(Last Updated on October 24, 2025 by Henry)
- Name: Captains of Crush
- Category: Classical Spring Hand Gripper
- Purpose: Crush Grip
- Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars
- Availability: Amazon (Prime delivery)
- Classical Spring Gripper: 11 Different Resistance Levels
- Knurled Handles: Aggressive Handles for Toughening up the Palms
- Durable: Billet Aluminum & Alloy Steel
Not Sure How to Use This Type of Grip Training Tool?
Here’s My Guide to Hand Grippers.
Overview:
For me, Captains of Crush (CoC) classic hand grippers are the ultimate tool to maximize grip strength quickly. No matter your sport or activity, these grippers always seem to work, and I love how straightforward they are. Just a squeeze and you can feel your grip getting stronger.
This isn’t a toy; it’s a professional training tool that will push your palms and fingers to their limits so they become tougher and more resilient. Using CoC grippers, I focus on two key aspects of grip strength: crush grip, which helps you squeeze objects tightly, and static support grip, which is crucial for holding heavy weights steadily.
Whether I’m weightlifting, climbing, wrestling, or riding motocross, I rely on a strong grip to stay at the top of my game. CoC grippers are the gold standard in grip training for a reason: they’re built with aero-grade billet aluminum and alloy steel, making them incredibly durable and long-lasting.
Since IronMind has been an industry leader since 1988, I trust these grippers to deliver consistent performance every session.
Plus, knowing they come with a one-year warranty gives me peace of mind; if a gripper ever breaks, it’s covered.
What are the Pros & Cons of Captains of Crush?
Robust & Consistent
Pros:
- Superb Gripper: Designed for premium performance, high-intensity & low-volume training to gain maximum grip strength in a very short period of time.
- Premium product: It is a professional grip training equipment targeting high-intensity workouts. There is handcrafting with aircraft-grade aluminum & alloy steel construction.
- Aggressive Knurled Handles: Another key step in increasing your grip strength is building up the skin on your palms. CoC grippers help you get your hands torn to make them stronger.
- Metallic Durable: These grippers are fully made of metal parts in order to provide maximum strength. There is no recyclable plastic that breaks, degrades, or chemically corrodes at all.
- Ideal Resistance Levels for All Athletes: Offers 11 resistance levels, ranging from beginner to pro. There are suitable difficulty levels for both men & women, older & younger generations.
- Certification Option: Besides providing you with a certification, you can close tough Captains of Crush hand grippers (No 3, 3,5 & 4), you will receive a diploma signed by the president of IronMind & all your efforts towards a strength feat will be known.
- Portable: You can easily slip it into your pocket or just throw it into your gym bag as you hit the gym. Easily portable, so you may carry it on the road or keep it in your desk drawer.
- Easy To Maintain: Consists Of GR8 Springs, Which Are Steel. They will rust in a humid environment. To remove them, you will occasionally rub the spring with light oil to prevent it from being stiff and breaking. Knurled handles can be cleaned with stiff nylon-bristle brushes.
- 1-Year Warranty: All of your grippers will be replaced free of charge if they malfunction during proper use within one year of the date of purchase. For a replacement, please return the gripper along with the receipt or proof of purchase. Improperly used, misused, damaged, or modified grippers are not warranted.
Cons:
- Designed for Right Hand: This model has right-wing springs. Meaning it feels different when you train the left hand with it. In most cases, it’s a minor detail that most folks just won’t know: If you seek maximum comfort, performance, and precision for left-hand training, then go for the CoC Left-Turn.
- One Resistance Level Per Gripper: Unlike adjustable hand grippers, CoC is a stationary one with resistance levels per type of gripper. If you want to maximize the progression, you have to invest more to get a set of grippers with different resistances.
Still deciding?
Compare it With Other, Similar Hand Grippers.
Captains of Crush – Ranking 94 out of 100
Excellent Equipment
How Can You Benefit from Captains of Crush?
Fastest Way to Build Crush Grip
- Improving Finger Tendon Strength: One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that tendon strength is everything when it comes to hand health and overall grip performance. My hands need to handle the daily workload from lifting, gripping, and training, and hand grippers have been a perfect way to build that resilience. Strengthening my tendons has made it easier to move into heavier and more demanding exercises without pain or setbacks.
- Developing Maximum Squeeze Grip Force: Crush grip, the ability to squeeze objects between my fingers, is where the Captains of Crush grippers truly shine. This movement powers everything from deadlifts to climbing holds. I’ve found that consistent training with these grippers gives my hands a solid, reliable squeeze that carries over into every strength-based activity I do.
- Boosting Static Support Grip Strength: Holding the gripper handles fully closed for as long as I can has been a total game-changer. Since I train with barbells regularly, this static grip work has helped me hold heavier weights longer without fatigue. It’s pure functional strength, nothing fancy, just results that show up where it matters.
- Learning the Hard Way About Knurling: If you’re new to training or haven’t used grippers before, don’t underestimate the knurling; it’s aggressive. My palms took a beating at first, but that’s part of the process. I ditched the gloves early on and let my skin toughen naturally. Now, I’ve got calluses that tell the story of every rep I’ve put in.
- Keeping Grip Conditioned: Over time, I’ve noticed that maintaining grip strength makes every workout feel easier. My hands fatigue less, and I perform better across all my training. A conditioned grip doesn’t just feel stronger; it gives me confidence under the bar, on the wall, or anywhere grip matters.
- Protecting Hands from Injury: Strong muscles act like armor for your joints. The more I train my grip, the more stable and resilient my hands feel. This extra layer of strength has helped me avoid overuse injuries and stay consistent in my training, something I value above everything else.
- Working Toward Certification: Training with the heavier CoC grippers has also opened up the exciting challenge of certification. Locking down a CoC #3 or higher is no joke—but it’s one of the coolest milestones in the grip community. It’s motivating to know that with enough work, I could have my name officially recognized in the IronMind catalog.
Technical Details
- Dimensions: 5×4.5×0.8 inch/ 12.7×11.4×2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces / 221 grams
- Handles: Knurled, aluminum handles
- Materials: Billet aluminum & alloy steel
- Quantity: One (1) gripper
- Resistance Levels: Eleven (11)
- Manufacturer: IronMind (USA)
Captains of Crush excels in the design, also. It is extremely accurate and built without a single flaw in geometry. It’s stable everywhere.
CoC grippers are well-engineered and completely built with metal parts: Give it steel and aircraft-grade aluminum for durability.
Unlike mass-produced, cheap plastic grippers, CoC springs will not wear out.
Who Uses Captains of Crush & Why They’re Popular?
Any Athlete, Men & Women, Older & Younger
Gripper training serves both beginners & experts equally. Your age doesn’t matter, nor does your gender, young or old, male or female, trainee or recreational athlete: grip training will boost your functional hand strength every single day.
In fact, the first contact of the majority of sports with an object is with the aid of your fingertips. Doesn’t matter if you’re playing basketball, baseball, golf, or weightlifting; you will need grip strength. Functional hand strength is necessary to perform well in your sport.
Toughen Your Palms With Heavy-Duty Grippers
Avoid Fitness Gloves
It’s pretty common to see people at the gym wearing gloves, but here’s the truth I learned the hard way: gloves keep your palms weak. They act like a soft barrier between your skin and the weight you’re trying to control. Instead of helping, they prevent your hands from developing the real strength and durability you actually need.
When I first started lifting without gloves, my hands were shredded after the first few sessions. The barbell and dumbbell knurling tore into my palms, and yes, it hurt. But that pain was short-term. Over time, my hands started to adapt. They grew tougher, stronger, and far more capable of handling real training stress.
So what’s the fix? It’s simple, you don’t put the gloves back on. The Captains of Crush grippers I use have aggressive knurling designed specifically to harden and condition your palms. By keeping up with my grip training consistently, my hands naturally toughened up. Within about four to six weeks, the difference was massive: my palms were calloused, my grip felt solid, and I could handle heavy lifts without worrying about tearing skin every time.
Now, unless I’ve actually injured my hands or pushed them to exhaustion, I don’t even think about using fitness gloves. Building functional grip strength means using my bare hands, feeling the texture of the metal, and letting my body adapt naturally. It’s raw, it’s real, and it’s how true strength is built.
Can Grippers Be Used in Hand Rehab Safely
Grippers are Great for Recovery
IronMind offers 4 different types of grips along with Captains of Crush that you can use for your benefit, with multiple different resistance levels to cover all your training routines, including rehab. Whether you’re trying to get your hand strength back up after a dislocated finger or trying to treat repetitive strain injury (RSI) like a Tennis Elbow, a hand gripper helps to fix these problems.
#1 Lefty Gripper
#2 Smooth Gripper
#3 Thumb Gripper
#4 Hand-Bands
Hand Gripper Mainly Builds Your Crush Grip Strength:
One of the 5 Primary Hand Movements.
Combine your gripper training with the Extend-Your-Hand Bands to build muscle balance. Focusing on exercising counter-movements keeps your hand pain-free & boosts 1 rep max.
As odd as it sounds, performing the opposite movement actually brings up your overall grip strength. So, it’s worth training that movement. Handbands are also inexpensive, and never go out of style.
What are the Best Ways to Build Exceptional Grip Strength?
Learn to Train Your Grip
Simply work with hand grippers & specifically specialize in them, or up your entire game by learning new exercises along with crushing grippers. Among these authors, there are famous names, like Tommy Heslep, who is one of only five people in the world who have certified IronMind’s Captains of Crush #4 Gripper. Learn it all from the experts if you like.
Captains of Crush is a Competition Grade Gripper
How Can You Get Certified For Closing a Difficult CoC Gripper?
Master a Gripper & Confirm Your Result
Since Captains of Crush grippers are super high in quality, precise & consistent, they are used in competitions as well. To reward you for your effort, there’s a chance for everyone to get certified for closing a difficult-level CoC gripper.
Obviously, your very first priority is to get stronger & master your chosen hand gripper. Keep training until you’re able to fully close either #2 & # 2.5 (for women) OR #3, #3.5, #4 (for men) gripper. That’s the hard part; next is the easy part:
Once you’ve achieved that, it’s time to contact IronMind to let them know you’re ready to get certified. IronMind will help to select a referee near your area, who will witness & verify the process to confirm that you’re able to close certain Captains of Crush Grippers under the rules of closing & proper conditions.
The final step is to schedule a certification attempt date with IronMind to meet up with a referee near your area. For details, click here to read Captains of Crush – Rules for Closing & Certification from IronMind’s official website.
Why High-Quality Hand Grippers Are Essential?
Consistency & Precision
If you try hard enough, you can break CoC grips as well. That usually happens only when you maintain your equipment poorly: For instance, if you put your grips in too humid conditions, or do not clean your equipment properly. Also, if you modify or exercise with the gripper improperly.
1 The thing is that the low-quality grippers’ spring will wear out. Eventually, it fails, rather sooner than later.
On top of that, inconsistency often includes their geometry: Unbalanced handles and spring positioning. Small but effective nuances that are unfavorable if you want to track your progress.
2 Another drawback is that cheap gripper springs tend to snap easily. That’s a safety issue.
A faulty device may hurt you, particularly when the spring breaks in the middle of the exercise and you get hit by the shards of broken springs.
When it comes to buying a pair of hand grippers, make sure you invest in a good quality set. They are super consistent & there are so few instances of any equipment failure. Furthermore, there is better precision of the engineering processes so that there are no sudden geometric shapes that may alter your results. You will get the quality plus enjoy the benefits of a professional, both in the room workout routines and in eliminating guesswork.
How to Choose the Best Captain of Crush Gripper for you?
Eleven (11) Different Strength Levels
- The Guide (60 lbs): The guide is a great place to start if you are a youth, senior, or woman, or if you are rehabbing an injury. It can always be used as a warm-up gripper, no matter how strong you are. Twice as hard as the average sporting goods store plastic gripper, but with the same world-class quality as other Captain of Crush grippers.
- The Sport (80 lbs): Suits for light warm-ups & as a lighter gripper have always had a place in every training program. If you’re a woman who’s done some strength training, weekend warrior, or high school athlete, start with The Sport.
- The Trainer (100 lbs): The Trainer may present a significant challenge. Serious grip training starts here. Most people can usually close The Trainer once or twice, as the hand strength of the average man is around 115 pounds.
- The Point Five (120lbs): This is the first one of the bridge-grippers to help you achieve your goals. It’s designed to help you advance from The Trainer to No. 1.
- The No. 1 (140 lbs): Most guys who lift weights can’t close it on the first try. With some solid training, No. 1 can be closed by most people. Everything beyond No. 1 gets a lot tougher & rewards become a lot bigger.
- The No. 1.5 (167.5 lbs): It’s the Second of the bridge-grippers. Another tool for your grip arsenal to help you towards greatness. Helps you to advance between the No. 1 & No. 2 grippers.
- The No. 2 (195 lbs): 2 presents a challenge & has stumped many strong men. Closing No. 2 can be considered a great achievement. Master the No. 2 if winning or losing, living or dying, might depend on your grip strength.
- The No. 2.5 (237.5 lbs): This one is the Third of the bridge-grippers. Things get tougher & tougher from here on out, & it’s almost a must-have gripper for anyone who’s trying to advance from No. 2 to No. 3.
- The No. 3 (280 lbs): Close No. 3 & claim your place among the grip elite. Separates the men from the boys. This is one of the most recognized feats of hand strength worldwide. The Captains of Crush No. 3 gripper is the Gold Standard of Hand Strength feats.
- The No. 3.5 (322.5 lbs): It’s the Fourth & the last one of the bridge-grippers. The Final step before the ultimate challenge. You will need all the possible help you can get to reach the very pinnacle of the grip strength world.
- The No. 4 (365 lbs): Be like Magnus Samuelsson! Closing No. 4 is the ultimate feat of hand strength. No. 4 gripper is far beyond the reach of “normal” people & only those who are deadly serious about progressing “beyond normal”
level of grip strength should think about getting this piece of equipment.
Verdict: Is Captains of Crush gripper Worth it?
Reliable Workhorse Through & Through:
For me, Captains of Crush grippers are the ultimate investment in grip strength. They’re not just tools; they’re training partners that challenge my fingers, hands, and forearms in ways no other gripper can.
I’ve noticed that my crush grip and static support grip have improved consistently since I started using them, and the progressive resistance levels make it easy to track my gains.
I recommend starting with a level that matches your current strength and gradually working your way up. The precision poundage and durable construction mean I can rely on them for years without worrying about the spring wearing out or handles breaking.
Whether you’re a serious athlete or someone looking to strengthen your hands for daily life, CoC grippers are a must-have. They’re tough, reliable, and help me stay accountable to my grip training, and in my experience, nothing beats the feeling of closing one of these for the first time.
Thanks for Stopping By
Have Questions?
Please Leave A Comment
Looking to Rehab Your Hands Instead? Find a Solution in My Hand Recovery Guide.
Or, Check Out the Grip Training FAQ for Quick Answers.
Hi Henry,
At first I thought Oh no this this is going to be hard to make a comment on because it’s not something I would be interested in. I’m not a bodybuilder don’t intend to be. But as I scanned through the information on the page I noticed there is information on uh using the gripper for recovery.
I recently broke my shoulder and am in healing process and will be entering physical therapy next week so it’ll be interesting to see if this kind of tool is employed in the process of healing my shoulder because I’ve noticed that using my hands exercises the muscles in my arms and that is what is going to get my shoulder stronger.
And I also see some great information about why a person shouldn’t wear the exercise gloves all the time hadn’t really ever thought of that i also see some unusual products there like thumb grippers and hand bands.The page is a bit long for my sensibilities. I tend to like sites that are broken up a little bit more. And I think that might be just personal preference because I’ve found that many sites where you have to scroll a lot are sites that are trying to hard sell me on something.
This is not that sort of thing it’s a legitimate product and there is great value in the information that you’re providing about the product. Just a personal preference that you might consider as you look at your navigation on your site. Overall I’m impressed with the product. Who knows during my recovery I might be just coming back to it and clicking on it to buy one.
Linda
Being pain free is inherently a goal for most of us. We tend to not think about it, especially when feeling well. However it’s always a vital part to keep our sanity intact. Hence the importance of functional strength.
Muscles don’t have to be large or particularly well defined to be amazing at excelling in their tasks.
I hear you’re going through some potentially life changing hardships. I am curious how working with gripper could personally benefit you rehabilitating severe shoulder injury. Upper & lower arm are directly connected after all, sharing blood vessels & certain nerve clusters that need nursing.