GripStik / Gripstick - A Great Way to Build Your Hands, Wrists and Forearms!

In another review, I complained that the Weider forearm developer did not offer enough resistance to help me strengthen my forearms. So, I bought the GripStick.It arrived in a timely manner. To its credit, the product is durable and modifiable. But, as others have noted, it needs a much stronger compression spring. It feels like I am only getting a workout for the last ½ twist, before the spring is fully compressed.I emailed customer support at Gripstick, to suggest that they offer a stronger spring. In fact, before receiving their reply, I added a second spring to make this stiffer. My protocol for doing this is listed below. But support at Gripstick was enlightening. The guy asked me if I used the GripStick for 60 seconds like the instructions specified. "Nope." He said that certified trainers and well-qualified consultants recommend that we use the supplied spring for 60 seconds. Apparently excercising wrist muscles is different from exercising large muscles like biceps, triceps, pecs etc. I guess that the small wrist muscles require less resistance, but longer duration of exercise. I'd add that using my stronger spring does irritate my tendons, causing me to have to lay off exercising for a week. When I follow the instructions, I do get exhausted, after about 45 seconds. So even though I have a protocol for a stronger spring, but it appears that the original spring is the best way to do this.So the following workaround gave me good results. Fist, a list of the parts and tools that are required: 1 Century 4001 porch swing spring (or its equivalent) 2 large washers: 1 ¾" outer diameter, ¾" inner diameter. Ace Hardware carries both the spring and the washers. a Dremel a pair of vise grip pliers a bench vise.1) Use the vise grip pliers to straighten out two of the "U" stops, thereby enabling disassembly of the porch swing spring.2) After mounting the spring in the bench vise, use the metal cutting wheel on the Dremel, cut the porch spring so that, after your cut, it has about ¼ inch less than three full revolutions.3) Replace the two washers that come with the GripStick with your two new larger washers.4) Place the porch spring around the outside of the original compression spring that came with the GripStick.Now you have two concentric springs to crush as you tighten the GripStick. A few reps of tightening and loosening this produces a satisfying burn in my forearm muscles.

I have made many purchases at Amazon; this is the first time I was cooked. Consisting of two pipes with a spring between them, requiring no more strength than my seven year-old daughter (whom we call Gum Drop) can muster, the GripStik is a useless piece of junk. When I received it, my only thought was that the "manufacturer" probably was aware that they could rip people off for $20.00 because most buyers, myself included, do not have time to return their junk to get twenty bucks back. What a marketing plan... rip people off for twenty dollars and count on them having a life. Fool me once, shame on you...Brian Brookbank

I am pleased with this tool to train my forearm. It enables me to have good stretch and - by increasing the resistivity - it helps increasing the strength, which I need to practice my tennis game. it does the trick with out the hassle of the old way of doing forearm workout.

easy purchase thanks for the service, your product works as advertised and looks and works well. I will make future purchase with complete confidence.

I found these acceptable on chips, except even the largest was not big enough for a bag of chips. So I folded the sides in and that worked. But on other items such as bags of vegetables, frozen potatoes, way too much trouble. The bags aren't crisp enough to fold properly without more work than I wanted to do.

I bought the Gripstik in the 1998 and can't remember why I never kept it wherever I would move to. I also wondered why I never bought another Gripstik. I still have my other devices and use them to this day or have replaced them with newer ones. The exercises you do with the Gripstik are efficient and I would have given it a good score except the Gripstik I received was defected. In fact, I would have given zero stars, but that option is not available. On the first day I received my Gripstik, I barely used it for five minutes and the rubber handle loosened from the metal rod it was supposedly glued to. I tried using the strongest glue I found available(Gorilla Glue) then let it dry and it still came off. Then I realized the same thing happened with the first Gripstik I ever bought. I would send it back for a different one, but this incident has happened to me plenty of times before and I'm tired of it. I'd also have to pay just to ship it back and that's ridiculous. I honestly cannot recommend this product to anyone. Maybe someone else can make a better version! I recommend the Hygenic Thera-band Flexbar and do the same exercises you do with the Gripstik. I guarantee it will last longer.