Gripper Rankings
The Gripper Superstore has taken great care to accurately classify the difficulty of the grippers we sell into 10 distinct levels. The graph at the left shows these ten levels. Each gripper we sell will show this graph when viewing the gripper details, with the level the gripper is in highlighted. This takes the guesswork out of what gripper you should buy for yourself or as a gift to a friend or family member.

Manufacturers rate the pressure needed to close their grippers and since there are no good 3rd party methods for measuring gripper closing pressures, we have chosen to trust the manufacturers, and use a bit of our professional judgement when needed to classify the grippers we sell. The approximate poundages needed to close the grippers in each of the 10 levels can be seen in the table to the right.


Not interested in numbers?  Here's what you really need to know:
  • Youth and women generally want to start out in the Youth or Beginner I categories
  • Most active men can start in the Beginner II to Novice categories
  • Men who spend a significant amount of time heavy weight training can probably start in the Novice category
  • The Intermediate category is where the line is drawn for closing a gripper with no specific gripper training, except for high caliber strength training athletes such as weightlifters, powerlifters, strongmen, etc.. You can take this as a road block or a challenge, the choice is yours!

Now a word about gripper ratings for the hardcore grip trainers out there.  Rating grippers to a specific poundage is an extremely challenging feat of analytical engineering. There are numerous forces at play when closing a gripper that are not accounted for by simply strapping on some weight and seeing how much it takes to touch. While there is value in knowing the ultimate poundage needed to put the handles together, the number is really only good as a comparison to other grippers when the exact same methodology is used, and even then only compares the final close of the gripper and not the difficulty of moving the gripper through the full range of motion to the close. The diameter of the wire, diameter of the coil, handle spread, depth of handle mounting, knurling, etc., all play a significant role in the dynamic characteristics of how a gripper feels as you close it.

While not perfect, we have found that the manufacturer's rating is a good general guideline and when combined with our experience and professional judgement, we feel our rankings are very accurate. Note: most manufacturers report the poundage required to close the gripper from the center of the handle. This gives a much bigger number than would be obtained if the closing pressure was measured at the end of the handle.