The Best Hand Grip Strengtheners For 2021

I’m assuming because you’re reading this on Athletic Muscle, you’re a pretty strong individual.

From the back to the front to the legs to the arms, you’re a beast that’s not to be trifled with.

But if I asked you about your hand grip, what would you say? Have you ever thought about hand grip?

Truth be told, how strong your grip is in your hands is vital to your overall physique. Not only does it help build powerful forearms, but it aids in your other bar-related lifts as well.

But I’m guessing you have neglected your grip during your workouts. If that’s the case, maybe it’s time to “get a grip” on strengthening your forearms.

In this article, I’ll go over the benefits of having a strong grip, how to use a hand grip strengthener, what the results should look like, a free workout for your hand strength, and review our top picks for hand grip strengtheners.

For the quick and easy list of the best, here you go:

Let’s get started!

What are the Benefits of a Hand Grip Strengthener?

Having a strong grip has its fair share of pros. Using a hand grip strengthener is the best way to get a stronger hold with your hands, but why is it necessary or beneficial?

Here are a few ways:

  • Allows you to hold more weight on your lifts. Big lifts like bench press, deadlift, hang cleans, and curls of any kind are improved. More strength in your grip = more strength in your big lifts = more overall muscle.
  • Increased endurance. Your lifts no longer have to suffer in terms of quality because you can no longer grip something. Bars will stay glued to your hands and you can go deep into lifts until muscular failure, not grip failure.
  • Fill out your entire physique. A stronger grip will result in well-built forearms, a body part that’s always neglected in typical workouts. Develop nice looking forearms by adding strength to your grip.
  • Aids in your bodyweight exercises. Grip is really important for bar calisthenics. Pull-ups, muscle-ups, front lever raises, and other bodyweight pull exercises should only get tough when your muscles start to fatigue, not due to your hands failing to grip the bar.
  • Surprisingly, strong grip helps with quality of life. According to studies, “hand grip strength was highly predictive of functional limitations and disability 25 years later.” This means grip strength staves off certain degenerative disabilities later in life. Preserve your body and develop solid hand strength.

Read Also: Alternate Exercises if you feel wrist pain from push ups

These are just a handful of ways hand grip strengtheners can help your lifting experience, as well as your life as a whole.

Considering the investment is a small one, both in price and time, it’s definitely worth it to use a hand grip strengthener.

How to Use a Hand Grip Strengthener

The great thing about hand grip strengtheners is they’re so simple to work. In a couple steps, you’ll begin to feel the device work its magic on your forearms.

Like every other body part, your forearms will be sore after the workout and require recovery time.

Here is how to use a hand grip strengthener:

  1. Select your weapon – Choose a hand grip strengthener.
  2. Hold the strengthener – One end should be wrapped by your fingers, the other should be cradled by the crook of your inner palm and thumb.
  3. Breathe in, breathe out – While the device is fully extended, breathe in; when you breathe out, flex your hand into making a fist. You should feel the resistance of the strengthener.
  4. Go slow – Don’t grip fast and don’t let the strengthener snap back into place when you return to the starting position. Slow and steady throughout each repetition is best.

Read Also: How to prevent wrist pain from weight lifting

It’s also prudent to keep your body as still as possible during this exercise.

You don’t want your arm twisting during hand grips the same way you don’t want your shoulders moving on bicep curls. Use the body part the piece of equipment was made to work.

Hand Grip Strengthener Results

After using hand grip strengtheners for a decent length of time – a month or longer – you should see results.

What kind of results am I talking about?

Well, based off of the benefits above, your major lifts should experience a boost.

This could be longer sets with more reps because your grip won’t fail, or you’ll be breaking through plateaus and adding weight to the bar.

You will also see good growth in your forearms.

They’re never thought of as muscles you want to develop, but when your forearms become vascular and proportional to your upper arms, it enhances your overall physique.

For visual results, check out the tail end of this video from somebody who did hand grip strengthener workouts for 30 straight days.

The size doesn’t improve by much, but it’s discernible. Not only that, his vascularity (and his lighting) skyrockets and you can tell his strength can be applied to other areas of his body.

Hand Grip Strengthener Workout

Truth be told, a lot of hand grip exercises are secondary benefits of classic compound movements.

Anytime you hang from a bar, you’re working your grip. Same goes for anything involving a bar and heavy weight attached.

For a workout that hits both your hand grip and another specific body part is ideal; you don’t want to waste a day on solely hand grip.

Your goal should be to work on hand grip strength in accordance with a bigger body part.

Based off the exercises available for grip strength, it makes the most sense to structure a workout for both hand grip and your back and biceps.

Back muscles and biceps work on pulling, which involves a huge amount of hand grip use.

Read Also: The 5 Best Calisthenics Gloves that will help your grip

Here is the ultimate hand grip strength workout:

  • Superset: Pull-ups + Two Hand Hang → 4 sets to failure of each
  • Inverted Row: → 4 sets of 10-15 reps
  • Hammer Curls: → 4 sets of 10-15 reps
  • Superset: Wrist Curl + Wrist Extension → 3 sets of 10-15 reps each
  • Hex Dumbbell Holds: → 3 sets of 30-90 seconds
  • Hand Grip Flexes: → 3 sets of 10-15 reps

The first two exercises focus on your back, while the third involves your biceps. However, on the first superset, the secondary exercise is focused purely on hand grip strength – you hold it for as long as you can each set.

The last two exercises – including the last superset – are primarily for your forearms and wrists.

The curls and extensions will give you tremendous flexibility in your wrists while empowering your hand grip strength.

The final exercises fatigue your grip fully; if you’re able to pull open the door to the gym easily after this, you didn’t hold those dumbbells long enough or you didn’t flex for enough reps.

Read Also: Best Battle Ropes For your home gym to work your entire arms and upper body

Of course, find weights and variations that coincide with your abilities – they should be doable, yet challenging.

Top Hand Grip Strengtheners Reviewed

Vopex Hand Strengthener Kit

First up on our list is the hand grip exerciser kit from Vopex.

This product has everything you could ever want for hand grip. Along with the traditional hand grip strengthener – which comes in a comfy trigger-handle format – you also get an isolated finger exerciser that has four pounds of resistance for each digit, a hand exercise egg ball for recovery and stretching, a finger stretcher to keep your fingers limber, and a hand grip ring.

Basically, if you ever wanted to be the master at gripping anything and everything, this hand strengthener kit has the tools for it.

If you feel your grip strength has severely hindered your workouts and quality of life, this all-encompassing kit from Vopex is your best bet to improving your lagging forearm strength.

Check the price on Amazon.com

Captains of Crush Hand Gripper

If you’re on the lookout for an original, no-nonsense hand grip strengthener, look no further. With IronMind’s “Captains of Crush” hand gripper, you will become…well, a Captain of Crush.

This piece of equipment is sleek, gives you terrific hand grip gains, and is durable, featuring aluminum and alloy steel for consistent results for a long time.

It comes in 11 different strengths, perfect for any level of hand grip; the resistance ranges from 60 pounds (beginner) to a whopping 365 pounds, which would give an Olympic powerlifter fits.

IronMind knows you want a simple piece to improve this aspect of your training. The Captains of Crush hand gripper fulfills your needs without adding unnecessary bells and whistles.

Check the price on Amazon.com

Kootek Hand Grip

Kootek brings the best of both worlds to the table, implementing a simplistic piece of equipment that also keeps reality in mind.

In what is honestly a duplicate of the kit mentioned above, this hand grip strengthener has non-slip rubber handles situated in a trigger mold, which is how your grip is usually used.

This piece will help you with your bigger lifts as well as your daily needs outside of the gym. You can use this for various grips and fingers, plus you can adjust the resistance between 22 and 88 pounds with the simple twist of the dial.

Kootek’s hand grip strengthener provides versatility, comfortability, and added strength to every aspect of your life.

Your goal is to get better at gripping; this grip booster accomplishes that goal.

Check the price on Amazon.com

Gripmaster

Last but not least, we have this awesome tool from the guys at Gripmaster. A multi-use piece of equipment, this hand grip strengthener is made to improve performance in your grip no matter the situation.

The Gripmaster provides an ergonomic base for comfort in your palm, isolated digits so stronger fingers can’t compensate for weaker ones, and spring-loaded finger pressure pre-calibrated for precision.

They come in different finger tensions, ranging from 1.5 pounds per finger to 9 pounds per finger.

You can work out your grip as a whole or on a per-finger basis, creating an all-around grip strength that is unparalleled.

If you want to enhance your ability to handle a golf club, climb mountains, play instruments, or simply jack up your massive lifts, entrust your hand grip strength with the Gripmaster.

Check the price on Amazon.com

Conclusion

Hand grip strength is vital to your lifts and your life.

The benefits prove how important your grip is, which means it should be a factor in your weekly workout schedule.

Results will be quick and powerful, so get some grip-savvy exercises into your routine ASAP. Check out our comprehensive grip workout, add some of your personal flavor to the workout, and get to work.

Once you research and find the ideal hand grip strengthener tool for your goals, use it to beef up your forearms, wrists, hands, and fingers.

Your body and physique are only as impressive as its weakest link. Don’t let that be your hand grip strength. Start making fists and you’ll make furious gains!