John Brookfield's Grip Tips

By John Brookfield

Author of Mastery of Hand Strength, Training with
Cables for Strength, and The Grip Master’s Manual


Padding the Issue

This special Grip Tip will not only enhance your grip strength, but also add some fun to your routine. This one is also going to use your favorite tool in your bag of grip gadgets. You guessed it, it's IronMind's Captains of Crush® grippers. The reason you will find this tip useful is that it will help you progress from one gripper to the next one by adding extra resistance to each gripper. This, of course, will make the jump from one gripper to the next easier to conquer.

First of all, there has always been a lot of disagreement about closing the grippers. When I say disagreement, I mean that many are concerned about the width of the handles or the difference between the newer grippers in comparison to the older ones. From time to time someone even mentions that the way someone holds the gripper makes a difference. Even though I understand your concerns, you must remember the most important element: your improved training. Remember, these grippers are made to increase your crushing strength and improve your hand conditioning.

Using the hand grippers as a gauge to evaluate your hand strength is a secondary use for these grippers. Also, for a maximum squeeze they are not that accurate a gauge in competition because if four different people close the same gripper one time, we really don't know who is squeezing the hardest. There is no way to measure how hard a person is actually squeezing, in pounds of pressure.

With this in mind and remembering that we must train hard and improve on a consistent basis, we also must understand that in the real world, whether that is a certain sport played for money, or a weekend hobby or activity, or a life-or-death situation for a police officer, the conditions that we face are not perfect. They are usually awkward and unbalanced. This is why I'm going to share this tip with you.

It is a simple one but highly effective. All you need is a gripper and a pair of heavy work gloves. I like to wear welding gloves because they are very thickly padded. Put on your gloves and try to close your gripper. You will quickly find out that this is difficult. You will have to squeeze the gripper much harder to close it with the glove on. In fact, the last little bit required to close the gripper will be brutal.

I believe that your crushing strength will go up dramatically with the use of the gloves. You will not only get stronger hands, but also be able to move from one gripper to the next using this technique.






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John Brookfield’s books Mastery of Hand Strength, The Grip Master’s Manual, and Training with Cables for Strength combine John’s limitless creativity with his friendly, downhome manner. John’s articles are also regularly featured in MILO: A Journal for Serious Strength Athletes.

For our world-renowned Captains of Crush® Grippers and other CoC ² Grip Tools, please visit our on-line store.

For more information about how to build your grip, wrist, and forearm strength, please visit our All-About-It Resource Pages on Grip Training, Hand Grippers, and Hand Strength.

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