"Does anyone else’s knuckles hurt when using grippers? My knuckles hurt, especially the ones closest to the tips of my fingers. It seems to make a difference how flat, or how curved, the tips of my fingers are when squeezing. Is there a breaking in process I need to take my hands through when starting out with grippers? What would be the best programming advice in order to get my knuckles up to speed?" -Jeffrey Tabb
Jeffrey, my first thought is that you might not be warming up enough with very easy grippers if you're having knuckle pain issues. Buy a cheap, easy gripper with the foam handles from Walmart and do two sets of 10-20 reps to warm up before going to your "normal" gripper warmup. And then see if that helps.
Warming up properly can make a huge difference in demonstrable strength. I've seen it in action many times with grippers. For instance, a contest I went to last year where grippers were on the event menu. The guy's name doesn't matter, but he was pretty strong on grippers. The "catch" was - it was only when he was really warmed up in the hands. He had knuckle pain too, but I think it was mainly from going to grip strength contests (or casual gatherings where grip was trained) and not wanting to appear "weak" to the other guys - and just grabbing a gripper that was at least a #2 and "warming up" with it. Even though it was pretty close to his max, at the contest, he told me he wanted to "psyche a few guys out" on the gripper event. So the first gripper he grabbed was a #2.5. His max close at that point was a very easy #3. So the #2.5 was very close to his current max.
I tried to talk him into setting ego aside, and warming up with a Guide, then a Sport. Then a Trainer. Then the #1. Then a #1.5. Not a lot of reps. Just sets of 5 until he hit the #1. Then a set of 2 reps would be fine on that. Then I told him the #2 would be a good one to hit for a single. Then the #2.5. Long story short (since I'm droning on) is that he politely declined my help. And did not place nearly as high on the grippers as he should have. His best close was well below what he should've been closing that day.
He called me a week later and apologized for not taking my advice. He knows I don't give out advice if I think someone isn't going to take it. Just common sense. Why waste either of our time on it? So I asked him if he was ready to take my advice. He said "definitely." I had to go to work, so we hung up. He did the warm up I listed (since he was at home, I told him to wash the dishes before doing any gripper warmup - it helps get the hands and knuckles nicely warmed up) and closed a #3 that he's had sitting at his house for 5 years. It had never been closed, or even within 1/2" before that day.
That's what the power of warming up properly can do for grippers.
