The most common grippers are two plastic handles attached at the top by a coiled spring. This coiled spring is known as a torsion spring. Squeezing the handles together causes the spring to coil tighter, providing resistance against the squeezing of your hand. Some of the early mass produced grippers came with plastic contoured handles and moderately strong springs (i.e., York Barbell grippers). Because they were in their infancy, and not many brands existed, you could easily surpass the resistance level of a single gripper in a short period of time and perform many repetitions with them, thus lending the image that gripper training is an endurance exercise or even a forearm builder (rather than a grip builder).
The abuse of these grippers caused hand injuries and conditions related to repetitive use; giving grippers a bad name and associating them with carpal tunnel. In the mid 60s, Iron Man Magazine released their heavy grip developer which was manufactured with a thick torsion spring and metal handles. Because grippers were not popular the product was discontinued roughly a decade after it began. Realizing the potential of grippers and the need for the ability to train crushing grip strength, IronMind brought this style of gripper back to the market and from there grippers began to evolve. Like any innovative idea there were plenty of people jumping on the bandwagon. Even today you can find the cheaply made plastic handle grippers anywhere and everywhere, but lurking in the background, seemingly unknown, are heavy duty, high quality grippers.
These heavy grippers provide one thing, aside from quality, that the cheap brands do not: resistance levels that range from the boring and mundane all the way up to a resistance level that could make you cry. Heavy grippers changed the way that the crushing grip was developed by allowing for high intensity and long term progress with serious levels of resistance, which opened the gripper market to an increased popularity. Indeed some grippers are so difficult to close that only a select few are able close them in a lifetime of training. Because gripper training is still an 'underground' practice, this article is meant as a crash course introduction to the world of real gripper training.
There are two main types of gripper; ergonomic and straight. Ergonomic ones have a ridged handle (fingers are placed between the ridges) or a curved handled and some have both features. Straight handles are just that, cylindrical and straight. Another characteristic is the type of material that makes up the handles. Most ergonomic gripper handles are plastic and straight handled grippers may plastic or aluminum. The main drawback of using ergonomic grippers is that they are typically 'handed' meaning the curve or the ridges are meant to fit a specific hand. This can make for some very uncomfortable closes in the 'wrong' hand.
Whenever I talk about grippers I like to talk about Iron Mind Captain's of Crush grippers. The reason I use CoC grippers as my baseline for comparison and in my own personal training is simple. They've been at it a long time and I believe that they have very good quality products and appropriately challenging resistance levels. The resistances available range from The Guide (60lbs resistance) to a #4 (365lbs resistance. Typically I refer the Trainer (100lbs), #1 (140lbs), #2 (200lbs), and #3 (280lbs).
You may be thinking to yourself, wow, it takes 365lbs to close the No. 4! While the No. 4 takes absurdly strong crushing grip strength to close, the ratings on grippers are really nothing more than an indication of how challenging they will be since there is no standard method for evaluating a grippers' resistance. The main thing is that you train with a consistent set of grippers, as progress is the key. And of course, keep in mind that if only 5 people have ever closed the #4, it's probably best to start with a lower resistance.
Most people have probably seen, or own, grippers sold in sporting good stores or department stores. Typical department or sporting good store grippers are usually around 30lbs resistance (maybe as high as 50lbs). They are cheaply made, and if you buy a package of two identical ones they can vary by a few pounds. Aside from quality, the grippers simply don't offer enough resistance for any type of sustained grip training. In fact, the majority of people can close them readily with no training and below average grip strength. However, I'm not suggesting you buy every CoC gripper. It may be appropriate to buy one of those weaker department store grippers as weaker gripper will help you learn to set a gripper and is a good resistance level for a warm up.
You'll want to avoid the ergonomic style grippers and go with a straight handled one. Ergo grippers are not good for learning to set a gripper, some of them can be awkward to use and even painful to close, depending on how well they fit your hand. From what I have read and from my own personal experiences with myself and others, an average person can close a 'trainer' level (100lbs) gripper for a few reps. I would suggest purchasing one of those as well. You will also want another gripper that you can do for only a single (or even barely) or a couple reps so that you have something to work towards. I would recommend something in the No. 1 range. So a good set of grippers for a beginner would be a cheap gripper, Trainer, and No. 1. With the No. 1 being a challenge gripper. Having a variety of challenging grippers will not only keep you interested in grip training but will also give you some realistic goals to set.
The same philosophy used for strength training should be carried into gripper training. A proper warm up and low volume with quality reps using good range of motion and technique is a necessity for not only hand strength, but hand health and longevity. Hand health should always be kept in mind when doing grip training, especially when you start to move into the higher level grippers. Grip training is just like anything else. Deadlifting a heavy weight does not mean you are a good deadlifter. Form and technique count also, especially if you want to do this for the long haul.
Typically, I will begin a grip workout by closing a weaker gripper for a couple sets of 10, move onto the next level gripper for 2-3 sets of 2-3, intermediate gripper for a 2-3 one rep sets and then perform some maximal work with my heaviest gripper. The warm up should get you ready and acclimated but not fatigue your grip strength so that it impacts the session. Department store grippers work perfectly for this because they don't fatigue the hand very much due to their relatively low resistance. And don't worry if at first you can't get a full rep with your challenge gripper. That's why its a challenge!
If you haven't got a challenge gripper and find that you can close all of your grippers easily for 8-10 full reps then it is probably time for the next resistance level. If you cannot close your highest resistance gripper, its okay, try to close it as much as you can and take note (or even measure) of the gap you need to close. On the next session you can measure your progress by seeing how much you are able to decrease that gap. Partial reps are a good tool as well. Closing a tough gripper for three 1/2 reps is still better than not trying to close it. You're still working your grip and getting used to the pressure in your hand.
The absolute worst thing to do is to perform hundreds of reps with a weak gripper. At the very least you will wear out the gripper prematurely and have a sore hand and at the very worst you will wear out your hand! To balance out the antagonistic muscle group and maintain good hand health and function I also recommend including hand extensions, using some sort of a band(s) or similar means of resistance (i.e. pail of rice or sand). To perform extensions using an elastic band, place the elastic over the tips of your fingers and open your hand against the resistance of the elastic. It may take some time to figure out the right spot for the elastic to sit. The good thing about elastics is that you can use a thicker band (like a broccoli elastic) and then add small office rubber bands to gradually increase the resistance. This exercise should be treated more as a preventative maintenance exercise, meaning higher reps (6-10) for a few reps, no maximal work!
This training can get very addictive, very quickly. Resist the urge to try continually to close your challenge gripper. It is critical to adopt the mentality of "less is more". You have been warned, happy crushing.
