The case for having your grippers rated.
- Not all grippers are created equal
- Knowing is half the battle
- Variety is the spice of life
- Where to go from here
Rating grippers is like catching fish. Hear me out. Everyone has an uncle who will hold a woefully small trout at arm’s length to exploit perspective in support of his claim of a “whopper.” But there is a truth to how much the fish weighs and it is measurable. Other measurements (length, girth) could have been taken, but weight is simple and easy to understand. Weight is also useful and relatable. The same is true of gripper ratings. Only the weight to close the gripper is measured, but the resulting numbers are useful, sortable and relatable. So, demand that your uncle weighs that so-called whopper!
Not all grippers are created equal
Gripper springs have a tolerance in manufacturing and even slight variations in the wire size can have a marked effect on the gripper difficulty. Furthermore, there is a tolerance for the angle between the spring legs. A slightly narrower gripper will generally have a lower rating. Then, there is human error in assembly. If the handles are mounted at different depths, the difficulty changes quickly. The point is that despite meticulous controls, it is not possible to make the exact same gripper every time. The minor differences described above could stack and become major, or cancel each other out. Having your grippers rated is the answer key to the end result.
Knowing is half the battle
At the time of this article, Cannon PowerWorks has rated more than 7,100 grippers and, of those, 603 were IronMind #3. This is for good reason. The IronMind #3 is a world-renowned grip strength achievement and probably the most popular singular gripper. In our testing, we have found a 26-pound variance between the easiest and hardest examples directly from the factory. Knowing where your grippers fall is critical to cobbling together a useful training set.
Variety is the spice of life
A good training set will have about 5-pound jumps between grippers. For example, if your goal gripper is 150 pounds, then it would be useful to have grippers at 135/140/145/150/155. You need manageable increments to stay motivated and make progress. This is the primary reason to get rated grippers. The wonderful variety offered by each brand makes this task fairly easy. Ratings allow you to strategically fill gaps in your collection.
Where to go from here
The first step is to get your current grippers rated through our Rate and Return service. It’s cost-effective and quick. Once you know what you’ve got, browse our Pre-Rated Grippers to fill in gaps. Depending on the size of the gap, we can likely make a recommendation of what could meet your need based on how our current inventory is trending. Hit us up with any questions at info@cannonpowerworks.com!