Buying guide
Hand strengtheners compared — for keeping your grip at any age
The short answer
Grip strength tends to decline with age, and large studies use it as a general marker of health — but for keeping your grip, the tool matters less than whether you keep using it. Therapy putty and resistance bands are cheap and adjustable. Spring grippers and finger trainers measure progress precisely. Extension trainers work the muscles that open the hand. Boulder Block™ ($69.99) is a wooden block with twelve resin holds and 32 routes — a game rather than an exercise, which is the point if you have abandoned a gripper before.
Four ways to keep your grip, cheapest first
Therapy putty Cheapest start
Graded by resistance, inexpensive, and it works the whole hand through squeezing and pinching. It is the usual starting point and it does the job — right up until it dries out in a drawer.
Bands and finger-extension trainers
Most hand tools train closing the hand. These train opening it, which balances the muscles and is easy to forget. Cheap, portable, and quick to do while watching television.
Spring grippers and finger trainers
Adjustable grippers and individual-finger trainers from brands such as Prohands and GripMaster make it easy to measure progress and isolate single fingers. Precise, but repetitive, and repetition is where most people stop.
Boulder Block™Ours
A wooden block about 10cm across with twelve screw-on resin climbing holds and a deck of 32 routes across four levels. It is a game rather than an exercise, and you do not need to be a climber — the easiest routes are meant to be completed on the first day. It is here for one reason: if you have tried the others and stopped, it is built to be picked up again.
Side by side
| Therapy putty | Bands and extensors | Spring grippers | Boulder Block™ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it works | Squeeze and pinch | Opening the hand | Crush grip, single fingers | Pinch, crimp, open hand, single fingers |
| How you make it harder | Firmer grade | Stronger band | Stiffer spring | A harder route |
| Easy first day | Yes | Yes | Depends on the spring | Yes — the Yellow routes |
| Still out on the table in a month | Rarely | Rarely | Sometimes | The reason we built it |
| Typical cost | Low | Low | Low to moderate | $69.99 |
Costs are indicative. The Boulder Block figure is its US list price in September 2026. Nothing on this page is medical advice.
How to choose
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Choose the one you will keep using
Every tool on this page works if you use it. The honest difference between them is how long people keep going, so the most useful question is not which is best but which one you would still pick up in March.
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Cover opening as well as closing
Squeezing tools train the muscles that close the hand. Adding something that trains opening it keeps the work balanced, and it costs very little.
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Start easier than you think
Hands that have not been asked to do much in a while respond better to a gentle start than to a stiff gripper on day one. Anything with adjustable difficulty is easier to live with.
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If something hurts, ask first
If you have pain, arthritis or a previous injury, talk to your doctor or a physiotherapist before starting any hand exercise, and let them tell you what suits your hands. None of the tools here are treatments.
Questions people ask
How do I keep my grip strength as I get older?
Use your hands for things that ask something of them, and keep doing it. Guidance on healthy ageing consistently recommends regular strength activity, and any of the tools on this page can be part of that. In practice the limiting factor is rarely the tool — it is how long you keep it up.
Why does grip strength matter after 50?
Researchers use grip strength as a simple general indicator of physical health. The PURE study, which followed nearly 140,000 adults across 17 countries, found that lower grip strength was associated with worse health outcomes. That is a finding about grip strength in the population. It is not a claim that any product, including ours, changes those outcomes.
I have arthritis. Should I use one of these?
Ask your doctor or physiotherapist first — they can tell you what is suitable for your hands. We can tell you facts about ours: the holds unscrew, so the block can be rebuilt with fewer holds, and the easiest routes are designed to be completed on the first attempt. It is a game, not a treatment for arthritis or any other condition.
Do I have to be a climber?
No. A buyer told us: "Not a climber, but I want to keep fingers moving. I crochet. Both parents had arthritis, want to prevent." That was his reason for buying — we make no claim that it prevents arthritis. Musicians, crafters and people who simply want to keep their hands busy buy it as often as climbers do.
Is it too hard for older hands?
The Yellow routes are meant to be completed on day one, and the difficulty only rises if you choose a harder route. Some of our buyers are well into their seventies; one wrote: "I started climbing at 73 & I am now 76. My fingers are always tight."
Why are most hand exercisers abandoned?
Because they are repetitive and nothing about them changes. Squeezing the same putty or closing the same gripper feels identical on day thirty as on day one. Tools that stay interesting — with a goal, a level or a next step — are the ones people keep.
Sources
- 1. Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study — Leong DP et al., The Lancet, 2015 — PubMed
- 2. Exercise and physical activity — National Institute on Aging
- 3. Osteoarthritis — NHS
- 4. Hand therapy exercises — Flint Rehab
- 5. Boulder Block Honest Review — an orthopedic occupational therapist's independent assessment — ChadGOrthoOT (YouTube)
- 6. Boulder Block™ — full specification — Climber's Gift
Written from our own post-purchase survey — including buyers in their sixties and seventies, and many who are not climbers at all — and checked against the research and health sources listed above. We make one of these tools. We make no medical claim about it: it is not a treatment for arthritis or any other condition, and it does not prevent anything. If you have pain or a diagnosed condition, a doctor or physiotherapist is the right place to start.
Yellow routes you can finish on day one. Sixty days to change your mind.
See the Boulder Block