In
rock climbing a pinch is a
hold which requires you to squeeze the fingers and the thumb to generate friction to hold on. If you can't picture this imagine a 2x4 nailed to your
ceiling. Place your fingers on one side you thumb on the other, now "
pinch" them together and attempt to hang. When someone is holding on this way he is
pinching, and when a hold requires a pinch it may be referred to as a
pincher.
The strength to do this is not usually developed in day-to-day activities or even in normal weight lifting. You have to specifically target the
muscles by either rock climbing or performing an exercise designed to improve pinch strength.
If you want to improve your pinch
strength here is my handy dandy pinch machine you can make for a few
dollars or less.
Take a piece of 2x4 about 6
inches long, sand it well.
Drill a hole in it in the middle.
Tie a piece of rope in the hole.
Tie the other end of the rope to a weight or a bucket of water or anything heavy.
The idea is to pinch the piece of wood and pull the weight off the ground and then hold it for as long as possible. You should put enough weight on it so that you can't possibly hold it longer then 10-15
seconds. If you can hold it longer then this add more weight. Make sure you start light even
10 pounds can be hard to support in this way. To give you an idea of how strong you are it is considered
elite if you can pick up
45 pounds this way.
Also
no cheating! If your fingers curl around the bottom of the block, or the block is not smooth, but bumpy with a lot of friction, you aren't pinching anymore and you won't
gain any pinch strength.