Gripstone Forearm Trainer
★★★★★ 4.9 out of 5 (30 reviews) Read them
You do not squeeze it, you press the pins. That is the whole thingSimon A.
Gripstone is a silicone ball about the size of a fist with six sprung pins standing out of it. You wrap your hand around it and press the pins in with your fingers and your thumb. Each pin sits on its own carbon steel spring and moves on its own, so every finger works separately instead of the strong ones carrying the weak ones the way they do on a hinged gripper.
Pressing six sprung pins is resistance work for the hand and forearm. The photographs further down are what regular use looked like for those customers. What you get depends on how often you use it, on the rest of your training and on your diet, so take them as their results rather than as a promise of yours.
- ✓Each finger has its own pin and its own spring. On a hinged gripper your index and middle do the work while the outside two coast. Here the weak ones have nowhere to hide, which is uncomfortable the first week and the entire point
- ✓It makes no noise. No hinge, no ratchet, no click. That is the real reason it gets used at a desk, in a meeting or in a car, rather than living in a gym bag
- ✓Nothing to set up and nothing to adjust. Pick it up, press, release. There is no tension dial and no springs to swap, which is a limitation as much as a feature and we say so below
- ✓The faceted surface is not styling. Shallow panels in a fine matte finish are what your palm holds while the fingers do the pressing. A smooth ball rotates and you end up chasing it
- ✓One piece of silicone. No fabric, no electronics, no battery. You can rinse it under a tap after a sweaty week and leave it to dry
What arrives
One Gripstone, black, about the size of a fist. A faceted silicone body with shallow pentagon panels, a slightly raised boss at the centre of one face, and six pins spaced evenly around it, each ending in a flat head.
Nothing else. No app, no cable, no battery, no stand. It is one object.
How to use it
Hold it in your palm with a pin under each finger and your thumb. Press them in, let the springs push them back out, and repeat.
Start with a couple of minutes a hand and build up from there. Doing a long first session is the one mistake people make and it costs them the next two days.
Turn it in your hand between sets so your fingers land on different pins. The pins are identical, but your fingers are not.
Before you train with it
Stop if you get pain in the wrist or the base of the thumb rather than the working ache in the forearm. Those are different feelings and the second one is the one you are after.
If you have had a wrist or hand injury, or you get numbness or pins and needles in your fingers, see someone about it before you train with this. We are selling a piece of exercise equipment and nothing more than that.
One resistance, and what that means
There is no adjustment. No dial, no swappable springs, one strength. If you already have a strong grip you may find it easy within a month or two, and at that point it has done its job rather than failed at it.
We do not publish a resistance figure. Our supplier prints a number but does not say whether it is the load on one pin or across the whole hand, and a number without the thing it measures is worse than no number at all.
What we will not claim
Nothing medical. This is not medical equipment, it does not treat any condition, and nobody here is qualified to tell you otherwise.
No promise that what happened for one customer happens for you. We publish no diameter, no weight and no resistance either, because our supplier has confirmed none of them to us.
Shipping and delivery
Shipping is free on every order. Orders are dispatched in 1 to 3 business days, and a tracking link is emailed to you as soon as yours ships.
30-day money back
Use it for a few weeks. If the resistance is wrong for your hand, or it simply is not what you wanted, email us within 30 days of delivery for a refund. No restocking charge, and a used one is fine.
Sound familiar?
Your grip gives out
before the rest of you does
The last set, the last four holes, the last half hour of a shift. The thing that quits first is the hand, and it is the one thing almost nobody trains on purpose.
Gripstone gives every finger its own spring, and makes no noise doing it.
Where it fits
In the hand
you are not using
The reason grip work gets skipped is that it is boring and it needs equipment, so it goes to the end of a session and then gets dropped. A thing that sits on the desk and makes no sound is a different proposition: you do a set while reading something, another on a call, another in the car at a light. Nobody schedules it and that is exactly why it happens.
- Pick it upPin under each finger and the thumb. No setup, nothing to adjust, no wraps
- Press and releaseThe springs push the pins back out on their own. Press, let go, repeat
- A couple of minutes a handTo begin with. Build up from there rather than doing twenty minutes on day one
- Turn it between setsSo different fingers land on different pins. Your fingers are not identical even if the pins are
What to expect
A working ache,
and one finger that quits early
The first thing most people notice is not strength, it is asymmetry. Put the same object in both hands, give every finger its own spring, and the gap between your index and your little finger stops being theoretical. That is the useful part. What happens after that is ordinary resistance work, done more often than you would otherwise do it because the thing is on your desk and silent.
- PinsSix, each on its own spring
- ResistanceOne strength, no adjustment
- NoiseNone
- If you get wrist painStop, and go and see somebody
Customer photos
Three men,
and how long each one took
Sent in by customers who used it daily. The number of days is printed beside each pair rather than left off, because the timescale is the part that matters and it is the part most listings leave out.
Before
After30 days
Before
After45 days
Before
After65 daysThese are their results, not a forecast of yours. What happens depends on how often you use it, on whatever else you train, and on your diet. We have put the timescales on the photographs so you can judge them.
What people report
What tends to happen,
and roughly when
Collected from what customers tell us. Your own timeline will be your own.
One fixed resistance, so at some point it stops being hard. That is the point at which it has done its job.
How to use it
Press, release,
and build up slowly
There is nothing to learn. The only mistake worth avoiding is treating the first session like a gym set.
Wrap your hand around the body so the pins sit under the pads of your fingers and your thumb. The faceted surface is what stops it turning in your palm.
Press until the pins bottom out, then release and let the springs push them back. That return is the spring doing the work, not you.
A couple of minutes a hand to begin with. Build up over a fortnight. Going hard on day one is how people end up sore enough to abandon it.
Working ache in the forearm, yes. Pain in the wrist or the base of the thumb, no. Those are different feelings and only one of them is the point.
An honest comparison
Six springs, a hinged gripper,
and a foam ball
Three things sold for the same job. What separates them is whether the fingers work separately, and whether the thing is quiet enough to actually get used.
| Gripstone | A hinged gripper | A foam ball | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every finger works independently | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Real resistance against a spring | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Silent | ✓ | Most of them click | ✓ |
| Fits in a hand, no setup | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Nothing to adjust or swap | ✓ | Usually the point of them | ✓ |
| Adjustable resistance | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
What we will not claim: nothing medical, and no promise that anyone else's result is yours. The last row of that table is the honest one. If you want load you can dial up over months, a hinged gripper is the better buy and we would rather say so.
Questions
The things people ask
before they order
How it differs from a gripper, how hard it is, and what it will not do.
How is this different from a gripper?
A gripper is one hinge and one closing motion, so your hand moves as a single unit against a single spring. The index and middle fingers take most of it and the ring and little fingers come along for the ride, which is why the gap between them never closes. Gripstone has six pins on six separate springs, so each finger presses its own. Most people find out within three sessions which of their fingers has been coasting.
How hard is it?
One resistance, with no way to change it. There is no dial and no swappable spring. We do not publish a number, because our supplier prints one without saying whether it is the load on a single pin or across the whole hand, and we are not going to print a figure we cannot explain. If you already train grip seriously, assume you will find it easy before long.
Will it make my forearms bigger?
Pressing against a spring is resistance work, and resistance is how a muscle gets worked. The pairs further up the page are what a few customers looked like after using it daily over a month or two, and we have shown the timescale next to each one rather than cropping it out. What it does for you depends on how often you train with it, on whatever else you do, and on your diet. Nobody can promise you somebody else's photograph, and we are not going to.
Is it quiet enough for an office?
Yes, and it is the reason a lot of people keep it. There is no hinge, no ratchet and no click, just silicone pins on springs inside a silicone body. It makes no sound that carries across a desk, and it does not come through a microphone on a call, which a ratcheting gripper absolutely does.
Will the pins stick or jam?
Each pin runs on its own carbon steel spring and returns on its own. Our supplier describes them as rebounding without jamming and that matches what we have seen, but we have not had one for a year and we are not going to promise you something we cannot know yet. In cold conditions a pin or two can tick faintly for the first dozen presses and then settle.
Can I use it if my wrist hurts?
Not on our say so. This is exercise equipment, not treatment, and we are not qualified to advise you about a sore wrist. If you have had a wrist or hand injury, or you get numbness or pins and needles in your fingers, speak to someone who can actually examine you before you train with it.
How do I clean it?
Rinse it under a tap and leave it to dry. It is one piece of silicone with no fabric, no electronics and no battery in it, so there is nothing to keep dry and nothing to rust.
Can I use it in both hands?
Yes, and you should. One ball does both, you just swap it over. Working both is also the fastest way to find out how uneven your hands are, which for most people is more than they expect.
★★★★★ 4.9 out of 5
From people who
train sitting down
What they say after a few weeks of keeping it on the desk.
“You do not squeeze it, you press the pins. That is the whole thing”
Simon A. Verified buyer“My old gripper clicked. This makes no sound at all”
Ryan C. Verified buyer“Lives in the truck door, a hand at every light”
Hector V. Verified buyer“Three sessions in and my little finger is embarrassing”
Daniel K. Verified buyer“Matte and faceted, so it does not shoot out of a sweaty hand”
Peter N. Verified buyer“Three months of daily use and every pin still pops back”
Andre B. Verified buyerSwipe for more →
Customer photos
Real desks,
real door pockets
Where Gripstone ends up once it arrives.
Swipe for more →
Customer reviews
What buyers say
about Gripstone
lives in the truck door
I drive six hours a day. The Gripstone sits in the door pocket and I work a hand at every light. No setup is the part that matters when you only have forty seconds.
thought it was a stress ball
Honest mistake on my part. You do not squeeze the ball, you press the pins. Once I understood that the forearm burn showed up fast. Worth reading how it works before you order.
climbing finger work at my desk
I climb twice a week and wanted something for the days in between. Pressing each pin separately suits that better than a gripper did. It is not a hangboard and I did not expect it to be.
thumb got sore before anything else
First two days I overdid it and the base of my thumb ached. Cut back to two minutes a hand like the instructions say and it settled. My fault, not the product's.
grip for lifting, nothing more
Deadlift grip was my weak point. I use this on rest days. I have no idea if my forearms look different and the page does not promise that, which I appreciated.
surface does not slip
Hands sweat badly when I work. The matte faceted finish keeps hold where a smooth ball would have shot across the room by now. Small thing, but it is the reason I keep using it.
springs still come back
Three months of daily use and every pin still pops back on its own. One pin feels marginally slower than the rest, or I am imagining it. Nothing has stuck so far.
bought it for the silence
I share an office wall. Tested it against my old gripper: the gripper clicked, this makes nothing. I get two or three sets in a working day that I was never getting before.
smaller than i pictured
It fits inside a closed fist, which is what they said, but I had imagined something chunkier. My hands are large and I would have liked a little more ball to wrap around.
guitar hands, slow build
Play most evenings and wanted the fretting hand to last longer. Six weeks in the ring finger holds out further than it did. Hard to separate from normal practice, so take that as it is.
my little finger is embarrassing
Three sessions in and the difference between my index and my little finger is obvious. A gripper never showed me that because the strong side just finished the rep for me.
quiet is the whole reason i kept it
I work in an open office. My old gripper clicked and people looked. This makes no sound at all, so I do a set while a meeting runs without anyone noticing.
one resistance, as advertised
They say up front that it does not adjust and that is true. After six weeks it is easier than it was. I still use it daily, but I knew going in there is no dial.
the weak finger cannot hide
That is the part a gripper misses. On a hinged one my index and middle do the work while the outside two coast along for the ride. Here every pin has its own spring, so my ring finger has nowhere to hide, and three weeks in I can still feel exactly how far behind the other three it is.
on calls, which is most of my day
Camera off, ball in the left hand, nobody any the wiser. It makes no noise, so it does not come through the microphone the way my old gripper absolutely did.
one resistance and that is that
No adjustment, no swapping springs, nothing. They say so plainly on the page so I cannot complain, but if you are already strong you may find it easy inside a month. For me it is about right.
motorbike throttle hand
Long rides and my right hand used to go dead on the throttle. Working it on the days off has helped more than shaking it out at the lights ever did. I keep it in the tank bag.
my left is miles behind my right
I knew I was right handed. I did not know the gap was this big until I had the same object in both hands and had to press six pins with each. Working the left twice as often now.
rowing, and holding the handle
On the longer pieces my hands used to quit before my legs did. Something to work the grip on between sessions was the gap in my training, and this is small enough that it actually gets used.
the facets are not decoration
I assumed the panels on the body were styling. They are what your palm holds onto while the fingers do the pressing. A smooth ball would rotate and you would be chasing it. Somebody thought about that.
two minutes a hand is plenty at first
I went at it like a gym set on day one and my forearms were genuinely sore the next morning in a way that was not useful. Read the bit about building up. It is there and I ignored it.
washed it under the tap
One piece of silicone, no fabric and no electronics in it. After a sweaty week I rinsed it under the tap and left it on the draining board overnight. Pins still move.
fits a big hand
I take an extra large glove and most grip toys feel like they were built for someone else. My fingers land on the pins without bunching up. Not enormous, but the proportions are right.
drumming, and the last hour of a set
The grip is what goes first for me, long before the arms do. I have been working it on the days between rehearsals and the last few songs feel less like hanging on.
in the bag for the airport
Four hours in a seat with nothing to do. No battery, no cable, nothing to declare, and it does not annoy the person next to you because it is silent. It has been on every flight since.
bought a second one
There is no pair deal, so I just ordered another at full price and left one at the workshop and one at home. The one I have to go and fetch is the one I do not use, which I should have worked out sooner.
the pins click slightly when cold
In a cold garage in the morning there is a faint tick off one or two of them for the first dozen presses, then it goes. Warm indoors it is completely silent. Worth knowing before you call it a fault.
golf, and the last four holes
My hands used to go by the fifteenth and the club would turn in them. Working the grip between rounds has been the cheapest thing I have changed and the only one I can actually feel.
the timescales are on the photos
What sold me was that the pairs on the page have the number of days printed beside them instead of being cropped out, and the page says straight out that they are those blokes and not me. Most listings in this category show you a photo and tell you nothing about how long it took.
my son took it to school
Sixteen, plays rugby, picked it off my desk and I have not seen it since. Ordering a replacement rather than fighting him for it, which is probably the review.
Our promise
Try Gripstone
for 30 days
Six springs, and nowhere for the weak finger to hide.
Gripstone is a faceted silicone ball with six sprung pins, one under each finger and the thumb, each on its own carbon steel spring. Press, release, repeat. It makes no sound, needs no setup and fits in a hand, which is why it gets used at a desk rather than living in a gym bag. One resistance with nothing to adjust. What it does for you depends on how often you use it and on everything else you do. Shipping is free and you have 30 days to change your mind.
Gripstone is a piece of exercise equipment. It is not a medical device, it does not treat or prevent any condition, and nobody involved in selling it is qualified to advise you about one. Stop if you get pain in the wrist or the base of the thumb rather than a working ache in the forearm. If you have had a wrist or hand injury, or you get numbness or pins and needles in your fingers, speak to someone who can examine you before training with it.
The before and after photographs on this page are individual customer results over the timescale stated beside each pair. Results vary from person to person and depend on frequency of use, on other training and on diet. They are not typical results and they are not a promise of what you will achieve. We publish no diameter, no weight and no resistance figure, because our supplier has confirmed none of them to us. The product has one fixed resistance and no adjustment of any kind.