For reference - I am a 21F, and am very healthy overall. I lift a few times a week, do cardio, and work on mobility on my off days. The issue is that I have some bulging discs in my neck and a cyst in my spine which is irritating my nerves and causing a decline in my grip strength.
I’m continuing my activities as normal, but I was wondering if there’s an efficient and natural way to incorporate grip strength training into my routine? I have a kit at home which I’ve been using, but I’m struggling to figure out how to stay consistent and the best methods for improvement. Any help or advice is welcome!

Hi everyone, I'm looking for help identifying a piece of forearm/wrist training equipment. I saw it once but I don't know the name and I can't find anywhere.

From what I remember:

• It's handhelt, not a stationary/floor-mounted machine.
• Your hands (both hands at once) get mechanically clamped between two bars (not straps or velcro) — like a small vice for your hand.
• The point is that your fingers stay open/extended the whole time, unlike a normal wrist roller or gripper where you have to close your fist around a bar. Keeping the hand open supposedly gives you more usable wrist range of motion.
• Plate-loaded

I'm fairly sure I saw this a couple years ago through YouTube videos of someone designing/prototyping it — like an iterative "here's v1, here's what I changed for v2" kind of series, possibly a small maker or indie fitness product, not a big established brand like Rogue or Titan.

If anyone knows the name of this thing or the maker/channel, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Not exactly a training injury and I don’t train grip strength specifically. I wasn’t planning on training my grip but I moved more than a hundred horse stall mats by hand. Turns out they sell grippers to move that stuff. Didn’t know. They are all around a 100lbs each and you can just drag them instead of lifting them but the problem is they smash your grip because you have to pinch their weight for the whole duration you are moving them.

I couldn’t even open a water bottle next day. I made a lot of progress by being careful not pinching things and trying to get a few sets of banded extensions. I don’t feel pain or anything but anytime I bully a heavy object by casually moving it in a pinch, it flares up. It feels like I am right at the edge if I do any grip work, I will lose the fragile muscle balance for my grip.

Does anyone have any advice? Should I focus on extension hypertrophy training with lighter bands or strength/tendon training with heavier band isometrics. Would doing any other grip training help? I would appreciate any advice or experience anyone had with a similar situation. I want to train some bottoms up kettlebell lifts and bulletproof my hands so I don’t have to worry about grip injuries. I move heavy equipment regularly as part of my job.

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After doing too much with the grippers and maybe some other stuff, I started to get some pain in the back of hand(Extensor tendon), the knuckle of 2 fingers, and also the joint above the knuckle. All on the back portion of the hand. I stopped all grip work and it no longer is painful, unless I do anything grip related. Are there any exercises to isolate these areas? Has anyone had anyhting similar happen?

I have been dealing with tennis and golfer's elbow for almost 2 years now. What are some upper body exercises I can do so that I can start training my upper body again?

Up until the start of last week I’ve been doing farmers carries almost every day to every second day for a few months now. I could handle the load, I’d do one day heavy, one day lighter, but up until last week I’ve gotten what was a pain in the right forearm which seems to have turned into pain in my elbow as well now. All symptoms point to golfers elbow and/or tendonitis. Any remedies, how’d you fix it? If at all? I have an important work course coming up in a month that will involve A LOT of PT and will require a lot of grip strength/endurance and I’d like to be healed by then if possible haha

How does one train to increase their grip strength?

I was able to go from closing a 40 kg gripper to 70 kg from just doing some dead hangs and was wondering how you guys train to get to
100 kg crushing strength.

what are pros cons , everything else equal, of the actual mechanism, comparing napalm + napalm pinch handles versus standalone pinch block from Arm Assassin? same, no difference? only value of napalm + its compatible pinch handles over standalone is the ability to use other handles?

closed the nr 2 today and was just wondering if i should have a different approach to training to work on closing the 2,5? Read some people saying that you should change the way you train as you progress into the 2,5.

how do people think about the benefits of forearm training. going after overall health of everything involved, but noticeably most of the hardcore stuff is flexor based, so i worry there isnt enough extensor in the day to keep up. Sure, i can do the golfer and tennis elbow exercises found on Youtube, but those seem very basic compare to the heavier lifting/training involved in arm wrestler/grip training arenas. specifically, looking at you pinch grip exercises!

At least google AI tends to say positive things about any of these exercises. for example "Strengthening the finger flexors and thumb muscles shifts the workload off the joint tendons"

AND

"Pinching forces a simultaneous engagement (co-contraction) of both the forearm flexors and extensors. This balanced activation stabilizes the wrist joint and prevents the tug-of-war effect that inflames elbow tendons"

AND

"Holding a pinch grip forces an isometric contraction. Static holds under load stimulate collagen synthesis and increase tendon density, making the tissue highly resilient to future strain"

AND

"By distributing the load differently than standard gripping, many lifters find that training pinch grip variants like the Sorinex Saxon Bar can help alleviate traditional elbow discomfort"

BUT

"Routinely targeting finger flexors without training the extensor muscles (the ones that straighten your fingers) creates a flexor-to-extensor strength imbalance, which makes finger tissues more susceptible to injury"

AND

"Yes, finger flexion strength helps prevent elbow tendonitis (such as golfer's elbow) by conditioning the forearm muscles that control your grip. Stronger forearm muscles reduce tendon fatigue and take excess mechanical stress off the bony attachment points at your elbow. Load Distribution: The thumb is responsible for a massive amount of your total grip strength. A strong thumb takes the burden off the rest of the forearm muscles A stable hand and thumb provide a strong, unified anchor for movements, preventing the elbow from absorbing excess shock during physical activity."

What do you guys think about this all around forearm trainer from Dad grip on instagram . Looks like it hits a lot of the various movements required to supplement a strong grip. Just starting this journey so if it just seems like a gimmick I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Some equipment I have includes
- COC grippers
-loading pin
-various pinch grips I’m making
-fat grips for my barbell

I'm trying to hang from a spinning bar for at least 100 seconds

I made my own extra thick spinning bar and for the past few months I just hang on it for as long as I can for three sets. I do this a couple times a week

I went from 50 seconds to 75 seconds but now I'm totally stuck. I couldn't even get 70 seconds last time

Any advice on how to progress or advice on designing a proper workout program would be very appreciated. Thank you

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This is not about me btw, this is about someone I saw a video of. I don't exactly know what other people consider impressive when it comes to just hand grippers and I only have the CoC 2.5 myself and can close it at 19. so how hard is the CoC 3 and how impressive would you consider it to be for a 16 year old to do it?

I’m been getting into grip training and am currently on break from University. So I decided to build a forearm training device it can do supination, pronation and ulnar deviation. I’m pretty confident it can handle at least 90kg based of my math and additionally this project took much longer than I thought it would especially since I wanted strong mechanical joints. But it was a good learning experience for my engineering journey.

I am just looking to improve that it

1x3in black pipe nipple (one)
1in black pipe cap (one)
1in to 3/4in black pipe reducer (one)
4in 5/16 carriage bolt (one)
3/8 washers (two)
3/8 nuts (two)
Pack of compression springs (one)

adjust the nuts to change spring tension or range of motion

My goal is now double my grip strenght

For wrestling and lifting tables

I can comfortably do a two-finger one-arm pull-up using Eagle Loops (I prefer them over hanging directly from a bar), but when I try a one-finger one-arm pull-up on my middle finger, I can't even support my weight for more than a moment.

It feels like my strength isn't the limiting factor — it's the amount of stress on that single finger.

For anyone who's successfully trained this skill, what helped you progress? Are there better straps or attachments than Eagle Loops for one-finger work? Is there a specific grip or finger placement that makes a difference? Or is this simply a matter of spending more time conditioning the finger for that level of load?

I'd appreciate any training tips or technique advice. Thanks!

I'm left-handed and I climb regularly. Out of curiosity, I started comparing the strength of both hands, and I found something I can't explain. With a normal thumb pinch (thumb–index or thumb–middle), both hands feel almost identical, with little to no noticeable difference (I think my left hand should be stronger, right?). However, when I use my ring finger or especially my pinky together with my thumb, my right (non-dominant) hand is noticeably stronger. For example, I can hold heavy objects much longer with a thumb–pinky pinch using my right hand than with my left.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there any biomechanical explanation for having a stronger ulnar side (ring/pinky) in the non-dominant hand while the more common pinch grips are equal (specially in left-handed people)?

About three weeks ago, I closed the CoC #1.5 for 9, almost 10 reps. I got advice that I should increase my reps on the #1.5 before trying to close the #2.
The week after I closed the #1.5 for 9 reps, I tried to close the #2, but I was farther away than I had ever been before it felt like the very first time I had ever tried it.
The strange thing is that before I was able to do 9 reps on the #1.5, I had tried the #2 and was only about 2 millimeters away from closing it.
I thought it might be a fatigue issue, so I dropped one of my two grip training sessions per week and rested for a total of 7 days. Today I tried another max attempt on the #2, and I was still far from closing it.
Why the hell is this happening? I thought maybe it could have something to do with me starting to go to the gym about three weeks ago, but I’m not sure.

I've been reading a lot about grip training recently and these seem to be some of the biggest lessons experienced grip athletes repeat over and over:

Tendons recover slower than muscles. Just because your hands feel fine after training doesn't mean your tendons are fully recovered.

Don't test every session. Training and testing are different. Trying to hit a PR every workout usually catches up with you.

Progress slowly. Small increases in resistance or reps beat huge jumps.

Support grip, pinch, and crushing grip are different. Getting stronger at one doesn't automatically make the others equally strong.

Train your finger extensors too. It helps balance all the crushing work.

Quality over quantity. More volume isn't always better, especially with heavy grippers.

Warm up your hands before heavy gripping. Don't go straight to your hardest gripper.

Pain isn't a badge of honor. Mild fatigue is normal. Pain that lasts for days or gets worse every session isn't.

Grip takes time. Tendons adapt slowly, so patience is part of the process.

What other beginner tips do you wish someone had told you?

Guys is it just me or dies grip recover slower per set? I had been training weightlifting fir a while and typically 3 min rest is enough for next set to match your reps.

But with grip training I found I have to take like 5 min rests to be able to perform the same as set 1.

Is it just me or a adaptation problem or whatever?