Hand and finger warm-up exercises

Typing speed depends a lot on how nimble your hands and fingers are. Regular practice on a computer keyboard is the best training for them. Still, especially at the start, it's worth doing a few exercises that speed up learning and help you get past the difficulties that come up.

Remember that these exercises are only meant to prepare you for typing, so don't overtire your hands. The whole set should take about two minutes.

• Exercise 1

  Warm up your wrists - circle your hands briskly at the wrists, keeping your fingers together.

  

• Exercise 2

  Warm up your hands - put your hands together so that your spread thumbs and the tips of your other fingers touch. Press your hands against each other.

  

• Exercise 3

  Warm up your fingers - with your hand held straight, spread your fingers and bring them together again.

  

• Exercise 4

  Stretch your fingers - press each finger in turn against the desk and push down rhythmically. In the same position, you can also try to slide your fingers as far forward as you can.

  

• Exercise 5

  Stretch your fingers - gently bend each finger back with the fingers of your other hand.

  

• Exercise 6

  Practice finger coordination - with your hand held straight, move each finger away from the others in turn while keeping the rest together.