If a survey were taken of athletes asking them what they thought their major weakness was, I feel confident that most would say the quadriceps, hamstrings, or pectorals. Very few, if any, would say the fingers or the hands. This is understandable because most people take their hands for granted when doing weight training or in their daily work. However, the hands play a critical role in regard to the development of other parts of the body and in execution of many skills.
The reason for this is that your grip is the key to how much weight you can lift and how well you perform in sports. The fingers (hands) must be able to hold the weight you wish to use or to withstand or utilize and direct the forces created in sports such as football, baseball, tennis, golf, and so on.
Another major reason for strengthening the fingers and hands is to prevent injury. Of all the injuries that athletes sustain, injuries to the hands and fingers are the most common. They are probably responsible for putting more athletes on the disabled list than any other type of injury. This is understandable when you closely examine what the hands and fingers must do during gameplay especially in sports in which different kinds of equipment, especially balls and hitting implements, are used.
Thus, you should work your fingers and hands. One of the best pieces of equipment with which to do this is the Exer Rings (round and flat rings that provide different amounts of tension and resiliency). With them you can duplicate and isolate almost all actions of the fingers. This includes flexion, extension, adduction, and abduction. The best exercise to develop finger grip is Exer Ring finger flexion.
