Hand grips, otherwise known as grip strengtheners, are tools designed to improve the power in wrists, hands, and fingers. While working out your hands might not seem like a crucial part of good fitness at first – it’s more important than you’d think.
With the right grip strength, you can achieve more in your workouts, improve your form in things like weightlifting, and even reduce your risk of injuries.
Some people swear by regular hand exercises, climbing, and other strategies to help boost grip strength. Others say that the best way to enhance your hands, is to invest in a set of hand-squeezer products.
So, do hand grip strengtheners work?
Do hand grips work? What do hand grips do?
Whether hand grips work for you or not will depend on various factors. Some people may notice better results from their workouts than others. That’s a common component of any workout. There’s no guarantee that the right-hand grips are going to give you phenomenal finger muscles.
However, these tools do have potential.
To understand hand grip benefits, let’s look at what your grip squeezers actually do.
A reliable set of grip strength trainers, like the Basic Concepts strength trainer, helps you to work out the major muscle groups in your fingers, wrists, and hands. By squeezing a device in a certain way, you can leverage the muscles that you usually wouldn’t be accessing in most day-to-day activities.
Many products come with adjustable resistance levels, so as your hand gets stronger, you can increase the power required to squeeze the grip.
Depending on the kind of hand grips you buy, you’ll be using these devices to work on:
- Crush strength: The power you exert when you clench your hand into a fist
- Pinch strength: The strength you can use when squeezing something between your fingers
- Support strength: The ability of your hands and wrists to hold something for an extended time.
Crush and support strength are usually trained using your basic spring-loaded grip strengthening device, like the IronMind Captains of Crush hand exercise tool. Pinch strength is much harder to train with a standard hand squeezer.
You may need to look into a kit with a finger exerciser and finger stretcher instead, like the FitBeast hand grip strengthener kit.
What are the benefits of hand grips?
Some people believe that you don’t necessarily need a set of grip squeezers to improve your grip power. You can also activate the muscles in your hands, wrists, and forearms by just squeezing a stress ball, or clenching your hands into a fist.
The difference is that grip trainers come with an adaptable level of resistance, to force your muscles to work harder.
The benefits of hand grips include the ability to push the various muscles in your hands beyond their standard comfort zone. In some cases, grip trainers can also work your wrist and forearm muscles too.
The KeyConcepts strength trainer set, for instance, comes with everything you need to enhance your wrist, forearm, and finger strength.
Aside from developing your grip strength, the movements you use with your grip trainer also help to develop the dexterity of your fingers, wrists, and forearms, so you can use them more effectively.
The more you work on your grip strength, the more you can develop a powerful handshake, the ability to tackle difficult lifting motions, and more. You’ll never have to worry about being unable to remove the lid of a jar again.
A good set of grips can improve:
- Dexterity: The hand squeezers work to improve the strength of your individual fingers, which also enhances dexterity over time.
- Strength: Using your grips every day will improve your hand strength, finger strength, wrists performance, and forearm strength.
- Endurance: The endurance of your hands is improved with you extensively use your grips, allowing you to do things for longer – like lifting weights.
- Forearm muscle: Hand grips won’t always help you to achieve more size in your forearms, but they will help to improve your muscle strength overall.
Do hand grips work? What to look for
Whether your grip squeezers deliver fantastic results for your or not will depend on various factors, including your muscle structure, your commitment to workouts, and the kind of exercises you do. Another major element is the kind of grip strengthener you buy.
Some products are better than others at creating lasting results.
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Resistance
The resistance in your grip trainer is one of the most important components you can examine. Many devices, like the Heavy Sports grips set, come with the ability to adjust your resistance to suit your strength levels.
The resistance should be enough that it’s difficult to close your hand and the grip squeezer.
Grip
A hand strengthener needs to be easy to grip so that you can complete the motion of squeezing the device properly. Look for something that has a textured handle, so the device is less likely to slip when you start to sweat.
Versatility
Many leading grip strengtheners come in packs so that you can target a range of hand-muscles at the same time. If you want to improve forearm strength and finger dexterity, for instance, you may want to consider a complete kit.
Materials
A product made out of high-quality material, like stainless steel, is much less likely to break under pressure. If you’re too nervous to use your grip strengthener correctly because you’re afraid it will break, it’s not going to improve your hand strength.
Bonus features
Solutions like the SQUEGG smart hand trainer can collect information about your squeezing strength and hand muscles using sensors, then send reports to your phone. This is an excellent way to see whether you’re making genuine progress with your new workout routine.
Quick questions about grip squeezers
So, do hand grippers work? That all depends on you.
Some devices are more effective than others, and some people see better benefits from hand grips than their peers. The outcome of your grip exercises will depend on you. Here are a few quick answers to questions about grip strength.
So, what muscles do hand grips work?
Hand squeezer tools can target a variety of muscles throughout your fingers, hands, and wrists. They often focus specifically on the muscles in your hands, and the flexors responsible for closing your hand to make a fist.
You can also improve the performance of the extensors across the top of the forearm that are responsible for balance and stability.
Do hand grippers build forearms?
As mentioned above, the benefits of hand grips can include improved strength in your wrists and forearms. Although you will need to ensure that you’re investing in the right tools. Not all devices are built to target the forearms.
Look for a product advertised as both a hand grip exercise tool and a forearm strengthener.
Do hand grippers build muscle?
Grip strengtheners won’t build muscle in the same way as lifting weights or working out. They do, however, improve the performance and strength of the muscles in your hands, wrists, and forearms. You won’t necessarily bulk up with these tools, but you may see a significant benefit.
Are grip strengtheners worth it?
That all depends on you. Grip strengtheners can have a positive impact on your ability to handle various exercises in the gym. They’re also a good way to work on the hand muscles you use for everyday life, when you need to open a jar, or climb a ladder.
Using a set of grip squeezers could even mean that you have a better handshake.
Do hand grippers work?
Conclusion
Ultimately, the benefits of hand grips are significant enough among most people, that you should be able to see a difference when you begin using these tools. But, just like any form of exercise, it will take some time and patience before you notice an improvement to your grip strength.
Using a hand squeezer and forearm strengthener could be a great way to address some often overlooked but essential muscles in your life.
Just make sure, if you do want to access all the benefits of hand grips, you focus on finding a high-quality set.
Blitz yourself better!
Before you leave, check out these great hand grip options on Amazon…
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