Hi guys - Captains of Crush grippers have always come with pre-lubricated springs, but if someone felt s/he wanted to put a drop of oil on the spring straight out of the package, it's not against the rules—might look odd and we might get questions about whether it's true that regular olive oil, for example, is ok, but extra virgin is not, but that's ok, too.  On crushing the gripper before taking an official attempt, that's fine too—most guys like to give the gripper a bit of a squeeze