How to add finger exercises for magicians into your magic practice, to protect your hands, and improve dexterity.
The aim of finger exercise is to build up finger speed, strength and overall dexterity. Through regular exercise, finger strength is also increased and you will see a marked difference in your ability to manipulate a deck of cards or a stack of coins.
Where the work happens
Your fingers don’t actually have muscles within them. The muscles which are used to work your fingers are located within your palms, and also on your arms. They are linked to the fingers by tendons, which control the fingers as the tendon ‘strings’ pull and relax.
The muscles in your palms are not very strong. They are designed to pull the fingers inwards to the palm. The stronger muscles that control the majority of your finger strength reside in your forearm. The tendons of these muscles travel through your wrist to your fingers. Because the power in your fingers is related to the strength of your arms, by toning these muscles, your gripping strength will improve.
For sleight of hand, the aim is to increase your suppleness by stretching the tendons to pull the muscles.
The Merchant of Magic has created a free ebook that will teach you simple, easy Finger Exercises for Magicians used by professional magicians as part of their sleight of hand practice sessions.
The 21 page ebook will teach you how to:
- Develop dexterity, speed, and strength in your hands.
- Avoid R.S.I injury.
- Spot the symptoms of R.S.I
- Improve focus and coordination.
- Maintain healthy finger joints.
- Improve your ability to manipulate playing cards or coins.
- Understand how your muscles control your fingers.
- Know when, where and how to exercise your fingers.
- Much much more.
The Finger Exercises for Magicians ebook includes video tutorials of each exercise.
‘I found your exercises book and I can’t tell you how amazing my wrists and hands feel right now. I’m a writer/artist so I use my hands a LOT and I have always had a little trouble with pain in those areas from constantly typing (I type fast too so it can be a lot of strain) as such I tend to write for a bit and then have to stop, sometimes for several days at a time. When I read through the exercises I wondered if it might help with the typing as well. I haven’t done it long term yet but it really loosened the stiffness in my wrists and hands even just doing it once. I’m so grateful for you sharing this, I just wanted you to know. Thank you so very much!’ – Stephanie Valis
