FREE GYMNASTIC EXERCISES FOR THE FINGERS AND THUMB.
_First movement._
[Illustration: Fig. 5.]
[Illustration: Fig. 6.]
Stretch the fingers as much as possible one from the other, let them
fall on the large muscle of the thumb (thumb-ball), and press them
firmly on it; _remain for a moment in this position_, and bring the
thumb against the forefinger, 40 times up and down.
You will find that this exercise, as well as several others, if
vigorously continued for three minutes only, is very fatiguing; a clear
proof that the muscles of the fingers, although they may be quite fit
for ordinary daily occupations, are, nevertheless, _very weak and
incapable_ when anything more is demanded from them, and without proper
gymnastical training, they must remain so.
_Second movement._
[Illustration: Fig. 7.]
[Illustration: Fig. 8.]
Stretch the fingers as before, but let the finger-ends fall against
the middle of the cavity of the hand, instead of against the great
muscle of the thumb, and press them firmly. To be repeated 40 times.
_Third movement._
The following exercise (9 and 10) is intended particularly for the
small joints of the fingers. It is effective, but difficult.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.]
[Illustration: Fig. 10.]
Do not stretch the fingers away from one another, but hold them firmly
and close together, as this produces the effect particularly desired.
Bend the two first finger-joints of the four fingers closely together;
move them vigorously up and down, and press them on _firmly_, without,
however, moving the large joints. Repeat this movement until you are
tired, which will not be long, thus affording another practical proof
how weak the untrained finger-joints are. This is also an excellent
exercise for the thumb, provided it is made slowly and vigorously. It
may also be made with outstretched fingers.
I again repeat that no one who has not already tried the above or
similar exercises of the fingers, will be able vigorously to continue
them for even so short a time as three minutes without experiencing
painful fatigue. And why? Because, as I have demonstrated before, the
joints of the fingers and wrists are, in the ordinary occupations of
life, the least of all exercised, and consequently the weakest, in
comparison with what they have afterwards to perform.
After this experience people will, in future, hardly venture to teach
and to continue the exercise of an art like music (which, from a
muscular point of view, is the most difficult of all), with muscles
the weakest and least trained, without having previously prepared them
by proper gymnastic exercises.
_Fourth movement._
[Illustration: Fig. 11.]
[Illustration: Fig. 12.]
The last free exercise for the finger-joints, which I will recommend
here (11 and 12), consists in moving all the fingers and the thumb
simultaneously together, that is to say, in stretching them far away
from one another, like claws, and making all sorts of eccentric
movements in whatever direction you please, and as long as you like or
are able, but always vigorously.