Robert Schumann was almost certainly suffering from either an RSI from overpractice or from focal dystonia, and tried to power through it by making and using a hand exercise device; it ended up paralyzing two of his fingers and ending his career.
The point isn’t that these things are useless - like any grip trainer, they can of course improve grip strength. However, it is easily possible to overdo it and injure yourself with a grip trainer (I know this because I have done it).
Also, as others mention, grip strength really isn’t such a large factor in playing bass in the first place - a properly set up bass requires very little effort to fret notes, and fretting hand fatigue is usually from technique issues around gripping too hard.
For dexterity, I would recommend the “spider walk” practice exercise.
Again, these things are not useless, and I am not saying that - all I am saying is that other beginners should know both the pros and the cons here.
I would go a step further and say all finger type musicians should know the pros and cons. Even an experienced player could fall foul of these things.
I train my forearms and grip but I do so in the gym and for very specific reasons.
As I’ve said above, playing with my balls has been way more beneficial than those finger exercisers. I have to spread my fingers when doing the exercises and that improves (or restores) dexterity no end.
I should have added in previous posts that the correct name if searching for these balls is baoding balls.
No, you’re perfectly normal on that score. See this sort of thing all the time with noobs in the gym, they make the biggest gainz at the start as it’s a new experience for the body. Same sort of thing when people go on a diet, they lose a load of weight in the first week and give up after the second week when the results are much less impressive.
