I Need Some Guidance On Grippers

[Michael86]

Hello all.Im Michael, I'm 18,5-11,190lb.Ive lifted weights since football started in 6th grade, Ive been grip training for a little under a month, saw the mash monster's article on bodybuilding.com and was intriqued that somthing like that was actually out there.Ive spent many hours surfing the web to see just what all is out there and have been blown away. So im just going to start out w/ afew simple questions. First off I bought the HeavyGrip 100,200,250,300lb grippers beacuse I was led to the sight saw the picture of Clay Edgin's forearms and was hooked. I can clsoe the 250lb but it will be awhile on the 300lb. Now that Ive done some looking around I noticed yall "excuse the yall, Ima Texan" mostly talk about The King Of Crush grippers and the Mash Monster grippers, and do the certification thing w/ only those. Some im assumeing I wasted money on sub-quality grippers and was wondering if I am right, just looking for someone to give me the low down on all the grippers out there basicly. One last thing i would like to now is a easy way to make a 1inch thick bar I can use for reverse curls,curls, dead lifting and so on. Thanks for the time, I love yall's sight yall have really taken it to the next level here.

[sprouffs]

I wouldn't call it a waste of money. The set you bought will still provide good training and can be used to bridge the gap between certification standards. They also just brought back the certs for the HeavyGrip's see: http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?showtopic=15382

[Soilworker]

I feel like typing, so here is some of my "lowdown"

Ironmind- "Captains of Crush" grippers. The primary reason there are all the other brands right now, and the most recognized cert. Good grippers, not many options, but good sturdy grippers with good knurling. Inconsistant rules have tarnished Ironminds credibility somewhat.

Beef Builders- Made by a man named Warren Tetting. Offereing all of the strengths that Ironminds grippers do, and many inbetween. This man made the first Ironmind grippers, actually.

Heavy Grips- The most affordable, but wildly inconsistent even by gripper standards. The knurling is either "I love it/ I hate it", for most people. I hate it.

PDA- "Standard of Strength" grippers. Only 2 strengths available, with the model numbers named after their respective wire gauges ( 262 and 243). There have been other sizes made that are no longer available, and I don't believe whole grippers are available from PDA period now. Overall not as good as they would have you believe, but still nice,, certainly not inferior.

Robert Baraban- Made by Mr. Baraban, these are the Porsches of grippers. You can get them in gold plating, for Christ's sakes. By far the most options available, and worth the 1 month + it takes for them to get to the states. Baraban and Tetting will both make narrow grippers if that is you thing.

Then there are the board certs. A great idea, I say.

Lastly, the main thing to keep in mind is that it is not possible to make torsion spring grippers exactly the same from gripper to gripper, nor would it be cost effective if it was. You will be inherently confused by the "ratings" of these different gripper, and rightly so. It is best not to read too much into the hypothetical "3.2s" and "1.8s", as there is no standard that these are being measured against. Just have fun training.

[Kurt Lane]

Nice write soil.

[Michael86]

Thank You,you obviosly know what you are talking about and i am now enlighted thanks to you.