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Almost two year ago, I had started training my grip strength using grippers. At first I've used a cheap wooden gripper of unknown strength (though I think it's less than 50 lb).

wooden gripper

I trained on it for few months and became proficient in closing it. Then I bought one of those plastic gripper with rubber. It's an adjustable one with 10 to 40 kg resistance (22 - 88lb)

10 - 40 kg gripper

And finally, I recently bought this professional looking metal gripper of 150 lb resistance. I've been training on this for few months and can do three sets on each hand with 50 reps per set. I'm still unable to close it 100% so I will work on this for a month or two more.

150 lb gripper

So, here's is my question: What should be my next gripper level? 200 lb seems too low and 250 lb one isn't available in my location. Do you think I can train with a 300 lb gripper? Or should I just play it safe and buy a 200 lb one?

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    A 50 lb jump seems like too little? A 33% jump in resistance? I'm pretty sure 50 lbs tends to be the minimum difference in grippers, try to get sufficiently strong with one before moving to the next. Why would you jump 2-3 categories and increase the weight by a ridiculous margin? It's called progressive overload, not instant overload.
    – JustSnilloc
    Commented Mar 14, 2021 at 15:59
  • If you're using some sort of key or guide then 200 lb would probably be fine, you can still track progress incrementally. If not, they maybe a half step would be better?
    – C. Lange
    Commented Mar 14, 2021 at 18:28
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    Why buy a gripper at all when you could be doing pullups on a fat bar to build back strength and grip strength at the same time?
    – SurpriseDog
    Commented Mar 14, 2021 at 21:23
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    @SurpriseDog - Isolation exercises shouldn't be a completely foreign concept.
    – Alec
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 11:12
  • I am curious about your form. I would grip and squeeze the handles, the resistance building up as I clenched my hand, until the grip was 100% squeezed, and hold it for 3+ seconds, then let go and repeat... or you could try sets where you hold it for as long as possible, making it an isometric exercise. I feel like banging out 50 reps per set is great, but it seems more functional for those muscles to grip for longer periods of time rather than clenching 50 times. again Ive never used one just curious
    – user32213
    Commented Mar 29, 2021 at 16:19

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You don't state the make of your 150lb gripper, but that is comparable to a Captains of Crush #1 gripper. At most you should progress to a #2 which is 195lb - I can tell you that the difference is very significant (they also offer a #1.5 which is 167.5lb). 300lbs would be more than the CoC #3, and that is a huge jump!

By the way, the IronMind site that I link to above has a huge amount of useful info on grip training in general.

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  • I had already ordered the 200bs one. Still, thanks for the answer.
    – xax
    Commented Apr 4, 2021 at 10:02

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