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Stabilisation training with small handtrainers

A lack of exercise is the biggest enemy for your back. Sitting for hours in particular will cause the back muscles to become atrophied. Millions of people are affected and will very probably have to cope with backache later in life. The most effective remedy consists of increasing the amount of specific exercise. The right training equipment makes it easy to exercise specifically, and small handtrainers let you exercise wherever you are. Please read on to find out why that is so and about optimum back training.

What is optimum back training like?

To answer this question, it is worth taking a look at our anatomy. We are kept upright by about 150 muscles in our back. They are superimposed in three layers, and it is the deep muscles in particular that need our attention. Special training equipment permits ideal training of this lower layer, which is also referred to as the autochthonous muscles.

The most important attribute of this very special equipment is that it generates a dosed impulse with a high stimulus density. Small fast shaking movements, called "mini moves" generate these impulses in the deep muscles and are thus responsible for what is known as the impact effect. Mini moves address in particular the fibres of the authochthonous muscles that extend along the spinal column from the pelvis through the chest through to the head. It goes without saying that the two higher levels of muscles also benefit from training programmes that use the impact effect.

The impact effect makes the difference

The impact effect can be generated by a hollow body filled with air plus a weight. Such hollow bodies, used on their own or in pairs, can have a knobbed surface for example or similar properties to trigger muscular reactions via the sense of touch and the sense of depth perception. The handtrainers fit well in the palm of the hand and can be used in various different starting positions - standing, sitting and even lying down.

The sense of depth perception uses the body's own messaging system (proprioceptors) to keep the nervous system permanently informed of the body's spatial position and location. These organs forward the information to the deep muscles at a speed of 650 kilometres per hour. This high speed means that the movements are no longer controlled consciously by the brain but as reflex movements via the spinal marrow. The better this works and the stronger the deep muscles, the less likely it is for backache to develop.

Checklist

• The handtrainers should be able to generate dosed movement impulses with a high stimulus density, as it is these impulses that trigger stabilisation of the torso by the deep muscles. They should therefore not be filled completely with a weight, in contrast to barbells.
• It must be possible to exercise with the left and right hand at the same time. The handtrainers should be sold in pairs.
• The handtrainers should fit well in the palm of the hand and not be unpleasant to use. The surface should trigger the body's message organs for depth perception, preferably with a knobbed surface.
• This kind of exercising does not need heavy weights, so that the handtrainers should not be too light, but also not too heavy: 250 to 500 g is ideal.
• Beginners particularly need easily understandable instructions. Corresponding instructions for training should be enclosed with the handtrainers.
• It should also be possible to use the handtrainers in water. Hand straps are important in this respect to prevent the handtrainers from getting lost.

Minimum requirements

• Available in pairs for exercising in the left and right hand simultaneously
• Comfortable hand position
• Special surface or similar attributes to trigger muscle reactions using the sense of touch and the sense of depth perception
• Should generate a dosed impulse with a high stimulus density: impact effect
• Can be used in various starting positions
• Pleasant weight (250-500 g)
• High standard of product and material quality
• Easy to learn and use
• Understandable instructions with training targets

Also appropriate

• Suitable for use in water

Products in this sector with the AGR seal of approval

• TOGU Brasil®
• TOGU Brasil® Aqua

Manufacturer

Further information

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