If you search around the internet, you’ll quickly find a wide variety of grip strength trainers many of which are marketed directly at climbers.  However, while these grip trainers may seem enticing as easy portable ways to increase finger strength, whether or not they are actually able to produce climbing specific strength gains is up for debate.

To help you determine exactly which grip trainers are worth using and which are simply gimmicks, here’s an article from Rock and Ice by coach and trainer Neil Gresham in which he describes exactly how some of the most popular trainers are effective and ineffective.

“Should you deploy a grip trainer? A plethora of rigs exists. Most are monotonous to use and relatively ineffective; however, a few are essential allies. Keep them on the radar.” – Neil Gresham

Grip Trainers Discussed:

As Gresham said above, there are lots of different grip trainers out there.  The question, however, is whether or not they are actually effective at producing strength gains relevant to climbing.  To help you narrow down which trainers are gimmicks and which are worth using, Gresham takes you through several of the most commonly found.  They are:

• Rice Buckets
• The Marcy Wedge
• Gripmaster
• Captains of Crush Grippers
• The PowerFingers

Ultimately, as Gresham concludes, none of these trainers are as effective forms of training as climbing or fingerboarding.  However, he does find that many of these trainers are effective as rehab tools or as antagonist trainers for injury prevention.

Click through below to read about all these grip trainers in greater detail and find out exactly which ones Gresham thinks are worth your time and money.

Full Article: Grip Trainers – Gimmicks or Not?

(photo courtesy of rockandice.com)

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