Weight Plate Pinches

Weight Plate Pinch Basics

Primary muscles worked: Finger Flexors and Wrist Flexors

Synergist Muscles: Rest of Forearm Musculature

Mechanics: Isolation

Equipment: Circular, Flat and Smooth Weight Plate

How To Perform Weight Plate Pinches

• Stand upright with your arms relaxed to the sides of your body with your feet together.
• Place one weight plate between your thumb and index finger for each of your hands and push them together as hard as possible.
• Hold this position for at least ten seconds and then place the plates on the floor by squatting to the floor and releasing your fingers or on a bench and then relaxing your fingers.
• Repeat pinching and holding the weight for your middle, ring and pinky fingers.

Weight Plate Pinch Tips

• Each finger from your index to your pinky is progressively weaker. This means your index-thumb combination is stronger than your pinky-thumb combo. You may need to lower the weight that your pinching as you move between each finger on your hand.
• Be careful not to drop the weight when you perform this lift as it may strike your toes.
• Wipe your hands with a dry towel between each set to ensure no moisture is on your fingers. This will prevent a reduction in friction with the plate and will help prevent the plate from slipping between your fingers and hitting your foot.

Weight Plate Pinches and Sports Application

Finger strength is important in a wide variety of sports settings. Most predominantly, finger strength is important for the sport of rock climbing. Other sports such as mixed martial arts, baseball and football also require strong finger flexion. Catching a baseball or football requires strong flexion of your finger. Football also requires you to secure the football to prevent a fumble which also requires flexion of your fingers.