Is hand gripper of any use to AIR-PISTOL shooters?

[amarinder]

I have large but soft hands. Should I use hand gripper to increase my pistol holding stability? Or anyother method ?

[David Levene]

IMHO it wouldn't do any harm.

When I was training (many years ago) for Standard Pistol and Centre-Fire Pistol I preferred a device like the Grip Master.

[shaky hands]

Since Wang Yifu was seen spinning a Powerball, isn't the issue of hand exercisers settled as far as aspiring pistol shooters are concerned?

[David Levene]

I believe that Powerballs and Gripmasters serve different purposes.

Powerballs help strengthen the wrist muscles and elbow tendons. Gripmasters strengthen the tendons and muscles controlling the fingers.

[shaky hands]

Agreed, I did not mean it in the sense of Powerball vs. Gripmaster, rather as approval of hand exercises in general, though the wrist strength is probably more important than the finger strength.

[Rixter]

After a lay-off of many years, I recently took up AP shooting again. I was shocked at how much wobble and jerkiness there was in my hold. I have started a series of exercises, and my hold has gotten much better. So based on the unscientific sample of one person, I say YES!

For hand exercises, I have been using both a grip exerciser like the one shown in the original post and also a rubber doughnut called Grip Pro Trainer, which comes in three degrees of stiffness (each with its own color). I currently use the medium Grip Pro Trainer, which is black. At some point, I will move up to red. You can find the Grip Pro Trainer at Amazon (at differing prices from different vendors) and elsewhere.

With the grip exerciser, I keep one by my desk and one by the TV. Often, when I am on a phone call or when watching TV, I squeeze the grip trainer and keep it compressed for as long as I can. I relax for a bit and repeat.

With the Grip Pro Trainer, I squeeze it repeatedly (I can not keep it compressed).

Each hand exercise is done on one hand and then the other. It's always good to keep the body in balance.

The combination of these two exercises has helped my keep the front sight aligned better and the sight from meandering about the target so much.

I have a Grip Master that I haven't been using. Time to dig that out of the closet!

Another exercise, of course, is dry-firing, but that seems outside the scope of the question posed by the original post, which seems addressed to the use of exercise equipment to improve AP shooting.

I also do balance exercises to reduce the sway of my body, and those have helped too.

Does anyone have recommendations about the Power Ball?

If anyone has any suggestions for other exercise equipment to improve AP shooting, I'd be happy to hear them.

[amarinder]

If anyone has any suggestions for other exercise equipment to improve AP shooting, I'd be happy to hear them.

Last year, I was at my first Nationals so interacted with a lot of veterans. One of my friends got the chance to have a small coversation with JITU RAI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitu_Ra). He said that he has round stone of around 2.5 kg with which he practices for around 1 hour daily by holding it firing position with both left and right arms. Even at elite level, he is so addicted to this exercise that sometimes he get up in middle of the night and start holding.
He even said that," Dont expect to reach elite level unless you are in position to hold totally still the 2.5 kg of stone for 1 min."

[jerber]

If anyone has any suggestions for other exercise equipment to improve AP shooting, I'd be happy to hear them.

Last year, I was at my first Nationals so interacted with a lot of veterans. One of my friends got the chance to have a small coversation with JITU RAI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitu_Ra). He said that he has round stone of around 2.5 kg with which he practices for around 1 hour daily by holding it firing position with both left and right arms. Even at elite level, he is so addicted to this exercise that sometimes he get up in middle of the night and start holding.
He even said that," Dont expect to reach elite level unless you are in position to hold totally still the 2.5 kg of stone for 1 min."

I use a 2 lbs dumbbell and exercise while watching TV
I just hold it like a pistol and try to hold a position for 5-7 seconds
I would do that for about 1/2 hour