This article is aimed at people new to the grip world and will help them progress faster by avoiding the common pitfalls and mistakes that are common to grip training.

The most important thing to remember when training with “real” hand grippers is that they are not toys. You do not bang out reps in front of the TV during the adverts and no-one really cares if you can close a plastic gripper 200 times- it means nothing at all. In fact, people that claim hundreds of reps on these useless grips find that they cannot even close a trainer grip and a scared stiff when they squeeze a no.1 and it stops ½ way - the entry level for most guys.

Because the grips require a lot of dedication and hard work, warming up is essential for the beginner and gripmaster alike. I once heard of a guy who picked up his no3, slammed it and the tendon in the palm of his hand exploded- we all know cold muscles and tendons do not exactly respond well to a PB attempt on the bench or squat: treat your gripper with the same respect!

The exercise for closing grips (crush strength) is probably one of the easiest exercises you will ever do- the hand simply makes a fist. 2 groups of muscles come into play here- the hands and the forearms. To ensure the hands are sufficiently prepared for grip training, pull the fingers together so the muscles in the palm contract – Fig.1. Then work the opposite action by expanding, or fanning, the fingers so the palm slightly stretches and the tendons on the back of the hand contracts – Fig.2. Repeat these stretches 2-3 times and hold each one for about 10 seconds and moderate effort.

Now we move on to the forearm. First pull the fingers back to stretch the tendons on the inner forearm – Fig.3. Then reverse the action to work the wrist, stretch the outer forearm tendons and slightly contract those of the inner forearm – Fig.4. Again, repeat each stretch a few times and hold for 10 seconds with moderate force.

To finish the warm up phase we can now combine the efforts of the hand and wrist and work the crush action required for training with the grippers. Squeeze a fist with moderate force and hold for a few reps of 10 seconds- this exercise is specific to the training we are preparing for – Fig.5. An additional warm up for the fingers and palm muscles is to work a pinch action with the gripper by holding it horizontal. From here simply squeeze the handles with moderate force, keeping the fingers extended – Fig.6.

The final stage of the warm up is using the gripper itself. We have prepared the body for grip training and now we want to include working specifically with the training tool. The best way to do this is with combinations of slow and fast partial closes to fully work the tendons, ligaments and muscles. Use sets of 5-10 reps and alternate between fast and slow partial closes. Figures 7 and 8 show the start and finish positions of the partial, or half, close.

On a final note: people that are desperately close to closing a gripper may find it beneficial to fully warm up and “activate” the areas that are letting them down- the weaker fingers. Physics taught us that leverage is greatest, furthest from the object you are trying to move- in this instance the gripper spring. Therefore, the strength of your weaker digits is the deciding factor if your crush can only get you 95% of the way. You can isolate these by inverting the gripper and working the fingers singularly, in twos, or threes – Fig.9. Without getting too technical, one tip is to use a very weak gripper for this. If you use a gripper you can only just budge with your ring finger and pinkie, you are not training it in the necessary position for it to help with the close action- namely, close to the hand with the handles nearly closed. Once you have fully warmed up you are ready to crush away – Fig.10. If you are after a grip smashing routine, please check “The Clamp” in the articles section. For information on setting a gripper and other tips check the grip training overview article.