Grip is four separate qualities, and a hand gripper trains one of them. Crush is the gripper. Pinch is thumb against fingers, on a block or a plate. Support is holding a thick or slippery handle without opening, which is what actually carries a suitcase or a barbell. Extension is the opposite movement, and nobody trains it until their elbow hurts. Buy four grippers and you get better at grippers. Buy one gripper, one pinch block and a set of extensor bands and you get a stronger hand.
This is the full field as of August 2026, mainstream first, then the small European workshops that never appear on Amazon.
The rating problem, first
Gripper poundage numbers are not comparable across brands, and they are not even reliable within a brand. There is no standard for how you measure the force needed to close a torsion spring, so every maker uses their own rig.
Two examples of the same gripper measured differently. IronMind rates the Captains of Crush No. 3 at 280 lb. Gods of Grip, measuring on their own Rating Machine 2.0, records an average of 144 lb for the same model. Neither is lying. They are measuring different things.
Unit-to-unit variance inside one model is the bigger practical problem. Gods of Grip publish their spread, and it widens as the springs get heavier:
| Gripper | Average measured | Range | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoC No. 1 | 75 lb | 70 to 83 | 13 lb |
| CoC No. 2 | 108 lb | 101 to 116 | 15 lb |
| CoC No. 3 | 144 lb | 138 to 154 | 16 lb |
| CoC No. 4 | 208 lb | 199 to 222 | 23 lb |
| GoG Elite 5 | 119 lb | 111 to 125 | 14 lb |
| GoG Elite 7 | 171 lb | 162 to 179 | 17 lb |
So two grippers with the same number stamped on them can differ by more than a full level. If you care about the number, buy pre-rated. Cannon PowerWorks in the US have rated over 22,500 grippers since 2012 by hanging weight over the handles until they touch, at $5 per gripper, and they tag each one. Gods of Grip sell pre-rated Elite grippers at £25.95 instead of £19.95. That £6 buys you a training log that means something.
For reference, Cannon PowerWorks put a normal athletic adult at closing 60 to 80 lb on their scale, and a beginner at 35 to 55 lb.
Crush: torsion-spring grippers
IronMind Captains of Crush (USA)
The benchmark, and the one everything else gets compared to. Eleven levels: Guide 60, Sport 80, Trainer 100, Point Five 120, No. 1 140, No. 1.5 167.5, No. 2 195, No. 2.5 237.5, No. 3 280, No. 3.5 322.5, No. 4 365 lb. Knurled aluminium handles, replaceable nothing, they simply last. Closing a No. 3 under certified conditions still gets your name on IronMind's list, which is why the brand keeps its status.
Around $34.95 direct, or €39.90 from Hantel-Hartmann in Germany, which saves you the customs paperwork.
Gods of Grip Elite Series v2 (UK)
The strongest European option for a serious crush programme. Aircraft-grade aluminium handles at 20 mm, thicker than a CoC on purpose so the forearm works harder, hand-wound springs, medium-to-harsh knurl. Eight levels at £19.95, or £25.95 pre-rated with an anodised tag. Made in their own UK workshop, and used at UK grip events, so the equipment gets tested by the people who sell it.
Their Essential Series at £13.95 is the softer, narrower entry point, and their £6.95 padded adjustable (5 to 60 kg) is the sensible thing to hand a beginner instead of a plastic Amazon gripper.
Robert Baraban (Austria)
The European artisan option, and the one most people outside grip circles have never heard of. Robert Baraban has been machining grippers by hand in Traun, near Linz, since 2003. You choose handle material (coloured aluminium or chrome), spring, and he will engrave your name on them. His adjustable model, two springs across a wide range, is the one that shows up in international grip collections.
Roughly $40 for a gripper, shipped in 3 to 4 days inside Europe. He also makes horseshoe benders, chest expanders and armwrestling rolling handles, which tells you what kind of workshop it is.
Golden Grip (Netherlands)
Six levels, 23 kg to 135 kg, all at €19.97, which makes the whole ladder cheap to buy at once. Dutch company, so no customs, no Brexit paperwork, free shipping over €150. Their real depth is in armwrestling equipment: pronators, wrist wrenches, tables, pulleys. If your interest in grip runs towards the wrist and the forearm rather than pure crush, this is the catalogue to read.
Atomgripz (UK)
The jewellery end of the market. Stainless steel 303z at £99, plus brass, mirror-polished steel and a 24 kt gold-plate option. You specify handle spread, mount height and spring finish, and the handles weigh over a pound each. Free international shipping. Usually sold out, which is part of the appeal for the people who buy them.
Their Thumb Piston Pro at £99 is a genuinely unusual tool: a loadable thumb-only trainer, which is the weak link for most people doing pinch work.
Grip Genie (USA)
Six levels from 100 lb to 350 lb, $130 for the full set. Anodised aluminium handles with a smaller diameter than a CoC, which makes a given rating feel easier for small hands and is a legitimate way to fill the gaps between CoC levels. Fine but biting knurl. Ships from the US, so budget for duty.
Cannon PowerWorks Standard (USA)
Their own Midwest-made line with oil-tempered springs and named levels (Tin, Iron, Tungsten) that deliberately fill the gaps in the CoC ladder. Worth knowing mostly because Cannon PowerWorks is the hub of the whole hobby: they stock Baraban, Grip Genie, IronMind and the remaining discontinued stock, and they rate anything you send them.
The ghosts: GHP, Tetting and Beef Builder
Two names come up constantly in old forum threads and are worth knowing so you do not waste time hunting for them.
GHP (Gillingham High Performance, USA) was widely considered the most consistent gripper ever made, with the smallest jumps between levels and brutal knurling. Production stopped around early 2024 because the cost of holding that standard stopped adding up. Remaining stock trickles through Cannon PowerWorks at collector prices.
Warren Tetting made torsion-spring grippers longer than anyone, from the 1960s, and Beef Builder was his line, not a Polish brand as the name suggests to European ears. Handmade, aggressive, and now essentially a secondary-market item. Older examples vary a lot unit to unit.
Adjustable grippers
One tool covering the whole range, which sounds efficient and is mostly a beginner's tool. The mechanism changes the leverage rather than the spring, so the resistance curve does not feel like a fixed gripper, and the numbers do not transfer.
- Gods of Grip Adjustable, £6.95, 5 to 60 kg, padded handles. Rehab and warm-ups.
- Robert Baraban Adjustable Chrome, around $40, two springs, a proper machined tool rather than a gym toy.
- Vulcan by David Horne, laser-cut steel, eleven notches per side, powder coated. A nutcracker design rather than a torsion spring, and it genuinely does take you from rehab to a heavy close in one unit. Now made and sold by Gods of Grip.
The D'Addario Varigrip belongs in a different category despite the name. Four independent spring-loaded pistons with adjustable tension, made for guitarists. It trains finger flexion and independence, not crush. Useful, but it will not move a torsion gripper.
Pinch, support and lifting
This is where grip strength actually gets built, and where the specialist European shops earn their money. Everything here hangs off a loading pin so you add plates and progress properly.
Gods of Grip tools (UK)
The most complete European range, all made in-house.
- Pinch Block, £29.95. Thumb against four fingers, loaded. The single highest-value tool after a gripper.
- Hub Pinch, £24.95, in 12, 25 and 40 mm heights. Lifting a plate by its centre hub, which is savage and needs no extra hardware.
- Godlike Rolling Handle, from £64.95. A handle that rotates under load, so the hand has to actively resist. The hardest support work there is.
- Standard Vertical Bar 50 mm, £26.95, plus Mega and Ultra versions. Lifting a fat vertical bar with one hand.
- Cannonball Blobs and Grenade Grip Balls, from £19.95. Open-hand and ball grip.
- Heavy Duty Wrist Roller, £34.95, and a Forearm Hammer Lever for levering work.
David Horne GripTopz (UK)
David Horne is the reference point for grip records in Britain, and Gods of Grip now manufacture and sell his range. GripTopz are interchangeable tops that bolt onto an Olympic loading pin: Half Penny, Fence Post, Shallow Hub, MoonTop, GlobTop, Gold Bar Pinch. £26.95 to £45.95 each. Left unpainted deliberately, so the surface stays consistent for record attempts. One pin, a dozen different lifts.
Affenhand Griffkraft Training Tools (Germany)
The German answer, and cheap. Steel ball grip, pinch blocks in 7x3, 7x5 and 7x7 cm, and a bar grip, from €21.60, made in the EU, with an optional loop and carabiner so you can hang them off a pull-up bar or a kettlebell instead of buying a loading pin. Affenhand also stock Fat Gripz and Captains of Crush, so it is a workable single German order.
Fat Gripz (USA)
The one piece of grip equipment that pays for itself immediately, because it turns work you already do into grip work. Three diameters: One at 1.75 inch ($27.99), Pro at 2.25 inch ($29.99), Extreme at 2.75 inch ($35.99). Widely stocked on Amazon in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden, so no import hassle.
The Russian dead end
Silarukov is the standard equipment for competitive armlifting, and their rolling handles and pinch blocks are excellent and cheap (€23 to €45). They stopped shipping outside Russia in January 2024. Their catalogue is still worth reading for design ideas, but you cannot buy it from Europe.
Wrist and forearm
- Wrist roller, the oldest and still the best forearm finisher. Gods of Grip £34.95, Golden Grip €29.97 to €59.97.
- Golden Grip Angular Wrist Wrench, a levered wrist tool from the armwrestling side that trains positions a roller cannot reach. They also sell barbell pronators around €89 to €99.
- Gods of Grip Forearm Hammer Lever, a loadable sleeve on a long handle for levering.
- Grip machine, the rack-mounted crusher for heavy negatives beyond what any gripper offers. A serious purchase for a serious hobby.
NSD Powerball (Ireland)
The gyroscope. Not strength training in any meaningful sense, but genuinely good for wrist endurance, tendon health and tennis elbow, and it is the one grip toy people actually keep using because the counter makes it a game. Irish company, models from cord-start classics to electric-start metal versions, roughly €30 to €160 depending on how much you want to spend on a spinning ball.
Fingers, and the climbing crossover
Climbers have quietly built the best finger-training equipment in the world, and most of it is European.
Tindeq Progressor (Norway)
A Bluetooth force gauge that turns any pull into a live force curve on your phone. Progressor 200 around €200, Progressor 500 for heavier work. Built in Leknes, shipped worldwide by DHL in 2 to 4 days. This is the single most useful thing on this page if you want data rather than feelings, and it works for far more than fingers: hook it to a pinch block, a rolling handle or a gripper rig and you have a proper dynamometer.
Lattice Training (UK)
Quad Block €79.85, four pinch widths in one machined aluminium block. Heavy Roller €58.07. Pin Grip €7.26, MXEdge Lift €66.58, Lifting Pin €43.55. They also resell the Tindeq at €199.62, and they ship inside the EU with duties handled, which matters post-Brexit.
TiROCK Ti-Hand (Austria)
A Tyrolean spring finger trainer, €26.90, with an exchangeable spring system so you change resistance instead of buying another unit, plus silencers for quiet training and a SlimFit version for smaller hands. Developed and produced in Austria and Germany, and it won a European Product Design Award in 2023. The best-made version of the Gripmaster idea, and it comes from an hour's drive over the Alps rather than from a container ship.
Tension The Block (USA)
The wooden no-hang and pinch block that climbers use for loaded finger work. Available through European climbing shops such as Oliunìd in Italy, which is easier than importing.
Extensors, the part everyone skips
Every tool above closes the hand. Nothing opens it. Ignore extension long enough and you get medial or lateral elbow pain, and then you stop training entirely.
- Gods of Grip Extensor Bands, from £2.95, silicone with reinforced finger holds. The cheapest useful thing in this whole note.
- IronMind Expand-Your-Hand Bands, €34.90 at Hantel-Hartmann, a set of ten rubber bands across five resistances. The original.
- Theraband FlexBar, four resistance levels, and the only tool here with a published clinical protocol behind it for tennis elbow.
- Prohands / Gripmaster, $16.95 to $28.95, four independent finger pistons. Sold as a finger strengthener, best treated as a warm-up and coordination tool. Same idea as the Varigrip and the Ti-Hand.
Measuring it
Grip strength is one of the better cheap proxies for general health and mortality risk, so having a number is worth the €35.
- Camry EH101, the cheap digital standard, 0 to 90 kg. A 2024 validation study in Nutrients compared it directly against the clinical Jamar Plus and found high accuracy and reliability, which is unusually good news for a €30 device. Gods of Grip sell a 0 to 180 kg version at £32.95.
- Jamar hydraulic, the clinical reference, and priced like it.
- Kern MAP 80K1 (Germany), medical-grade with interchangeable springs so one unit covers children through athletes.
- Tindeq Progressor if you want the curve rather than the peak.
Test the same way every time: seated, elbow at 90 degrees, arm unsupported, best of three, same hand order. Otherwise you are measuring your posture.
Where to buy in Europe
| Shop | Country | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Gods of Grip | UK | Grippers and the widest range of pinch, hub and rolling tools |
| Robert Baraban | Austria | Handmade custom grippers, engraved |
| Golden Grip | Netherlands | Cheap gripper ladder, wrist and armwrestling gear |
| Affenhand | Germany | Steel pinch and ball tools, Fat Gripz, CoC |
| Hantel-Hartmann | Germany | IronMind stock in EUR, DE shipping from €7.69 |
| TiROCK Sports | Austria | Ti-Hand finger trainer |
| Tindeq | Norway | Force measurement |
| Lattice Training | UK | Climbing-side pinch blocks and rollers, EU duties handled |
| Oliunìd | Italy | Climbing finger tools including Tension and Metolius |
| Rogue Europe | UK / EU | IronMind range alongside general strength kit |
| Cannon PowerWorks | USA | Rare brands, discontinued stock, the rating service |
One warning on UK orders into Germany. Gods of Grip and Atomgripz both price in EUR and ship internationally, but a UK parcel can still attract import VAT and a carrier handling fee, typically €6 to €20. Lattice explicitly advertise no hidden charges on EU shipping. For a £20 gripper the fees matter; for a £100 order they mostly disappear into the total.
What I would actually buy
I already own a Captains of Crush Guide (60 lb nominal) and a D'Addario Varigrip. That covers light crush and finger flexion, and nothing else. The gaps are pinch, support and extension, and those are where the strength is.
The order I would buy in:
- Extensor bands, £2.95 at Gods of Grip. Cheapest insurance against elbow trouble, and it should already be in the drawer.
- A pinch block, £29.95, plus a loading pin. This is the biggest single jump in actual hand strength available for the money.
- A rated gripper one step up, Gods of Grip Elite 3 or 4 pre-rated at £25.95, rather than another CoC. Buying pre-rated once means every future purchase has a reference point.
- Fat Gripz Pro, €30 on Amazon DE. Free grip work bolted onto training that already happens.
- A dynamometer, £32.95, when the training is regular enough that the number moves.
That is roughly €130 for a complete setup, and every item trains something the others do not. The Baraban and the Atomgripz are lovely objects, and neither will make a hand stronger than the £30 pinch block will.
Further reading
- Gods of Grip hand gripper ratings data, real measured spreads per model
- Cannon PowerWorks rating data, 22,500 grippers measured by hang weight since 2012
- The GripBoard, the forum where most of this knowledge lives
- Camry EH101 versus Jamar Plus validation study, Nutrients, 2024
