Athletes playing basketball should have a strong grip. They have to focus on their hand grip because it allows them to get a good grip of basketball in their hands. Gripping the basketball in your hands is called palming. Hence, palming is directly proportional to grip strength.
A person with a strong grip can become a strong basketball player because it gives better control to manoeuvre techniques like “dribbling” and “bunking” the full-sized ball.
Palming is one technique that a player can master to excel in his/her sport. Apart from a strong hand grip, palming also requires practice, strength, coordination of hands and fingers, and determination. All are clubbed and a strong grip of the game is achieved by the player. However, several exercises and workouts have been designed to help increase the hand grip and become a successful basketball player.
Here are a couple of exercises to train the hands and fingers to develop a strong grip:
Hand stretching
- Look for a flat surface and place your hands palm-down on it. Now, stretch your hand as much as you can and hold the stretched position of your hands for 30 seconds to 1 minute. This type of finger stretching exercise can be practised 2-3 times daily.
- Secondly, keeping the hand palm-down on the flat surface, you can try another exercise. As you put your hand palm-down on the flat surface, place the other hand under the first. Now, push your fingers up and down towards the wrist. Try to hold the position for 20 seconds. This exercise can also be practised 2-3 times daily.
- Stretch your thumb as the next part of your hand exercise regime. To stretch your thumb, you have to hold your hand palm-up in front of you and stretch your thumb away from your hand as much as you can.
- The next exercise in the same set is to stretch your thumb and touch the base of your pinky/little finger. Hold the position for 20-30 seconds. You have to repeat the same exercise on your other hand too.
Grip Strengthening
- To strengthen your grip, you can practise plate pinching. The ideal weight of the plate can be 5 lbs. You can take two plates weighing 5 lbs and hold them against each other. Place your thumb on one side and your fingers on the other and hold the position for 20 minutes.
You can increase the weight and time to hold it together as it gets easier for you to do the exercise. This will help you to strengthen your grip and consequently, the exercise can help basketball players to enhance palming the ball and strengthen their playing skills.
Tip: For better results, players can practice holding the plates with their thumb on one side and little finger on the other. The exercise is particularly beneficial to enhance the pinch grip.
- Push-ups are also good for strengthening the grip. Lay your hands flat on the ground with shoulder-width distance. Your fingertips should be spread flat on the ground. Now, put your body weight on the fingers and push your body off the ground. while coming down, keep your back straight and keep your chest at a distance from the ground. Remember not to overdo the exercise and as you get comfortable with it, you can increase the reps.
Basketball palming exercise
- Try gripping the basketball using index, thumb, middle, and ring fingers. This will help you to strengthen your grip on the ball as you spread your fingertips on it. As you practice the exercise, your fingers will get trained to palm the basketball and palming will become easier for you.
- Squeezing the basketball is another simple workout to strengthen the grip on the basketball. Practice squeezing 3-4 times daily.
- Horizontal palming of basketball, parallel to the floor is also an effective workout for palming the basketball.
Reverse grip curls
Bicep curls can also help to strengthen palming of a basketball. How? Because it helps to strengthen the grip that in turn aids in palming the basketball. Use a Barbell to do the workout. When you practice the reverse curl, you fight against gravity and it makes it hard to lift the bar.
Grip Strengthener
You can purchase a smart grip trainer like Squegg that can help to strengthen the grip. It can serve as the best hand grip strengthener because it allows the users to comfortably train the grip strength, measure the grip count, and keep a track of the progress. Such tools allow users to focus on their grip as it strengthens the muscles and aids in strengthening the grip.
Final Thoughts
The workout schedule can be extremely effective in palming the basketball for the players. The exercises are simple and do not even require the support of expensive tools or training in the gym. These can be easily practised at home.