Fox for main as new player? What about my hands?

[Effay]

Hey guys, I've been playing Melee since this year started, but took a break for 7-8 months for Smash 4.
I just got back into it, so I'm fairly new. Anyways, I'm consistent with SHDL, SHL, two waveshines, drill l-cancel shine, upthrow-upair, bair/nair l-cancel shine/grabs, and that's it.
I'm very good at all of them, but bad at anything else. However, I'm starting to get very comfortable with Fox, and can do all of those whenever I want without making my fingers feel weird. They all are natural now.
Though I've been wondering, is it bad for my hands? It's the first time my fingers are moving fast again for such a long time, and I'm using a fast character.
How long with Fox til they will start to ache? And when they do, what is the best thing for my hands?
I'm not saying how long with Melee til they hurt, how long with FOX til they hurt.

 

[SSB Pride]

I've been playing fox for a while and my hands have never really "hurt" from it, but if they do start to hurt even a little bit try these hand exercises https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrhH2YeQ40A
You could do them inbetween sets if your at a local, or just before and after you warmup.

 

[Kayso]

It could depend on what you do right before playing. If you jump right into tech skill then your hands won't be warmed up (it would be like sprinting 100 meters without warming up, stretching, or anything) then you could hurt yourself much earlier. Before you practice just stretch your hands and warm them up over about 10 minutes or so by just doing very simple tech like wding and sh nairing.

 

[Dylan_Tnga]

TBH you have to play A LOT, and I mean A LOT of melee / fox to hurt your hands. Like.. 5+ hours a day, every day, 5-7 days a week.

I've been playing fox since 2007 I have pretty advanced techskill and speed and I have never once had any hint of pain or ache in my hands. I don't use the claw grip though so I don't know if that changes anything.

Stick with Fox. He's a great main to have under your belt, I've always mained fox. He has amazing matchups and is very rewarding to play at a high level. Master fox and you don't have to worry about annoying floaties like Peach / Jiggles, and if you have a matchup you don't like (vs marth is a good example for most fox players) you can pick up a secondary character (I use shiek against marth / Ganon) to deal with matchups you don't like.

 

[HYPER$]

people worry about hurt hands too much as fox. to be honest, every character can make your hands hurt. even puff. just don't play with too strong a grip and take small breaks when training and you'll be golden.

 

[krazyzyko]

I've been playing Fox competitively since '05
And the only techs that might cramp my right thumb are SHDL and Multishine. When this happens I substitute Multishine for shine grab or Nair shffl and SHDL for SHL.

 

[tauKhan]

TBH you have to play A LOT, and I mean A LOT of melee / fox to hurt your hands. Like.. 5+ hours a day, every day, 5-7 days a week.

Not true at all, your technique and other traits(as well as other activities which might be tedious for hands of course) matter a lot in addition to pure playtime. I switched to fox a year ago, and I've already developed hand problems despite certainly playing less than 1h/day on average. I'd say bad technique is the biggest reason for my problems, I've a hard time doing a relaxed fast motion to sh or jump in general from shine.

That said playing fox should be alright if you take a few precautions (which you should do anyway imo)
1. If you notice that certain input strings cramps your hand, you'll need to find more relaxed way of performing them.
2. Stretch your hands before and after playing, and take regular breaks while playing.

 

[ShaVark]

Stretch and DRINK A LOT OF WATER.


Water will lubricate the bones and stretching will PREVENT the problem


Don't be one of these fox players (Or just a melee player even) that waits till they're already ****ed to start streching and fixing yourself.

Prevention is KEY.


Let the good ol' doctor levi handle you. (Look him up on YT, he has stretches for gamers)

 

[Dylan_Tnga]

I prefer beer to lubricate my bones.

 

[dope.]

I prefer beer to lubricate my bones.

this guy gets it.

 

[Archelon]

As long as you take proper care of your wrists and hands, you should be ok. If you hands ever do hurt, you should stop. I'd suggest looking at this for stretching and stuff:
http://smashboards.com/threads/staying-healthy-a-guide-to-playing-melee-better-and-longer.332355/
Also, I don't know how much time you've already invested into practising techskill with fox, but if you haven't done very much, it's quite easy to get comfortable using claw. Not only does it make it easier to waveshine and especially SHDL, and it also puts less stress on your right thumb.