The Ivanko Super Gripper
Our home gym has a small but respectable collection of grip tools. A few Iron Mind Captains of Crush grippers, an Iron Mind Rolling Thunder revolving deadlift handle, pinch-gripping block and 15″ loading pin, and my favorite, the Ivanko Super Gripper. While all of them have their place, if I could only keep one it would be the Ivanko.
The biggest advantage of the Ivanko over spring grippers is the ability to adjust the resistance from about 45 up to 345 pounds in over 50 steps. This exceeds the range of the first nine Captains of Crush grippers, from the 60 pound Sport to the 322 pound number 3.5. Only the Captains of Crush number 4 is harder to close than the Ivanko at it’s hardest setting, requiring a massive 365 pounds of force. This should be of little practical concern to most people, however, since only five people have ever officially closed the number 4
The Ivanko Super Gripper’s longer handle makes it easier to use your free hand to assist with force reps, negatives, max contractions and other techniques, as well as assisting little grip enthusiasts in their workouts. Since my left hand is not as strong as my right because I was stabbed through the forearm years ago (hey Dave, no hard feelings), I always perform several forced reps after failure with the left to match the number of reps performed with the right. This has been much easier with the Ivanko than with other grippers and has helped considerably in bringing up the strength of the left hand.
Although not nearly as compact or portable as other spring grippers, the Ivanko still fits easily in a gym bag, and since it is made of aluminum it won’t rust. At less than $30, it also costs far less than the number of spring grippers you would have to buy for less than 1/5th the resistance levels. For more money some companies sell a variation with a knurled grip attachment with a feel similar to Captains of Crush grippers, but I’ve never had any problem with slipping on the one I have.
If you don’t already incorporate some kind of direct grip work in your training I highly recommend it. Not only will it improve forearm development, it will help you get more out of heavy pulling exercises by allowing you to focus more on the other muscles you’re working and worry less about keeping your grip.
1 Comment to The Ivanko Super Gripper
Hi Drew, I thought you might find this link useful …it contains a list of resistance levels for each spring setting on the Super Gripper. If you already have it then probably your readers will find it useful.
July 10, 2008