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Other/Mixed Finger tap test for CNS.

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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MattM

SFG1
Recently someone posted about this test. I had never heard of it but started looking into it and downloaded an app last night, seems to work good.

Does anyone have a poor/good/excellent range chart? Or is this something that is very specific to a certain person? I saw some screenshots in an article that I skimmed through and some were around 100! I'm not sure if those were real or not.

I've only done it last night and this morning and scored around 60 for both hands, left finger was several better than the right (but I'm right handed).

Can anyone with experience chime in? To clarify I'm not talking about the pencil tap test on paper.

Edit: tried a bunch of times after a good amount of coffee and was getting around 70
 
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Recently someone posted about this test. I had never heard of it but started looking into it and downloaded an app last night, seems to work good.

Does anyone have a poor/good/excellent range chart? Or is this something that is very specific to a certain person? I saw some screenshots in an article that I skimmed through and some were around 100! I'm not sure if those were real or not.

I've only done it last night and this morning and scored around 60 for both hands, left finger was several better than the right (but I'm right handed).

Can anyone with experience chime in? To clarify I'm not talking about the pencil tap test on paper.

Edit: tried a bunch of times after a good amount of coffee and was getting around 70

Hi @MattM
I posted in CNS excitability tapping on @TravisDirks Biofeedback thread. I picked it up from the peaking section on Easy Strength. While Easy Strength mentions the pencil tap test I tap on my phone as well (seems easier than to count 40+ points on paper...).

I think as I all biofeedback assessments there is no general poor/good/excellent chart and as you said, very person specific. I started do it in the morning when I wake up to gauge my "daily CNS readiness" (along with HR for recovery assessment) and right after my morning-warm-up-charge-up session. My wake up baseline is around 40-41 taps/5sec bad days are 38-39, best day (last 8 weeks) was 43. Post warm up is usually 2 taps higher on good days and 5-6 on great days. When stuff stall and I have no rise in the post-warm up tapping I change something in my warm up routine.

On days that my post warm up numbers are high (45+) I do feel strong and focused and see it performance-wise both in the weightroom and on the sand (Beach Volleyball).

I downloaded the CNS-Test app and tested it. 10 seconds feels like a l-o-n-g time for tapping... until now I used a countdown timer in my tablet...

hope it helps!

& check the Biofeedback thread. @TravisDirks posted them some cool stuff about ROM CNS tests... I'm giving it a test drive the last couple of days...
 
I'm definitely going to try this app. I've been tracking HRV for over a year now. Interested to see if there's any correlation with this.
 
I just started recording HR several weeks ago, so I have only 20 days of both HR, morning tapping and post warm up tapping so it's not enough data to draw any robust valid conclusions.

So from here it's mostly unsubstantiated mumbling ...
However, it seems that there is some inverse correlation between HR and tapping (-0.44). I have only 1 fatigued day (HR more than 6 bpm from baseline) which had the lowest tapping, 3 more not-fresh (HR baseline+3 bpm) which had tapping and lower side, and very-fresh days (HR baseline - 2 bpm) which was on the tapping high side.

Since it's not enough data maybe I just see what I expect to see... higher CNS excitability when I'm recovered and lower excitability when I'm not recovered enough... I'll re-post when I'll have 60-80 data entries.
 
OK installed the CNS-Test app, first test Right 58, Left 48. Tried again, Right 58, Left 50. I'm right handed. Did 5 pull-ups, tried again. Right 59, Left 47. Pretty interesting, and an easy thing to play with. I'll do this after my morning Heart Rate Variability (Elite HRV app) measure and see if I can notice any similarities...
 
Morning, with good HRV scored (HR 45, HRV 59, Score 9, Elite HRV app), Right 61, Left 49. My left hand is way less coordinated.... wonder why I have such a difference, compared to the other three reporting above?
 
Hey Anna...
The funny thing is...my left hand 'feels' way less coordinated when I do the tap test. Yet over the few times I've tried it, it's equal or within 2 taps
 
FWIW (I haven't been following this discussion closely), handedness isn't absolute, e.g., there are some people who are more dominant on one side while others are less so. I had a grandmother who was ambidextrous; both my sister and I, while right-handed, are able to do more things leftie than most people, e.g., we're both comfortable using a scissors with our left hands, and when I was teaching college, I was just about as good writing on the board in front of class with my left hand as I was with my right. Our mother, the daughter of the above-mentioned grandmother, was something of a klutz, uncoordinated to the point where she was never even able to learn to ride a bicycle.

I'm sure some psycho-neurologist would have a field day with my family.

-S-
 
The topic is wandering here but... @Steve Freides a question...you are a musician. This degree of ambidextrous you possess; did this become developed or strengthened because of music, or did it help you in the pursuit of music? Just curious.
 
The topic is wandering here but... @Steve Freides a question...you are a musician. This degree of ambidextrous you possess; did this become developed or strengthened because of music, or did it help you in the pursuit of music? Just curious.
It's hereditary and, so far as I can tell, not of any particular use or advantage in music. It's not a common trait among musicians at any level as far as I know.

Did my musical practice make me more ambidextrous? I have nothing to compare to so it's hard to say but I think not. My sister and I are about the same and she needs a bucket to carry a tune - no musical anything.

Related to this, the incidence of left handedness is much higher among all types of artists than in the general population - artists here means musicians, actors, painters, etc.

-S-
 
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Great question about the musical instruments, @offwidth. And Steve, that's a good point. I am very much less coordinated on my left -- at least, my left HAND -- but the interesting thing is, I don't have very much strength discrepancy between the two sides in big muscle movements (i.e. military press, snatch, swing). However I do see a difference in CoC grippers -- I can do much better on the right than the left.

I tried right after my training session this morning and got 69 R, 53L. An hour later, 66R, 51L. Maybe a little later I'll see what coffee does.

I suppose there's a bit of a skill development here, too... should get a little bit better just with practice.
 
The Wiki on the subject is off-base as far as I'm concerned, e.g., it considers switch-hitters in baseball to be ambidextrous, and it goes on to cite many people who've learned to do a particular skill with their non-dominant hand, but in my mind, that's not the same thing.

I don't know if I mentioned it but I brought home a fifth grade report card of straight A's except for an F in handwriting.
There was some talk at the time that I was a natural leftie but had been encouraged at a young age to write with my right hand. Personally, I don't buy that theory. Hey, I'm still bewitched, bothered, and bewildered. :)

@Anna C, I'm not sure that one's true handedness can change, and perhaps that's related to whatever this tapping test thing is. I think it's a wiring thing. But if you can improve your performance and skill with your non-dominant hand, does any of this really matter?

-S-
 
This difference between left and right side tapping, and talk of music, has me wondering if there's any connection to "left brain, right brain" dominance. I am definitely a left brain dominant person (logic, analytical) and have a tendency to neglect the nurturing of my creative side. So, maybe this test is telling me something that I should pay attention to.
 
Paying attention to your creative side is never a bad thing for anyone, IMHO, except if you happen to be right-brain-only-off-the-deep-end-can't-function-in-the-real-world.

-S-
 
Or maybe my left hand is just slow. ;)

I've continued to test since Monday, with values as Left/Right: Monday mid-day: 51/65, 49/69, Tuesday: 50/60 (first thing in the morning), 46/63 (afternoon). Today: 47/57 (first thing in the morning), 58/72 (after training), 52/61, 50/63 (after coffee). The highest, 58/72, was after deadlifting and snatching this morning. This seems odd... based on what little I heard about it, I would think this would be taxing on the CNS and the numbers would be lower. But maybe it's just supposed to indicate readiness in the morning, and maybe it's just something that appears with a large amount of CNS fatigue. I train, but rarely train that hard.

So far I don't see much correlation with HRV, which is supposed to indicate the state of the sympathetic vs. parasympathetic NS. HRV does seem to me to be quite accurate.
 
Or maybe my left hand is just slow. ;)

I've continued to test since Monday, with values as Left/Right: Monday mid-day: 51/65, 49/69, Tuesday: 50/60 (first thing in the morning), 46/63 (afternoon). Today: 47/57 (first thing in the morning), 58/72 (after training), 52/61, 50/63 (after coffee). The highest, 58/72, was after deadlifting and snatching this morning. This seems odd... based on what little I heard about it, I would think this would be taxing on the CNS and the numbers would be lower. But maybe it's just supposed to indicate readiness in the morning, and maybe it's just something that appears with a large amount of CNS fatigue. I train, but rarely train that hard.

So far I don't see much correlation with HRV, which is supposed to indicate the state of the sympathetic vs. parasympathetic NS. HRV does seem to me to be quite accurate.
This is interesting. I notice that you right and left after move in opposite directions. Since we are attempting to measure a proxy for the CNS, this indicates that there is something layered ontop. Perhaps technique variations, since you are learning to tap faster? Or right left differences in daily use?

Either way if this variation is large in comparison the changes we are looking for it could be tough to interpret.

on the deadlift practice how did you feel after? I'm curious if you felt done, but the tapping still improved, or if you finished fresh.

Also on a side note: this post and this whole thread is, I think what makes this place great. It's great to see knew first hand exprerience discussed. Someone else picks it up and not only tries it, but reports back. The knowledge flows forward. Not your regular spot on the Internet!
 
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