Captains of Crush Grippers - Certification

Certification

In 1991, IronMind created a certification program to recognize people who closed the Captains of Crush No. 3 Gripper under official conditions. This certification has become the universal benchmark of world-class grip strength.

Richard Sorin was the first person certified when he closed the No. 3 in 1991. John Brookfield was the second person IronMind certified when he closed the No. 3 in 1992. Since then, more than 150 people around the world have been officially certified as closing the No. 3.

IronMind released the Captains of Crush No. 4 Gripper in 1994, but no one was officially able to close it until Joe Kinney was certified in 1998. Only four other people have officially closed the No. 4 since then: Nathan Holle and David Morton (2003) and Tommy Heslep and 1998 World’s Strongest Man winner Magnus Samuelsson (2004). A YouTube clip of Samuelsson closing the No. 4 Captains of Crush Gripper has been viewed over a million times.

In 2008, IronMind expanded its certification program to include the No. 3.5 Gripper. Tex Henderson became the first person to officially close the No. 3.5 when he accomplished the feat on August 5, 2008. Two additional people - Gabriel Sum and Rich Williams - have since officially closed the No. 3.5 Captains of Crush Gripper.