Main muscles worked
forearms, finger muscles
Capsule description
close a moveable bar to a fixed upper bar by using only your fingers
A good grip machine is more comfortable, adjustable (for accommodating individual hand sizes, and changing resistance), and effective at developing crushing strength than are fixed-strength grippers. Grippers that are adjustable are much closer to the versatility of a grip machine. Fixed-resistance grippers can be fun to use, but depending on your hand size and strength they may be uncomfortable and awkward, and perhaps favor one hand more than the other, depending on the design.
While using a proper grip machine is the ideal, it’s not a necessity. A grip machine can be simulated using a power rack. Set the two pairs of pins in the rack so that, with a bar set upon each pair, the space between the two levels of pins is right for squeezing the lower bar from extended fingers until it touches the top pins. If the distance is too great—and the next pin setting makes it too little—then, in the “too great” setting, fix something on the lower pins so that the lower bar starts from the correct position. Moving the lower bar up and down against the rack’s uprights will help you to keep the bar in the right groove. The bar resting on the upper pins should not be so long that it gets in the way of the plates loaded on the lower bar. Get in a power rack and see how you can make this method work.
A better mock-up needs a special bar with hooks, as illustrated. Any metal worker could easily make such a bar.
Regardless of whether you use a grip machine or a mock-up, use it only for your gripping muscles. When the weight is very demanding, the exercise can become more of a shrug from the trapezius than a squeeze from the grip. Keep your hands fixed to the top of the unit during the exercise. If your hands rise off the top bar, you’ve started to assist your grip by shrugging the weight. Avoid this. Doing the exercise while seated helps ensure strict form and keeps the target muscles involved to the full. And be consistent with how you position your feet—braced or unbraced.
The grip machine is typically used with the thumbs around the top, and the other digits doing the movement. The exercise can also be done with the thumbs on the bottom, while seated or kneeling. This is a weaker squeezing position because the thumbs alone have to do the work. Finish off each grip machine session with a set of thumbs-below work, to ensure that all five digits of each hand are worked.
Usual manner of gripping
Thumbs-down work.
Two mock-ups for a grip machine. The bottom one requires a bar with hooks.