Hand Strength and Grip Strength Tutorial

Introduction

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You can learn to do this.

Welcome to GripFAQ.com. This site serves as a resource for individuals looking to increase their grip strength. Whether ripping a phone book, attempting a max deadlift, or just using a computer for 12 hour days, strong hands are important. Here you will find an overview of all aspects of hand strength development, as well as details on performing a number of grip strength feats. This site has no commercial interest. Effort is made to present information in an unbiased, factual manner.

About the Author

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Levering during a grip contest at Larkin's gym.

Gripfaq.com is built, written, and maintained by Scott Styles. It was started in 2005, combining my several year interest in hand strength with my professional need to build web development skills. Content is based upon personal experience training grip and will evolve as my knowledge grows. I have a strong commitment to continuing education and enjoy learning from some of the best grip athletes in the world.

I am certified by the American College of Sports Medicine as a Health Fitness Instructor and was a personal trainer prior to entering the computer industry. If recommendations on the site seem conservative, it is because I have had the benefit of working with a wide range of populations. I understand that goals vary and individual abilities must be accounted for.

I personally do not have exceptional hand strength. My best lifts will be topped by many individuals. However, I do have experience making great strides in developing my grip strength. When I started training the hands, I could barely close the Ironmind Trainer gripper. With 7" hands and 6 and 3/4" wrists, any significant grip accomplishments seemed unreachable. Since then, my personal bests have included:

Closing an easy Ironmind #2 gripper with a parallel set
One hand pinching 2 25lb plates
Two hand pinching 115lbs
Double Overhand Deadlifting 220lbs on 2" barbell
Lifting 183lbs on a 1" Vertical Bar
Reverse style bending a piece of 6"x1/4" round steel
Double underhand style bending a Grade 2 bolt
Ripping an easy deck of playing cards
Ripping a 2.25" thick phone book (popped it, for the purists)
Overhead levering an 8lb sledge hammer
Deadlifting a 32.5lb blob

Not an impressive list, but a dramatic improvement from where I started. I can’t promise to make you a grip master, but I will get you headed down the road towards strong, healthy hands.

Acknowledgements

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Rachel with Big Steve at the first FBBC grip contest.

My wife has been highly supportive of the time and energy invested in my hobby. Whether taking pictures for the website or driving with me to get bending stock, I can always count on her. She has attended multiple grip contests, knows what a blob is, and insists popping a phone book is cheating. Thanks Rachel, I love you.

About the Tech

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Cutting edge technology.

Gripfaq.com is built on the .NET 2.0 framework in meticulously hand crafted C#, using the exceptionally powerful Notepad development studio. Site layout is driven by the use of HTML and CSS. An emphasis has been placed upon creating a clean, useable interface. Compatibility testing is done with the latest versions of IE, Firefox, and Opera.

On the backend, the site itself consists of only a few pages, just two of which are used for display. Data is loaded via a home grown content management tool, allowing for updates and modifications without touching any code. Site content is managed in a SQL Server 2005 database. Backups are created after each significant content or technology update.

All graphics were built using a combination of MS Paint and GIMP. Pictures are taken with a top of the line Kodak DX 3600 digital camera, then resized using ImageMagik’s mogrify tool. Eventually the manual picture resizing will be eliminated using .NET tools to dynamically scale the pictures.