After reading about the impact of grip strength on shooting performance, I purchased a relatively inexpensive variable grip trainer. I’ve been steadily progressing from a pretty weak base. But recently I decided to step it up to the gold standard in grippers, the Captains of Crush (CoC), after watching a video by Robert Vogel. I’ve relegated my old variable device to act as my warm up gripper and plan to progress as far as i can with the CoCs.
The Captains of Crush grips are made of aircraft grade aluminum with proprietary springs and are made in the USA with a 1 year warranty. They come in the following weights:
I was training at 80lbs with my old variable grip trainer, but the equivalent CoC gripper (Sport) was much harder to close. I’m assuming that my old gripper was not as accurate. The CoC grips also have a decent knurling on them. I thought my skin would get eaten up when I first used them, but after a few training sessions they felt fine. I’ve since moved up to the Trainer for my working sets. If you’ve been working out for a decent amount of time, I would suggest starting out with the Trainer grips.
Anyone looking to improve their shooting should consider the CoC grips to work on their grip strength. Keep in mind that these are not to be used like the old school grippers that you could squeeze for as many reps as possible at any time of the day. These should be used in a structured progression program in order to increase strength. For example, perform 3 sets of 5-10 reps, and resting a day or two in between sessions. Then increase the reps or progress to the next level once your working gripper gets too easy to use. More info from the manufacturer can be found here.