The 49

This is an exercise I have adapted somewhat as an adjunct to (and compensation for) Iron Body/Iron Palm and grip strength training from the martial arts.  I have found it to be really great for building wrist and hand strength and mobility, as well as rehabilitating the body after wrist/hand injuries or 'pre-habilitating' the body so it is less pre-disposed to being prone to injury in these areas in the first place.

I was taught 'The 49' as basically the same movement - a forceful 'flicking' of the fingers from a loose fist out to fully extended and spread apart (place your hand on a table and move the fingers as far apart as they will go without lifting them off the table to see the end position), repeated 7 times in 7 positions.

Slowly and loosely shake the hands and wrists to loosen them up and prepare them for working before you begin.

1- arms in front and bent (forearms parallel to the floor)
2- arms above head straight (perpendicular to the floor or slightly in front of the head)
3- arms behind body straight (wherever you can get to)
4- arms down at sides straight (I think this is easy enough)
5- arms out to the sides straight (level with the shoulders)
6-  one arm up, one down
7- the other arm up, the other other arm down

Then do some slow loose shaking of the hands and wrists to loosen up again and spread the synovial fluid around in the joints and lubricate the tendons and ligaments. The whole sequence takes about a minute.

This can be done statically (holding the arms in one position for the 7 flicks) or more dynamically (arms reaching their final position as described at the same moment as the full extension of the fingers). It is nice to start with the static version, then move into more dynamic work.

It doesn't really matter where exactly the arms are placed for this exercise, 'The 49' is more just  a mnemonic device so you remember to do 'a big bunch' of the flicking movements under slightly different conditions of load on the arms, circulatory stress, range of motion and to ensure a good balance of different stresses.

What is important is to fully extend the fingers away from each other on every flick.



Enjoy the movement, breathe, relax, smile and feel free to come up with your own variations (just make sure the fingers go all the way apart on each flick). Once a day is plenty for this exercise and you will most likely feel some fatigue and a little effort in the forearms from doing it, but as always when you do this or any exercise I describe, if something hurts, stop doing it.