Finger weights?

[number1failure]

Would it be possible to exercise you fingers by strapping light wieghts to them and doing curls? If so, would it help with cubing at all?

 

[freshcuber]

they used to sell a weight training finger machine on TV. They'd show people trying to text and failing then some thumbs working out and all of a sudden they're texting like teenage girls

 

[Andrew Ricci]

Would it be possible to exercise you fingers by strapping light wieghts to them and doing curls? If so, would it help with cubing at all?

I'd say it would help with OH. It probably wouldn't make you faster, just allow you to do longer averages. I can't really see it helping in other events.

 

[number1failure]

So it would't help time, but it would maybe make cubing easier?

 

[cincyaviation]

So it would't help time, but it would maybe make cubing easier?

I'm sure you can figure this out yourself, or ask people who actually do it.

 

[Andrew Ricci]

So it would't help time, but it would maybe make cubing easier?

That's pretty much what I'm saying. Would you be willing to try an experiment in which you did OH until your fingers started to ache, then do a week of finger training and compare the results? Because it sounds pretty interesting.

 

[~Adam~]

You could use a really old cube still full of dust or a wooden Rubik to help increase finger strength.
It could help your look ahead depend on how good you are at it already.

 

[hawkmp4]

It's easy enough to injure your hands cubing already, adding more stress isn't going to help you in any way other than increasing your chances of injury. Strength isn't an issue with cubing.

 

[oprah62]

Fanwuq had a hilarious video of training up, but it's down now

 

[~Adam~]

It's easy enough to injure your hands cubing already, adding more stress isn't going to help you in any way other than increasing your chances of injury. Strength isn't an issue with cubing.

So increasing hand strength wouldn't reduce risk of injury? Are you sure about this?
So professional runners are as likely to get injured during a short jog as your average couch potato who has decided to get in shape?

 

[MichaelP.]

Spoiler

 

[hawkmp4]

Doing any motion repetitively enough will cause a RSI. Squeezing the grip strength tools is a lot easier on your joints than the motions involved in cubing. This is why, for example, baseball pitchers increase their arm strength by lifting weights, not throwing a denser baseball.

So increasing hand strength wouldn't reduce risk of injury? Are you sure about this?
So professional runners are as likely to get injured during a short jog as your average couch potato who has decided to get in shape?

Increasing the strength of your hand wouldn't decrease your risk of injury. It's not the muscles that get injured. Having stronger legs doesn't protect you from an ACL tear.
I'm not sure where your other example came from since it's not a logical implication of anything I said, but I'll respond anyway. Professional athletes are less likely to get injured in a short jog not because they're stronger than the couch potato- the injury in jogging wouldn't come from strains due to attempting an action that you aren't quite strong enough to do. For someone who is anything less than extremely morbidly obese or has other factors causing less muscle strength, jogging isn't much of a strength exercise.
So, strength wouldn't matter.
The flexibility of a professional runner, or possibly their technique, would.

 

[cincyaviation]

So increasing hand strength wouldn't reduce risk of injury? Are you sure about this?
So professional runners are as likely to get injured during a short jog as your average couch potato who has decided to get in shape?

That has nothing to do with strength...

 

[nickvu2]

I often wonder if all the rock climbing I do is helping or harming my cubing. The thing is, for cubing you want dexterity much more than power. We're looking for control, coordination, quick changes in direction. I imagine weight training for cubing would be like ballerinas pumping iron, hoping to build massive, rippling muscles. Sounds counter productive, but this is based on nothing more than intuition. What sorts of exercises or training could you do for finger and wrist dexterity? Piano playing or typing? Hand puppet performances?

 

[Erzz]

I often wonder if all the rock climbing I do is helping or harming my cubing. The thing is, for cubing you want dexterity much more than power. What sort of exercises or training could you do for that? Piano playing or typing? Hand puppet performances?

Penspinning?

 

[ZamHalen]

Spoiler

I've seen those made for guitarists to warm-up their fingers.

 

[uberCuber]

I often wonder if all the rock climbing I do is helping or harming my cubing. The thing is, for cubing you want dexterity much more than power. We're looking for control, coordination, quick changes in direction. I imagine weight training for cubing would be like ballerinas pumping iron, hoping to build massive, rippling muscles. Sounds counter productive, but this is based on nothing more than intuition. What sorts of exercises or training could you do for finger and wrist dexterity? Piano playing or typing? Hand puppet performances?

I'm curious about this since I play piano, what effect do people think piano playing would have on cubing?

 

[Joker]

Strength doesn't make you faster. Might give you more endurance though.

 

[Dene]

Would it be possible to exercise you fingers by strapping light wieghts to them and doing curls? If so, would it help with cubing at all?

Yes you can work your fingers. No it won't help with cubing at all.

 

[Escher]

I have a Heavy version of the Gripmasters MichaelP posted above, though I'm more of a guitar player than a cuber these days. I did use it a lot over the summer and I can say that my turning speed did improve even when I wasn't practicing cubing itself.

Btw, RSI is most often caused by not warming up properly, rather than doing an action a ridiculous number of times. If you want to avoid RSI in either cubing or another 'hands based' activity give yourself at least half an hour of slow and accurate movements before working eventually up to full speed.