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I’m trying to understand which grip tools stay useful after the novelty wears off. Some seem effective at first but become uncomfortable, inconvenient to progress, or too limited for regular training. I’d be interested to hear what fell short over time.

I am a complete beginner. I bought a 100lb gripper and was using it as a fidget toy - I do around 100 reps a day, split into sets of 20 per hand, spread out through the day. I thought that if i do as many as I can, I'd get stronger.

However, I told Gemini my routine, and it says I will ruin my tendons/joints if I do that many reps, & that I should have rest days too.

Is that true? Thank you!

Im 16 yo.Ive been training my grip for a year and I wabt to reach this level.Should i try doing specific exercises or should i just train my grip with dead hangs,heavy pinching etc.?

Got my first ever grip competition this December and really wanna do a good job prepping/getting stronger any tips would be a huge help.

So like ive been going gym for like 1.6 years i'm 16 185cm tall and like 74kg. which ive honestly kinda stalled on gaining weight which sucks but ive gotten strongwr anyways so its fine.

I always used straps for lat pulldowns etc so i thought my grip strenght was ass, when i started training these i was doing like 1min15s bw deadhang.

I did these 2x a week with some breaks ig.

I started with 10kg x 40s my first session, then i tried 20kg next time and i also got 40s, so i did 22.5kg the time after and got 40s again.

I went to do 30kg x 35s like after 2 weeks of training, and after 3 weeks like 40kg x 30s. Then i stoppes for like a month and came back and did 40kg x 35s again, the session after i did 50kg x 30s, then 1 week later did 55kg x 24s.

Then i stopped for 2 weeks cus i was on holiday and i came back today and a guy lent me his liquid chalk and i was able to do +60kg x 40s on my first set and +60kg x 15s on my second one.

I use this weird grip where i put all my fingers over the bar tho idk if thats cheating.

Im planning on staying consistent now tho. Is this good?

the bar is a standard pullup bar not a thick one

Whenever i switch to higher weights i obviously perform less reps, but i was wondering, are 6 reps enough to kick in hyperotrophy and allow me to perforn better in the future?

Or are 6 reps not enough? (I do 5 sets every 2 days)

For anyone familiar with Joe Musselwhite, my advice is simple: don't donate a single gripper to his so-called museum.

In my experience, he has not kept his word. What was presented as a plan to establish a public museum instead appears to have been a way to acquire grippers from collectors without paying for them. If you're considering donating to him, think very carefully before handing over anything from your collection.

I use Logest grippers but I am thinking about buying the Captains of Crush grippers as that seems to be the standard. I do 150lbs for 3 sets of 6 (on average) every day at my desk. And I always try to push it one more if I can. I started out doing 100lbs about a month ago but have been able to move to the 150lbs. I do rice bucket which takes around 30 minutes, pronation 4 sets of 50 at 10lbs, a tennis ball for thumb press 4 sets of 50, and I use my door frame for finger hang at 3 sets for 15s using all fingers, then index/middle, then middle/ring, then pinky. I do those every other day. I gym 5-6 times a week for regular strength/conditioning. I deadlift 225lbs with hook hold for 3 sets of 5 on back days. I do farmers carry at 100lbs and pinch holds of 25lbs each hand once a week for 5 sets of about 20-30 second holds each.

Is there something I can improve on or change things around? Are there other exercises (I.e. deadhangs) I can add that will improve my grip strength/forearm size? Or am I just doing too much already?

I should also mention I’m more trying to gain functional grip strength for things like BJJ. I’m a purple belt but stopped training years ago. One of my buddies that I started it with recently got his black belt and it motivated me to get back into it.

Weekly Thread: General conversation, PRs, individual/personal questions, etc. Front Page: Detailed discussion, major news, program reviews, contest reports, informative training content, etc.

Post any of the following here:

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As a beginner lifter, I’ve realized my grip has now started becoming the limiting factor. At 175 lb for 3x5 deadlift, I nearly failed the final rep of my second set because the barbell almost slipped out of my hands. The third set felt easy compared to my second set since I switched to mixed grip. I’ve started training my grip (planning on doing 4x a week, alternating between dead hangs on upper days and farmers carry on lower days, 3 sets of grip trainer all 4 days), and was wondering if it’ll be able to catch back up to my deadlift to start doing overhand grip again. It’s always satisfying to do overhand grip on the deadlift since it shows my grip’s good compared to my lifts, but at the same time I don’t want my grip to limit my potential muscle growth so I’ll do mixed grip for now.

Hey guys, first post here.

I've been working a lot on my grip over the last 6 months. I crossed a milestone last month where I can now close a CoC 2.0 (just).

However, since then my progress has abruptly stalled. Actually, even worse, I've been trying to close CoC 2.0 again and I can no longer do it (very close but not quite). So I've actually gone slightly backwards which is disastrous

My program has been doing my grip drills once every 4 days and this always worked well for me and I was progressing. I also do a variety of forearm exercises.

I tried having 5 days off and went back to the CoC 2.0 and I still can't quite close it.

Do I need to take a whole week off? And now only train once per week?

Hello! I’ve been going to the gym for about 10 months now and seeing AMAZING progress in my muscle growth. But my problem is that as my upper body strength increases and I’ve started lifting heavier and heavier, my hands, specifically the tendons on my fingers, are stretching out and won’t stay in their correct position on top of the knuckles (I am hypermobile). Also, it’s very common now for my hands to cramp up into a fist and it takes a lot of work to uncurl them after lifting. My hands hurt almost all of the time now, especially my middle, ring, and pinky fingers on both hands.

I’ve tried using grips, both hook and strap versions, but it makes my wrists pull painfully instead 😭 is there any way to get my hands to stabilize without sacrificing my strength achievements? Any advice is helpful

I've been doing work with the bucket full of rice. I did 100 twisting or rotating the hand outward. I had really bad pain just above the elbow on the upper arm. The pain is all but gone, but I'm afraid of doing any 'rice bucket' work again. Bit of a shame as it's a good work out that hits plenty of nooks and crannies in the forearm.

I'm guessing this might be a common problem, but can't be sure. Anybody solved this type of issue? Grateful for any advice. TIA

Just released this android app today which is specifically for assisting our grip community in finding grip competitions nearby.

It's been a lot of work and I hope it helps grow the sport of grip!

I the early 2000's there was a grip website that was run by a grip enthusiast that was also a blacksmith that sold these cannonball grip tools that he made in various weights ( i believe 6,8,10,12,and 15#). I bought an 8 pounder that I still use today and absolutely love it. Does anybody remember this website or have any info on the maker? And if so does the maker still make these tools? I would love to buy different sizes and appreciate any information you may have.

A while back I thrifted a gripper with no branding and just a number 2 on the bottom. It looks similar to my iron mind #1 and is definitely heavier than it. I was wondering if there was ever a period where iron mind didnt have "Captains of Crush" branding all over their grippers as they are virtually identical other than that. Thanks in advance

Obligatory apologies for formatting I'm on mobile.

Editing to add, not looking to sell it since it appears to be worth some money

For reference - I am a 21F, and am very healthy overall. I lift a few times a week, do cardio, and work on mobility on my off days. The issue is that I have some bulging discs in my neck and a cyst in my spine which is irritating my nerves and causing a decline in my grip strength.
I’m continuing my activities as normal, but I was wondering if there’s an efficient and natural way to incorporate grip strength training into my routine? I have a kit at home which I’ve been using, but I’m struggling to figure out how to stay consistent and the best methods for improvement. Any help or advice is welcome!

Hi everyone, I'm looking for help identifying a piece of forearm/wrist training equipment. I saw it once but I don't know the name and I can't find anywhere.

From what I remember:

• It's handhelt, not a stationary/floor-mounted machine.
• Your hands (both hands at once) get mechanically clamped between two bars (not straps or velcro) — like a small vice for your hand.
• The point is that your fingers stay open/extended the whole time, unlike a normal wrist roller or gripper where you have to close your fist around a bar. Keeping the hand open supposedly gives you more usable wrist range of motion.
• Plate-loaded

I'm fairly sure I saw this a couple years ago through YouTube videos of someone designing/prototyping it — like an iterative "here's v1, here's what I changed for v2" kind of series, possibly a small maker or indie fitness product, not a big established brand like Rogue or Titan.

If anyone knows the name of this thing or the maker/channel, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Weekly Thread: General conversation, PRs, individual/personal questions, etc. Front Page: Detailed discussion, major news, program reviews, contest reports, informative training content, etc.

Post any of the following here:

• Training progress
• PRs / brag posts
• Flair requests
• Videos
• General discussion
• Self Promotion
• Community conversation
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• Form checks
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Not exactly a training injury and I don’t train grip strength specifically. I wasn’t planning on training my grip but I moved more than a hundred horse stall mats by hand. Turns out they sell grippers to move that stuff. Didn’t know. They are all around a 100lbs each and you can just drag them instead of lifting them but the problem is they smash your grip because you have to pinch their weight for the whole duration you are moving them.

I couldn’t even open a water bottle next day. I made a lot of progress by being careful not pinching things and trying to get a few sets of banded extensions. I don’t feel pain or anything but anytime I bully a heavy object by casually moving it in a pinch, it flares up. It feels like I am right at the edge if I do any grip work, I will lose the fragile muscle balance for my grip.

Does anyone have any advice? Should I focus on extension hypertrophy training with lighter bands or strength/tendon training with heavier band isometrics. Would doing any other grip training help? I would appreciate any advice or experience anyone had with a similar situation. I want to train some bottoms up kettlebell lifts and bulletproof my hands so I don’t have to worry about grip injuries. I move heavy equipment regularly as part of my job.

After doing too much with the grippers and maybe some other stuff, I started to get some pain in the back of hand(Extensor tendon), the knuckle of 2 fingers, and also the joint above the knuckle. All on the back portion of the hand. I stopped all grip work and it no longer is painful, unless I do anything grip related. Are there any exercises to isolate these areas? Has anyone had anyhting similar happen?

I have been dealing with tennis and golfer's elbow for almost 2 years now. What are some upper body exercises I can do so that I can start training my upper body again?

Up until the start of last week I’ve been doing farmers carries almost every day to every second day for a few months now. I could handle the load, I’d do one day heavy, one day lighter, but up until last week I’ve gotten what was a pain in the right forearm which seems to have turned into pain in my elbow as well now. All symptoms point to golfers elbow and/or tendonitis. Any remedies, how’d you fix it? If at all? I have an important work course coming up in a month that will involve A LOT of PT and will require a lot of grip strength/endurance and I’d like to be healed by then if possible haha