(Last Updated on September 26, 2025 by Henry)
- Name: Gillingham High-Performance Gripper
- Category: Classic Hand Spring Gripper
- Purpose: Crush Grip
- Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars
- Availability: Amazon (Prime delivery)
- Spring Gripper – Excellent tool for crush grip training
- Variable Knurling – Finger Side Less Aggressive
- Durable – Built with Steel Spring
- Ten (10) Resistance Levels – 100 to 425 lbs
Not Sure How to Use This Type of Grip Training Tool?
Here’s My Guide to Hand Grippers.
Overview:
Gillingham High-Performance Gripper is ideal for your crush grip force path because it is of a small 25 lbs / 11. 3 kg weight jump increments per device,ranging from 100 lbs/45 kg to 425 lbs/192 kg. Designed for pro athletes.
Made from steel springs and aluminum knurled handles, they are one of the best classical spring grippers. GHP reimagined the handgripper from scratch, based on the latest design and manufacturing innovations.
The climax of Gillingham High Performance, Wade Gillingham, the founder of GHP Hand Grippers, has made this product a worldwide hit right from the start.
What makes GHP Grippers exclusive and distinctive is their surprisingly unique look and feel. What stands out most is that the knurling on the handles and finger side is less aggressively knurled compared to the palm side. It makes it more convenient to stick to the palm of your hand while being less tough on the fingers.
A lot of people state that this is the best gripper on the market. If you are passionate about gaining arm strength, this is an excellent way to train your grip. These are serious competition grippers with precision poundage and durability enough to help you stay consistent with your training. The GA ones are rather expensive, so be ready to pay the price for their quality.
If you are a weightlifter, climber, wrestler, or motocross driver, whether you like it or not, you need to have a strong grip to compete effectively. In this context, grippers are not toys; they are professional training devices. Thus, they can make both hands look awful in no time to make them harder. Gloves for people of both sexes, senior citizens, or teens who have varying degrees of grip.
Less intensive resistance levels are perfectly suitable for rehabilitation. Heal injury or surgery and treat an RSI-related condition such as Carpal tunnel, Tennis elbow, Arthritis, or tendinitis.
What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Gillingham High Performance Grippers?
Smart Mark Grooves
Pros:
- Among the Best, there is – Made by the best, on the bar with Heavy Grips & CoC grippers. Developed for quick, short, high-intensity workouts to gain the most grip in a limited amount of time.
- Accurate poundage – Quality gripper solves the #1 problem of cheap grippers: proper resistance of the machine that you are exercising with. They’re always there for you, ready to help, and they will not get old over time. You don’t need to guess your progress and know exactly what you are doing.
- Durable – This guarantees accurate poundage, and the spring won’t wear out over time. The main component is made of metal parts and steel springs. No plastic parts that can break, degrade, or decompose chemically.
- Abrasive Knurling – Destroys your hands. A key part of getting a strong grip & skin of your palms is one of them. However, if the hands are all right, try out the fitness gloves and you shall create skin tears in your hands for big and formidable forearms.
- Changeable knurl depth – A heavy-duty hand gripper that has highly textured knurling on the palm side and is less aggressive on the finger side.
- “Smart Mark” grooves – It shows where to hold the gripper with your palm and where to place your fingers.
- Radius Edges – Provides a sleek look to GHP and won’t crunch your pinky, unlike the industry-standard chamfered end.
- High Carbon Tempered Springs – Polished for appearance and lubricated with the latest odorless, colorless synthetic lubricant technology.
- Nearly Indestructible Labels – The labels on the handle ends make GHP’s grippers look special and make it easy to identify whether open or closed, regardless of the gripper’s position.
- Resistance Levels for Beginners & Pro – Covers all your gripper training levels for a trainee who has just started with grippers to advanced grips.
- 10 Resistance Levels – 1-100lbs, 2-125lbs, 3-150lbs, 4-175lbs, 5-200lbs, 6-235lbs, 7-275lbs, 8-325lbs, 9-375lbs,
- 25 pounds /11. 3 kg bites– No better way to stay in progression. These small steps are indispensable for not getting stuck at a low level and to help you gradually increase your grip strength to an elite level.
- Portable – Fit one in your pocket, in your desk drawer, or into your gym bag as you go to the gym. Small and easily portable, so you can always have one with you.
- Simple to Maintain – Springs made of stainless steel. Wipe the spring often with a drop of light oil to avoid squeaking and breaking. Use stiff nylon-bristled brushes to scrub knurled handles.
- Rehab-friendly – Perfect for rehab, prehab & recovery overall. A workable solution to ease hand pain & combat several of RSI-related issues, including carpal tunnel syndrome, golfer’s or tennis elbow, tendonitis & arthritis. To take away pain in your hands, exercise is a must. Put extra muscle on bones where it is needed. Hand grippers that are made to achieve the objective above can combat issues like pain in the forearms.
Cons:
- Designed for the Right Hand Only – Uses spring from the right, can be used to train both hands, with a slightly different feeling when training your left hand. It’s an insignificant point that will not even be noticed by the majority. Having started, you will probably want to nitpick on something – as much as comfort, correct angles, performance & precision are needful in left-hand training, I’d recommend using left-hand grippers, like Captains of Crush Left-Turn gripper.
- One Resistance Level For A Gripper – Only one difficulty per gripper in this training tool type. There’s no way around it other than putting more in & having the whole set of graspers with different resistance levels for your personal use. In addition, you may as well choose the alternating grippers when you get more immersed in gripping training.
- High Resistance/Aggressive Knurling For Some – The tougher the knurling becomes, the more it can tear your hands up. Of course, tearing up your hands is one of the main parts of getting your hands stronger; however, sometimes it might be too much, so be careful. You shouldn’t get carried away too quickly.
Still deciding?
Compare it With Other, Similar Hand Grippers.
Gillingham High-Performance Grippers – Ranking 92 out of 100
Excellent Equipment
Bring About More Gaining with Gillingham’s High Performance Grippers
Fastest Way to Build Crush Grip
- Improve Your Finger Tendon Strength – This is one of the most important aspects of your hand health & strength: The final outcome will be that your hands will be in a position to smoothly deal with the burden of the activities and exercises that you are constantly performing. Physically lifting hand grippers is a great approach to gradually training your tendons so that you can move on to more challenging exercises.
- Develop Maximum Crush Grip Strength – A crushing grip is one of the main hand stretches, and it’s good to develop the ability of that kind of grip. The great majority of the time, you use it to grasp things. Hand Gripper matches the bench press for its ability to quickly “crush” your grips.
- Create a Clinical Static Support Grip Strengthener – Squeeze the handles together and hold them down as long as you can. This particular important workout is for your benefit, if you are into the type of training that puts you in constant contact with barbells, for example. Training in this manner will allow you to lift heavier weights over a longer time duration.
- Get Your Hands Ready for Grind – If you don’t have experience training in the gym with grippers, be aware that the severely sharp and aggressive knurling on this gripper is very likely to destroy your hands very rapidly. This is cool, it’s how your palms get muscular. The main issue here, therefore, is that we should NEVER use fitness gloves because what we should actually be after is having stronger palms.
- Develop Good Quality Grip – The grips may be the most crucial detail, and that is why you need the very best. First of all, by improving your holding ability and fighting fatigue, you can accomplish your training routines much more successfully. And in contests, this gives you additional strength.
- Avoid Hand Injuries – Having a bit more muscle is great, but it’s actually like cushions that will serve to protect our bodies. To complete this, is done by improving both your functional strength and the overall amount of muscle mass, providing additionally stronger hands and also protection against potential damage. At the top of my agenda is to stay injury-free, no matter what sport I am playing.
Technical Details
- Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 4.5 inches
- Weight: 7 ounces / 198 grams
- Handles – Knurled, aluminum handles
- Materials: Steel Spring
- Quantity – One (1) gripper
- Resistance Levels – Ten (10)
- Manufacturer: Gillingham High Performance
Grippers can be very beneficial for rehabilitation purposes & stress relieving if you are prone to bone stiffness.
Recover from finger or wrist pains, tendon operations, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, or Tennis elbow.
Grips are portable. Put it in your pocket or throw it into your training gear bag.
Making the Right Decision: Which GHP Heavy Duty Gripper Is for You?
Ten (10) Different Strength Levels
- 1-100lbs
- 2-125lbs
- 3-150lbs
- GHP Level 1-3 belongs to the Beginner’s Series, and this is the perfect spot to kick-start your grip training regimen.
- Level 1 gripper shall be difficult for women and teens, but a good warm-up exercise for men.
- Level 3 is the hardest level for a man who has no grip training experience, while Level 2 exactly fits midway.
- 4-175lbs
- 5-200lbs
- 6-235lbs
- GHP Level 4-6 are in the Advanced Series, a great option for men who are striving to improve their grip power and women who seek to make a mark in the world of gripping.
- Level 4 will tackle even the strongest women in its path, and it can be a good start for a man who does some grip training, weight training, or work with their hands on a daily basis.
- Level 6 may be the last step for women, and if there is a woman who completes level 6, we would enjoy knowing about it.
- 7-275lbs
- 8-325lbs
- 9-375lbs
- 10-425lbs
- GHP Level 7-10 are Professional Series. If you can crush professional series GHP, consider yourself a professional grip strength athlete. It’s rare that a person will grab and hold one of these grippers without some gripper-specific training.
- Level 7 – not even 100 men have been able to pass the certification rules of the Gripping Hand Performance (GHP) Gripper Challenge.
- Level 10 – The highest level of difficulty. No man has closed it so far.
Hand Gripper Mainly Builds Your Crush Grip Strength:
One of the 5 Primary Hand Movements.
First Person To Close GHP Level 9 With Both Hands
Who May Find This Hand Strengthener Training Beneficial?
Any Athlete, Men & Women, Older & Younger
Gripper protocol is cool for both starting grippers and experts to increase their grip power, or even stronger than it ever has been.
Regardless of age, gender, or even whether you are a hardcore athlete or a casual fitness enthusiast, grip training gives you the functionality of a strong grip that you will need and most probably will be using every single day. In almost all sports, the initial link between an object and your fingers is by touching that object. The sport could be basketball, baseball, golf, weightlifting, or even simply holding a club.
The greater the strength of your hand function, the better, most probably, your performance will be in your chosen sports.
Attain a Stronger Grip with Palm Toughening via Hand Grippers
Avoid Fitness Gloves
Gloves are recommended only if you absolutely need them. The only way it can justify the tearing of another glove from you is if it has become your deliberate purpose of making glove manufacturers richer, and you’ve been grinding through one pair after another.
What are the reasons why you should stay away from full-time usage of hand gloves? Sometimes people are fully dependent on gloves at work, while most of them still struggle since their palms are soft. Gloves have a different material from the human palms and, in turn, a load that is not likely to strengthen your palms to be strong.
What’s more, once you get rid of your fitness gloves and approach any barbell or dumbbell set you pick, you’ll probably shred your palms in a minute flat. To begin with, your hands definitely begin to ache, and in the long run, let’s say there are blisters.
Therefore, what do you do to remedy the situation? No, you don’t put your hand back in – The handles of many hand grippers have an aggressively knurled design that has been specially developed to encourage the development of hard palms.
The more you train, the stronger your hands become, and it only gets easier and simpler. Over time, which can be weeks or months, frequent gripping and callouses will develop that make your palms tougher. It is one of the main things you need to learn to be able to lift heavier without gloves.
Unless you have really injured your hands or given them as much as they can take, gloving is not something you should even be thinking about. There’s no reason, neither noble nor true, to use fitness gloves.
Not to mention the big safety risk of wearing a glove when lifting an awkward object. If you’re a competitive athlete, and in competitions where gloves are allowed and give you an edge over others, use them. Also, they prevent you from getting injured.
Secondly, you always want to work without fitness gloves and work with bare hands for natural strength.
Classical spring palm grippers: the effectiveness for rehabilitation?
Grippers Are Excellent for Recovery
Besides different kinds of grippers, each type has its own different resistance levels for you to choose from. Depending on your ability, there is a range of different levels of resistance available.
It aids in the illusion of covering your training exercises, including even the stage of rehabilitation. Being fit and maintaining good health is the key to your hand’s well-being; besides, you need to be able to treat cuts and injuries.
It doesn’t matter whether you’ve to regain control of your lifter – the finger that one day happened to get dislocated, or if you’re practicing some kind of repetitive strain injury, definitely, a close gripper could be the perfect decision.
#1 Classical Gripper
#2 Lefty Gripper
#3 Smooth Gripper
#4 Thumb Gripper
What Grip Training Resources Are Available For You?
Learn How to Train Your Grip
This can be done by working on hand grippers and/or doing the best you can in all the exercises, including hand grippers. Grab all the wisdom from the mentors, if you like.
In this list, you can find great names, such as Tommy Heslep, who is one of the five people in the world to have been certified for IronMind’s #4 Gripper.
Always Prioritize Muscle Balance
Using a Rubber Hand Band Can Work Wonders to Keep Your Hands Healthy
Balanced Muscles, Healthier Hands
It is always important, both in rehab exercises as well as in the overall health of the hands, to get a balance to get much stronger in the department of functional strength. It would be great if you could combine your gripper training with the extensor training. That job will be suitable for rubber hand bands to focus on the counter-motion to run against your forearm muscles.
Rubber Hand Bands prove an excellent accessory to one’s grip training workout, regardless of the fact if one uses a single, double, or multiple grippers. They are inexpensive but a great pair for the well-being of your hands. If you are not confident, please approach any qualified physiotherapist, chiropractor, or doctor. They all mean one thing: that hand bands are a good alternative to being healthier than ever before.
As far as the Gripper is Concerned, You Should be Sure to Pick One of the Highest Quality
Consistency & Precision
Eventually, nothing in this world is eternal, but the old Nokia mobile phone is the exception. Even the quality gripper can break, however, predominantly due to improper handling and poor maintenance. Putting grips in places where they are too humid or not keeping the equipment well, an athlete can do it. Lastly, proper precautions in terms of manipulating or using it incorrectly.
1 Inexpensive grippers strap is poor demanding frequent replacement. It doesn’t stop getting weaker until it serves as an illusion. Imagine that is one of the most concerning points; they usually do not match logically. That shows in their geometry: A variety of handles like slotted, ring, and so on, and spring position as well. Subtle but vital nuances.
2 One of the most common problems found in cheap grippers is durability, being the third of three problems found in cheap grippers. Their springs are often fragile, and when they snap become both an equipment issue and a safety hazard; not favorable to you.
Spring could break in the middle of the exercise, and you’ll get another part of you hit with its shards of broken edges. Investing in such gadgets for strength training would be better. There are no biases, and therefore, the equal chance for machine downtime is greatly reduced. Moreover, the high-precision engineering of the machine eliminates the probability of any surprise geometry factors, and thus, you can observe and analyze your results with more profound accuracy. Train like a professional at the studio without guessing anymore.
What is My Sum-Up Judgement about the Gillingham High Performance Gripper?
Competition Grade Gripper
Choose the biggest set if you can. Think about your own abilities and how much strength you have, and act on it. In case you are a freshman, the first three pairs could be sufficient for two years. Further on will also help students to learn more advanced grippers.
Unlike the regular grippers that have mechanisms that will quickly get too tight for your comfort, they can serve as both warm-up devices and rehabilitation equipment. They will become evergreen fashion items. Basically, it’s about getting a hold as strong as possible, as soon as possible.
From one hand to another, small weight increment jumps are where it’s going. This allows progress through different levels gradually without encountering a step that is too big an effort.
Take into account that the degree to which a gripper closes easily or not is highly particular depending on one’s unique features, hand shape, and size. A person is unique; it is impossible to find a perfect pattern in which everybody fits.
Grippers can do rehabilitation. If you have some form of RSI, like tennis elbow, or attempt to mend fractured wrists, you might find handgrips to be of great help in rebuilding those forearm muscles that are necessary to restore your functional strength.
If you aim for the best service quality, GHP is your destination. A competition-grade gripper that does work in a reliable fashion, strong and durable. Next, the second feature GHP you want to look into is Heavy Grips & Captains of Crush. These, therefore, are your perfect choice undoubtedly.
A better gripper is one that allows you to pay good attention to your grip development. Accurate weight & durability that won’t wear out. Consistent devices let you get the right stats & you know how strong you are, holding you accountable for your progress.
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.
Wow Henry, what a thorough and comprehensive review.
It was great to see you noticing the fact that the gripper is designed specifically for the right hand, I definitely agree that most people won’t notice it.
Your strong stance against fitness gloves is interesting, I never heard it from anyone else, but I agree.
I always like to go back to a human being’s natural state – are we supposed to have some extra object on our hands when we’re going around carrying stuff? No, so fitness gloves aren’t necessarily a good idea.
Here’s my question: Do you think improving one’s grip goes hand in hand with getting stronger forearms?
Yes indeed, those two are tight-knit friends so to speak. Grip happens to be the very first link in the chain.
Everything else upwards works through & is literally engaged through our fingertips.
Thanks for noticing, fitness gloves are a cool double edged sword. While protective, like a band aid, they can totally screw over ones ability & chance to grow stronger.