Captains of Crush Grippers

Captains of Crush Grippers (commonly nicknamed CoC) are a brand of torsion-spring grippers (a torsion spring fitted with two handles) designed, manufactured and sold by IronMind Enterprises, Inc., based in Nevada City, California. They are the official grippers of the Arnold Sports Festival, the GNC Grip Gauntlet, United States Arm Wrestling and the World’s Strongest Man contest.

Hundreds of videos have been posted online and numerous blogs have been written documenting efforts to close the grippers. IronMind founder and president Randall J. Strossen wrote a book in 2003, Captains of Crush Grippers: What They Are and How to Close Them, to address some of the myths and questions surrounding CoC Grippers. This book was revised, and the second edition published, in 2009. The grippers have also been featured in publications such as Stanford magazine, The Sacramento Bee, and BusinessWeek’s BW SmallBiz magazine.

In 2005, Trevor Laing composed a song about Captains of Crush Grippers.

Through IronMind’s certification program for people who have officially closed any of the three toughest models, Captains of Crush Grippers have become an “internationally recognized measure of strength.”