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Recommendations/Reviews/FS/WTB Gripper recommendations

Products recommendations and reviews, items For Sale or Wanted To Buy
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Chrisdavisjr

Level 7 Valued Member
I'm looking into buying some grippers for my brother as he's pretty much exhausted the use of an old pair of Everlast branded wood-handled grippers that I gave him a few years ago. I have no idea what they're rated at, but I'm pretty sure they're a 'beginner to intermediate' item at best and my brother's a pretty tough guy.

I've been looking at three options:

Option 1: Ironmind's 'Captains of Crush' grippers:
Captains of Crush hand grippers - Trainer

Option 2: Strengthshop grippers (similar to CoC but cheaper):
Strength Shop Gripper

Option 3: Heavy-duty adjustable grippers:
Heavy Duty Adjustable Hand Grip For Fat Forearms 45-350 lbs
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heavy-Dut...084586?hash=item25b850abea:g:bFMAAOSwAuNW5dCG
The Ironmind CoC grippers are very highly regarded, however they are expensive for what they are and the resistance isn't variable. I've no reviews of the Strengthshop models so I don't know how they stack up.

I'm leaning towards the adjustable gripper as it would offer variable resistance and, theoretically, more bang for my buck, but I'd love to know if anyone has any experience of any of these grippers or knows of a high-quality, budget-friendly alternative.
 
I'm looking into buying some grippers for my brother as he's pretty much exhausted the use of an old pair of Everlast branded wood-handled grippers that I gave him a few years ago. I have no idea what they're rated at, but I'm pretty sure they're a 'beginner to intermediate' item at best and my brother's a pretty tough guy.

I've been looking at three options:

Option 1: Ironmind's 'Captains of Crush' grippers:
Captains of Crush hand grippers - Trainer

Option 2: Strengthshop grippers (similar to CoC but cheaper):
Strength Shop Gripper

Option 3: Heavy-duty adjustable grippers:
Heavy Duty Adjustable Hand Grip For Fat Forearms 45-350 lbs
The Ironmind CoC grippers are very highly regarded, however they are expensive for what they are and the resistance isn't variable. I've no reviews of the Strengthshop models so I don't know how they stack up.

I'm leaning towards the adjustable gripper as it would offer variable resistance and, theoretically, more bang for my buck, but I'd love to know if anyone has any experience of any of these grippers or knows of a high-quality, budget-friendly alternative.

Chris,

My experience with the Ironmind grippers has been outstanding. I always recommend them. I've owned one gripper for about 18 years, IIRC. I've passed that one (the trainer) to my son. They last a long time. For me, I use one or two grippers for a long, long time. Personally, I don't see the point of adjustable grippers for my needs. I think of grippers like kbs, big jumps between weights and you spend some time with each one. JMO, YMMV.
 
Chris,

My experience with the Ironmind grippers has been outstanding. I always recommend them. I've owned one gripper for about 18 years, IIRC. I've passed that one (the trainer) to my son. They last a long time. For me, I use one or two grippers for a long, long time. Personally, I don't see the point of adjustable grippers for my needs. I think of grippers like kbs, big jumps between weights and you spend some time with each one. JMO, YMMV.

Thanks, man! I'm going to shop around and see where I can get the best price on these in the UK. It looks like either the Trainer or the No. 1 (ideally both) would be the best place to start.
 
Coc's will certainly give you the closest Calibrated to what you paid for. However, If you don't care much about that, check out Heavy grips. They're a lot cheaper than COC's, and I've had mine for 8 years and they're still going strong ( I have COC 1,2,2.5, and 3).
 
Thanks, man! I'm going to shop around and see where I can get the best price on these in the UK. It looks like either the Trainer or the No. 1 (ideally both) would be the best place to start.
A lot of men cannot close the #1 out of the box, try and borrow/try some from a friend beforehand. I will say that most using KB"s can & should be able to close the #1 and 1.5, #2+ is where it gets fun!
 
A lot of men cannot close the #1 out of the box, try and borrow/try some from a friend beforehand. I will say that most using KB"s can & should be able to close the #1 and 1.5, #2+ is where it gets fun!
Thanks. I actually managed to find some Heavy Grips used on eBay for pretty cheap so I'm going to get those for now and see how they work out.

My brother doesn't really do any kind of dedicated weight training but he's part of an historical re-enactment group and regularly trains and fights in full viking gear (chainmail and iron helmet) with a sword and shield so I reckon he could get to work on a #1 and find it challenging but achievable. It'll certainly be a big step up from the cheap grippers he's been using.
 
I use the COC and cocur that they are of the highest quality, and should last a lifetime. Grippers are great for their convenience, however in my opinion and experience they should only be considered a small component of serious grip training. Building a powerful grip is something that requires a very wide variety of training modalities.
 
You don't have to buy COC Grippers. It just has to be a similar or knock off torsion spring gripper. There are training tricks to make grippers harder or easier to progress and regress a gripper.

I like this guy, I could not say it any better myself.



He is an average guy, who makes cool stuff, with smaller sized hands, and has a strong grip. It's hard to take advice from a guy who has 9" hands and is 300lbs, if you are not those proportions.
 
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@Geoff Chafe , who is that guy so I can look him up on YouTube please. Only skipped through both vids as I'm at work, if he says who he is in vids than disregard. Cheers
 
CoC - and lighter than you think: different kind of grippers.
 
Check out the Zenith gripper as opposed to the CoC. I own several of both and prefer the Zenith for everyday training and CoC for benchmarks only.

The CoC has very deep knurling and really tear into your hands if you use it for high reps. I use it for 'testing' my grip strength only.

The Zenith is smooth and slides very easily in your hands. The shape is more comfortable and I can crank out a lot of reps without issue.

Regardless of what you do I suggest getting at least two. Back before they had a CoC #T, I got a CoC #1 thinking I was strong. I was not. I would get the one for how strong you think you are and then one step down just in case.
 
Also, I now own the #T and you are looking at that one. It's a great starter gripper and should be a step above any mainstream gripper (like you mentioned).
 
@Geoff Chafe thanks mate, between this guy & the jedd johnson/diesel crew site you recommended me in another thread I'm set to continue my grip journey the right way, with no bs. Cheers
 
additionally, i now own the #t and you are looking at that one. it is a exquisite starter gripper and need to be a step above any mainstream gripper (such as you noted).
 
I own a set of heavy grip grippers (250) and a generic pair (150). The difference between the levels is huge.

For me it's like going from a 32kg bell up to a 48kg
 
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