days 11-13 or thereabouts. I needed one before, but no go. Once I got to go to the nearby local senior school (aged 11) they decided I needed one! What with one thing and another, I spent a fair bit of time in that chair - esp for longer distances and for speed and ease of conveyance. So I learned to use my hands to control it and manoeuvre it about.

Unless you are trying to push hard, e.g.; uphill and on hard terrain, I don't think grip strength is the main thing. On the level, the technique is to apply just enough push with the heel of the palm to accelerate the wheel a bit more, if racing, or just enough to keep it turning when just moving along with friends. The rims can move so fast that trying to grip the rim fully to exert hand strength would just mean either slowing the chair down on each push or burning your palms against the fast moving metal. It isn't like pedalling a bike, because there is no gearing to pushing a chair. 

Although I did use my bare hands to slow my chair down as a fairly light kid, it is not something I recommend, esp. if you are fairly heavy and the slope is steep. You can use a touch and let go technique, but it can get painful very quickly, as I found out recently. Hence the need for gloves. And when you are going uphill, even a strong grip can slip, so appropriate gloves help there, too.   (The other issue is that the wheel rims can get icy cold if you are sitting around outside, so even if you have warm hands, they get cold very, very, fast.)

 

[mcalpine1986]

6 hours ago, Charlie Hayes1 said:

I get it. My palms are thick-ish at the wrist end and I do have a prominent thumb muscle pad. But wide-ish/square palms also add to the problems of buying gloves. I have always had hands of this sort of configuration, not only the basic shape, but thick hands. This may be because I didn't walk until I was around 5, so crawled a lot and even when I began to walk and for years after, I fell often and caught myself on my palms. They have become thicker with weight training - esp. Deadlifts and heavy Pulls and with Grip training - and the thumb-pad has gained a little size. I think my size and thickness is probably mostly genetic, with some impact from environment - training and general living. My hands are bigger than my Father's were and he was a strong man. He also had thick-ish hands, with strong thumb muscles, so genetics is probably a part. On the other hand, he was athletic as a younger man - swimming for distance and water polo - and after the War and some near starvation, he built himself up with weights. He was into George F. Jowett and even Charles Atlas. He also worked as a miner, foundry worker and did heavy manual labour, so it wasn't all genetics. He died in his 50s, sadly, but he still had a very good grip up to the end - tearing apples in half (although he may have "cheated" a bit by using his nails to cut into it) and then squeezing the two halves until they were almost dry and drinking the juice from a pint glass!

On thick hands: A sadly deceased friend of mine was a mechanic working on heavy goods and was very strong and had the typical thick hands of someone working on cars and trucks/lorries all day. When I weighed around 150 lbs, he lifted me over a mid-torso height fence with one hand and also lifted me up with one hand when I fell down the side of a (very small) cliff. I was hanging on at ground level, like the top of a chin up and he just grabbed and pulled. Nevertheless, he struggled to close the CoC #1 and even when I gave him a lighter gripper, that I could close, he still struggled. He said he had the strength - which I don't doubt at all - but he said the skin in his palm would fold up and catch between the handles and prevent the close. Whether the lumbrical muscles in his hands were extremely developed or whether having skin that was constantly exposed to oil, grease and petrol (gasoline) was a factor, I don't know. But I watched him attempt it and he had no reason to lie and as I knew he was much stronger than me, he had no reason to hide weakness behind an excuse.  

Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot. I used to be in a wheelchair in my early senior school days 11-13 or thereabouts. I needed one before, but no go. Once I got to go to the nearby local senior school (aged 11) they decided I needed one! What with one thing and another, I spent a fair bit of time in that chair - esp for longer distances and for speed and ease of conveyance. So I learned to use my hands to control it and manoeuvre it about.

Unless you are trying to push hard, e.g.; uphill and on hard terrain, I don't think grip strength is the main thing. On the level, the technique is to apply just enough push with the heel of the palm to accelerate the wheel a bit more, if racing, or just enough to keep it turning when just moving along with friends. The rims can move so fast that trying to grip the rim fully to exert hand strength would just mean either slowing the chair down on each push or burning your palms against the fast moving metal. It isn't like pedalling a bike, because there is no gearing to pushing a chair. 

Although I did use my bare hands to slow my chair down as a fairly light kid, it is not something I recommend, esp. if you are fairly heavy and the slope is steep. You can use a touch and let go technique, but it can get painful very quickly, as I found out recently. Hence the need for gloves. And when you are going uphill, even a strong grip can slip, so appropriate gloves help there, too.   (The other issue is that the wheel rims can get icy cold if you are sitting around outside, so even if you have warm hands, they get cold very, very, fast.)

 

That's quite a story, you have been using your hands a lot all your life then by the sounds of it. 

Regarding your mate and the gripper, did you show him how to set it in the hand? 

I think a lot of strong people who have never used grippers before are strong enough too close it but naturally place it took far back in the hands which makes it almost impossible to close fully no matter how strong they are. 

Larry wheels has a video of him showing very strong bodybuilders trying grippers and they all fail at the Coc 2 as they don't know how to set, some are recording over 90-100kg on the hand Dynamometer which is very strong so it isn't a strength issue more technique and lack of knowledge on them along with how to set it in the hand.

[Charlie Hayes1]

On 1/13/2024 at 7:47 AM, mcalpine1986 said:

That's quite a story, you have been using your hands a lot all your life then by the sounds of it. 

Regarding your mate and the gripper, did you show him how to set it in the hand? 

I think a lot of strong people who have never used grippers before are strong enough too close it but naturally place it took far back in the hands which makes it almost impossible to close fully no matter how strong they are. 

Larry wheels has a video of him showing very strong bodybuilders trying grippers and they all fail at the Coc 2 as they don't know how to set, some are recording over 90-100kg on the hand Dynamometer which is very strong so it isn't a strength issue more technique and lack of knowledge on them along with how to set it in the hand.

Yes, even now, I use my hands a lot and I am retired, post-surgery and not particularly active. It just comes with the disabled territory. To be honest, I can't recall if I did show him how to set the gripper or not. But it was early days for me and almost certainly before the new rules about credit card sets and whose certified CoC closes were legit or not, so I probably didn't know much about setting or even good positioning. While I am not at all strong, I have always found it easy to close even my hardest working gripper with a no set. In fact, I tested myself and found that setting the gripper felt less natural to me than just picking it up and going for it. It may have to do with hand size - my mechanic friend had bigger hands as well as thicker palms - or it might be due to the cerebral palsy and needing time to build tension - a close set is too quick.

 

I have the same problem with partial deadlifts, although the higher position should be mechanically more efficient, even for me, I find I can't generate the tension quickly enough over the short range. Despite being (hypothetically) a slow-twitch lifter, most of my deads are fairly quick until I hit max [I know Pavel says to do all your reps as if they are maxes, but going artificially slow doesn't work and in my case, trying to increase strength by irradiation - that is maximal tension - can backfire by making my already tense muscles even stiffer.] While I am not aware of muscle tension in my hands as compared with my lower body, I know that the disability does affect my handwriting, so it is logical that I need time/range of motion to develop full strength in my grip.

In more general terms, I really admire Mark Felix and he has very powerful hands, but I recall that he was asking for help with precisely the problem you describe. He could not set the gripper in his hands and so could not close the heaviest grippers he should have been capable of. In his case, it might be that his hands are so big that even with a no-set, the handles couldn't reach thumb-pad and fingers and he was struggling to get them into position? To give an exaggerated comparison, I have a very small keyring gripper as a promotional item from the failed Atom Grippers. It is quite strong, but it is so small, I have to use one finger-tip and thumb to grip it, otherwise it sits in my palm going nowhere. 

[steeve tremblay]

thick hands and thumbs help for many sports but one generally is arm wrestling because we use thick grips which increases the strength of the entire upper chain