UKC

Has anyone had good results with using a gripmaster? What colour would suit an averagely strong grip? Cheers.

In reply to rob wmc: buy a tennis ball theyre cheaper and IMO do the same job

In reply to rob wmc: apparently they're rubbish, i got one of those boreal foam things for like £1.50 and thats ok, better than spending like 15 quid!

In reply to rob wmc: i bought one when i first started climbing, but was told they dont actually help realy, because it doesnt replicate climbing well or something... worth a try though if you cant use anything else

In reply to rob wmc: I think I'm weak even though my strength to weight ratio is high. I got the hardest one and it's pretty easy. Go for that me thinks...

i've got a red one and it sucks

In reply to rob wmc:
Got one and find it serves it's purpose. Was finding I injured the joints in my middle finger when doing lots of crimping. Foam balls have their uses, but don't allow you to isolate each finger to strengthen. No finger pain since I've been using mine. As for which one, it is the same as any resistance training. Want to increase max strength go for heavy duty, want to maintain endurance go for red with more reps.

Beware of quality though. One of the buttons fell off mine after a week. I live a long way from where I bought it and to get it replaced from manufacturer directly would cost me postage to the US. Decided on diy repair.

In reply to rob wmc: i have the red one, and found it improved finger strength, i drive many motorway miles and use it to eleave boredom.
100 on left hand 100 on right, then 90, 80,70,60,50 (you get the drift)
i dont thionk its a magical cure though.

k

In reply to rob wmc: They are ok.

I found I could improve my finger strength a bit, but it didn't make much difference as grip isn't the limiting factor in my climbing.

In reply to rob wmc: Thanks everyone, think I'll try one out before deciding whether to invest.

In reply to rob wmc: ive got one of those the hardest one and its actually not that hard now(if you do get one stick some grip tape or sandpaper where you place your fingers as its only plastic and isnt very grippy specially with sweaty hands! i think theyl work to a point as they did with me but now i dont think there strong enough. if youve got strong fingers already i wouldnt bother.

In reply to rob wmc:
Rob, I've got some 'Captains of Crush' grippers (#1 & #2) which are far (far!) harder than gripmasters.

They will train you to crush peoples hands and hang on to ropes and the such, but they won't really improve your climbing as they don't train the grip in the same way as climbing moves.
Grippers tend to train concentric contractions whereas most climbing tends to be isometric on the fingers/forearms (I reckon?).

Like I say, I've got them and they're fun to play with but I don't think that they have improved my climbing whatsoever.

In reply to rob wmc: I have a boreal squishy thingy. Its good for warming up but if you do it to much you get pains in your forearms. So if you use it just enough its good.

In reply to katie75:

That's what I got mine for!
Not so good for concentration, plus you have to make sure people can see what you're doing in a traffic jam otherwise you get some pretty dodgy looks. Probably not as bad as you would power-balling mind...

In reply to rob wmc:
Surely it lacks specificity to climbing i.e. the fingers are not used much concentrically when climbing and the muscle contractions which occur in the fingers when climbing are mainly isometric?

In reply to rob wmc: Shyte