gripmaster hand and finger exerciser

Manufacturers' blurb ...."Professional sports trainers, athletes and therapists use GRIPMASTER because of its unique ability to provide an effective isolated resistance workout. GRIPMASTER conditions the fingers, hand, wrist and forearm with a unit you can carry in your pocket."

There's a lot going for these Gripmasters as they are unique in the fact you can train each finger separately and more importantly, you can train your thumb (which is impossible with Captains of Crush style hand grippers).

With each gripper comes a little guide with a handful of exercises you can perform. Pinch grips, trigger squeezes, morse code tapping etc (these can also be seen on Handgrippers.co.uk) Nice.

They are light and quiet, so it's easy to pop one in a coat pocket and have a squeeze anytime anywhere. They're comfortable and don't tear your hands up like the metal grippers. Add to this the variety of exercises and they become quite addictive.

There's only one problem with them. They aren't that challenging. For example you can put both the black and the red Gripmaster in one hand and close both of them simultaneously much easier than closing a CoC #1. (a Black Gripmaster, the strongest of the range, takes about 36lbs to close. Captain's of Crush #1, is rated around 140lbs!)

So for training your crushing 'handshake' grip buy something else.

Where the Gripmaster comes into it's own at pinch gripping. Things are a lot more challenging if you use only your pinky or just the tips of your fingers and thumb. - but still, even pinch gripping the black pair closed with one pinky isn't hard.

For serious MMAers/strength athletes you'll grow out of them extremely quickly and too get really strong you're going to have to look elsewhere.

On the flipside, the relative easyness makes them good rehab tools, good for active rest and for training prolonged finger holds (good for climbers?).

So who are these aimed for? Surely not the professional sports trainers and athletes as advertised? At the moment these are nice gadgets, cute and fun (kids love 'em) but not a huge strength builder - unless you are a total beginner - but in that case just start with chin ups etc. If they extended their resistance levels then they could go beyond that to become a serious tool.

So worth spending your hard earned pounds on? Well they are much better than the foam covered sping jobs you get from Reebok etc and a welcome break from the brutal Captains of Crush. So yeah. Sort of.

Cool :

The ability to work each finger individually
You can work your thumbs by pinch gripping
More fun to use than conventional grippers due to variety of exercises
Very comfortable
Light and quiet
Good for smaller hands

Uncool :

They will just be a too bit easy to close for most athletes. (yes even the black ones)
Price - at £20, they cost the same as the basic Barabans....