THE HAND OF GOD MICRO + BUMPER

Our gripper is precisely engineered to trigger the isometric activation of your FDP muscles. It features friction-free rollers and an ultra-small hold size, ensuring that your grip relies solely on muscular contraction—not on skin friction. This deliberate design means that every moment of your exercise, especially the crucial final seconds, is maximized for peak muscle stimulation. Tailored to match your finger length, depth, and width, even the pinky (designed with a wider roller due to its natural twist direction under load) benefits from optimized ergonomics for effective training.

Crafted via 3D printing and customized to your specific hand measurements, our gripper offers impeccable ergonomics. By aligning finger joints and wrist base perfectly, it distributes pressure evenly across your hand. Additionally the rollers are designed to minimize nerve ending stress when loading on small edges, it has the benefit of heavily reduced pain when the grip is lost and lastly skin is preserved as you simply roll off and there is not friction on the rollers.

This design drastically reduces the risk of muscle injury, tendon injury and skin problems compared to traditional crimp or drag grips, making it the ideal for climbers who demand both performance and safety. 

Athletes across all sports train with optimal ergonomics to maximize gains and minimize injury risk, ensuring they’re as strong and ready as possible when it matters most. The Hand of God Micro follows this same principle—designed to virtually eliminate skin wear, reduce injury risk, and deliver superior muscle stimulation—so you can perform at your peak when climbing.

Engineered to isolate FDP contractions, our gripper minimizes overlap with other muscle groups. Its small edge—approximately half the length of your fingertip—ensures that only the intended muscle group is activated. This precise design not only enhances strength gains but also allows for training while dealing with minor injuries or skin issues, allowing you to train consistently under various conditions. The friction free design also ensures that can train consistently not depending on the weather, heat and moisture of the room.

Despite being 3D printed from high-grade plastics, our gripper is built to last.
Our gripper is engineered to release when you reach muscle failure, which can happen suddenly. To prevent it from striking hard surfaces, we recommend using padding, pulley systems, or wrist straps. While it's virtually indestructible under normal climbing use, avoid dropping or banging it against metal plates or loading pins.

It is built to last, but we cannot guarantee that it won't break if dropped on sharp edges, from high levels or onto heavy weights.

Ultra-light and portable, this device is perfect for training sessions anywhere, whether as a warm-up or as your main workout tool.

Hand of God Academy playlist for gripper hold instructions and most common issues to experience when you first start using the grippers. Watch

How do I know that the fit will be good and how do I know if the picture I took is good enough?
Our manufacturing process is as meticulous as it is innovative. Using a photo you provide, we capture 16 exact hand measurements with our own custom-built software. Combined with our algorithms, the process has been refined for more than a decade, this creates a production file tailored to your unique hand shape. The result is an ergonomic fit with a precision deviation of less than 0.2 cm.

We review all photos for quality before charging customers to ensure we can deliver a product that fits well. So far, we haven’t had any users dissatisfied with the fit.

Can you share a gripper between two or more people?
Every Hand of God Gripper is completely unique and they should only be used by the person whom it was made for. Otherwise the gripper will not target the user in an ergonomically optimal way, which we do not advice. Only the person it was designed for should use the gripper.

Are there benchmarks to follow for training?
Every Hand of God Gripper is completely unique and they can't be used to benchmark between climbers. They are designed to optimally target the respective finger flexors for long term training. The only real benchmark is yourself.

My finger feels lazy or like it won't engage at the same level as the rest. Is my fit off?
No, if a finger feels lazy due to underuse, regular training over weeks to months will strengthen it. Try lighter and longer hangs for specific finger work. Eventually all fingers will feel around equally engaged.

Why do we choose to provide our custom gripper over an adjustable one?
Adjustable grippers require too many fine-tuned adjustments that can never perfectly match your unique anatomy. They come with multiple screws that may loosen over time, adding unwanted weight and altering the optimal pulling direction, which is key when pulling on a small edge friction free at your limit. Even small deviations in pulling directions have large effect on performance. In contrast, our device is precision-tailored to your specific dimensions, ensuring consistent performance and maximum effectiveness with every use.

My gripper has some deviation from the pictures.
Each gripper is individually made, assembly is by hand, minor imperfections may occur as well as minor changes to design layout and colours. If a colour is out of stock we will use another (purple, green, blue) for rollers for example.

What is the Grip Gains training application?

The Grip Gains app is a comprehensive training subscription offering a lifetime of climbing progress through effective finger strength training. It is the culmination of over a decade of performance tracking of over 17,500 distinct climbing training sessions using the systems implemented in my own coaching practice. These systems were developed through an intrinsic motivation to see continuous improvement in my own climbing while balancing a career as a physician. The app formalizes and automates the coaching framework I used to eventually achieve V15 bouldering, projecting up to 9b sport, and sending 8C boulders in a day, while maintaining a full-time medical career and family life. Rather than being a simple logging utility or spreadsheet, the Grip Gains app is a true training coach that programmatically adapts to your performance, goals, and constraints using sophisticated algorithms I used to track every training session over 10 years.

How does the Grip Gains app work?

The application operates through five integrated modules: the Performance module, the Training module, the Plan module, the Coach module, and the Results module. First, the app helps you establish a robust baseline of your current finger strength across relevant grips and positions through calibrated efforts on your Hand of God device. Second, it prescribes progressive overload sessions at precisely calibrated efforts to maximize adaptation while minimizing injury risk. Third, it dynamically adjusts your training plan in response to your actual performance metrics, schedule changes, and recovery signs. Fourth, the Coach module tracks trends, flags plateaus, and recommends program modifications based on your history. Finally, the Results module presents your progression, compliance, and performance trajectories in an intuitive way so you can understand how your training is translating into real-world climbing capacity. All of this is automated and individualized based on your continuously refined metrics.

Why is the Grip Gains app exclusive to Hand of God owners?

This decision is fundamentally about training ethics and safety. The app is designed around RPE 10 training on Hand of God devices, which uniquely allow individualized, low-risk maximum-effort finger training through their biomechanically sound grips, customizable force curves, and supportive wrist positioning. Using RPE 10 protocols on generic or non-optimized grip tools significantly increases the risk of acute and chronic finger injuries because those tools lack the anatomical individualization and controlled loading characteristics that Hand of God provides. To be blunt, prescribing RPE 10 “maximal effort” training on poorly designed edges, with suboptimal wrist posture, or on grips that were not calibrated to your hand is irresponsible. Restricting access to those who own Hand of God devices ensures that the training system is used with tools that match the intended safety and performance criteria, enabling sustainable maximum intensity safely for years without injury setbacks.

What does RPE 10 training mean and why is it important?

RPE 10 represents training at true maximum effort, where additional repetitions or longer holds are physiologically impossible without a decrease in quality or form. In the context of Grip Gains and Hand of God, RPE 10 is not about unsafe strain or reckless overreaching, but about precisely calibrated maximal efforts in an anatomically safe environment. We prioritize fully controlled, high-intensity contractions that maximize recruitment of motor units and stimulate the highest degree of neuromuscular adaptation. This is only safe when the grip shape, depth, texture, wrist position, and support geometry are individually matched to your anatomy and force curve, as they are with Hand of God devices. RPE 10 training is a powerful stimulus to increase maximum finger force, which in turn improves your ceiling for all submaximal efforts in climbing. When properly implemented, RPE 10 allows you to achieve more gains with less time, provided that the tool and protocol are properly aligned to your hand and performance level.

What is a force curve and how does it work?

Your force curve is an individualized profile of how your fingers produce force through the full range of motion in a given grip. Every climber’s force curve is unique due to differences in tendon insertion angles, finger lengths, pulley dimensions, muscle architecture, and joint mobility. On a traditional hangboard or fingerboard, you are forced into a narrow, fixed position that may or may not correspond to the strongest or safest part of your force curve. Hand of God devices are designed so we can match your grip geometry to the optimal portion of your personal force curve, providing both higher training quality and lower injury risk. The Grip Gains app uses your performance data collected through Hand of God sessions to better understand how you produce force, then tailors loading strategies that push you in the right parts of that curve. Over time, we can shift and expand your force curve, meaning you become stronger across a broader range of motion, not merely at one arbitrarily chosen edge size or joint angle.

Why does individual hand anatomy matter so much?

The small structures of the hand and fingers are highly variable from person to person. Differences in finger length ratios, tendon and pulley positions, joint alignments, and even skin and tissue composition all influence how force is distributed during a grip. When you force different anatomies into identical, rigid grips, some climbers will load tissues near their capacity or in poor alignments, dramatically increasing injury risk. Hand of God devices are created from individualized photos and measurements of your hand so that each device conforms to your specific anatomy. This individualized shaping ensures more even force distribution across your fingers, safer joint angles, and a more repeatable, predictable loading environment. This is the foundation that allows us to apply aggressive, RPE 10 style progressions in a way that is ethical and sustainable across many years of training. In short, the better we match the tool to your hand, the better we can safely exploit your full strength potential.

What is Hand of God and how is it different from a normal hangboard?

Hand of God is a family of custom-engineered finger training devices that are individually shaped to your hand and designed specifically to allow maximal effort training at low injury risk. Unlike standard hangboards, which are flat, mass-produced, and fundamentally generic, Hand of God devices are 3D-printed based on your personal hand photos and measurements, resulting in tailored grips that map to your anatomy. They incorporate subtle shape, depth, and curvature variations that respect your natural finger angles, force vectors, and preferred joint stacking. The device is also modular, portable, and geared toward targeted strength work rather than generic finger discomfort. Whereas normal hangboards push everyone into the same shapes and often rely on “hard edges” and extended time-under-tension in compromised joint positions, Hand of God is built to handle short, maximal contractions in safe joint positions, enabling progressive overload and substantial long-term gains with far fewer injuries.

Why is hangboard training often risky and misused?

Traditional hangboard protocols and tools frequently place climbers in positions that are far from their optimal force curve and load distribution. Many programs emphasize long-duration hangs, half crimp or full crimp positions on small edges, and arbitrary edge depths without consideration of individual anatomical variation. Climbers often chase numbers or edge sizes without a clear framework for intensity, recovery, and tissue tolerance. This combination leads to a high incidence of pulley injuries, joint irritation, and chronic finger pain. Another issue is that many hangboard programs are built around submaximal static holds that do not maximally recruit high-threshold motor units. This means they provide a subpar stimulus for maximum strength development while still imposing high cumulative strain. Hand of God and the Grip Gains app approach training by making maximum intensity safe and repeatable using individualized grips and carefully controlled RPE, rather than compressing everyone into a one-size-fits-all tool and hoping their anatomy tolerates it.

Why is maximum intensity training the core of this system?

For improving maximum finger strength, the most efficient stimulus is high intensity, near-maximal or maximal efforts performed in low volumes with sufficient recovery. This is how you preferentially recruit and train the largest, most powerful motor units that underpin your peak force output. When maximum intensity training is carried out with proper biomechanics, excellent joint positions, and appropriate progressions, it can be remarkably effective with relatively little time investment. Hand of God devices enable us to reliably create those ideal conditions, and the Grip Gains app provides the framework to apply them consistently. The alternative is a high volume of submaximal or poorly controlled training that accumulates fatigue and tissue stress without the same stimulus for adaptation. Over years, maximum intensity training, done correctly, actually reduces injury risk by building resilient, stronger tissues and cutting out much of the redundant and risky “grind” work that does not meaningfully improve your ceiling.

Why do you focus so much on safety in maximum effort training?

Maximum effort training is only an advantage if it is sustainable without frequent injuries. The hands and fingers are small structures doing outsized work in climbing, and any compromise in alignment, force distribution, or progression can push tissues beyond their safe limits. Hand of God was designed explicitly to manage this risk: individualized grips, carefully staged progressions, appropriate rest intervals, and tight integration with the Grip Gains app. We spend so much effort on safety not because we are risk-averse, but because we want maximum intent training to be something you can practice for years or decades. Many climbers experience cycles of strong progress interrupted by finger injuries, forced layoffs, and rebuilding from scratch. Our goal is to break that cycle by making hard training structurally sustainable. This demands strict attention to biomechanics and load management, which is only feasible when the hardware and software are explicitly constructed around those principles.

Can I get the same results using a regular hangboard and a spreadsheet?

In theory, a highly knowledgeable climber with deep understanding of biomechanics, load management, and data analysis could approximate some aspects of the system using standard hangboards and custom spreadsheets. In practice, however, almost no one does this consistently or safely, and even those who do are constrained by the limitations of non-individualized grips. The Hand of God and Grip Gains system is essentially the productization of that entire process. It packages individualized hardware, optimized grip designs, robust RPE 10 training protocols, detailed tracking, and adaptive programming into a single integrated experience. Instead of spending hundreds of hours building your own system and still training on generic edges, you leverage a toolset designed from the ground up for this purpose. This does not mean standard hangboards are useless, but it does mean they are a suboptimal platform for the kind of long-term, high-intensity finger strength development we are targeting here.

How does the Grip Gains system fit into my overall climbing training?

Grip Gains is designed to be the backbone of your dedicated finger strength work, not a replacement for climbing itself. Most climbers will use the system alongside their normal climbing sessions, whether indoors or outdoors. The app will help you structure maximum finger strength training in a way that complements your climbing volume, rather than competing with it. Because the sessions are relatively short but high intensity, they can often be placed on days where you have limited time or as a focused “strength block” within a broader weekly plan. Over time, the increase in maximum finger force will raise the ceiling on all your climbing efforts, making previously difficult grips feel more secure and repeatable. The app’s adaptive planning makes it easier to balance climbing, strength work, and life obligations by adjusting for session completion, performance trends, and fatigue signals, so you can maintain consistency without constantly micromanaging your own training design.

Do I need to be an advanced climber to benefit from Grip Gains and Hand of God?

No. While the system has been developed and validated at the highest performance levels, including my own training up to V15 and 8C, the underlying principles are just as relevant for intermediate climbers. In fact, intermediate climbers often stand to gain the most from structured, safe, maximum-intensity training because their baseline strength and tissue conditioning leave ample room for progress. The key is that the loads and progressions are scaled to your current performance and capacity. The app will not push you to absurd targets; it will work with the metrics you generate on your Hand of God device and build from there. That said, if you are a very new climber, your first priority should still be general climbing movement, technique, and basic finger conditioning through normal climbing. Once you have a basic foundation, the Grip Gains and Hand of God combination becomes an efficient and safe way to accelerate your finger strength development beyond what unstructured climbing alone can provide.

How time-consuming is this training system?

One of the advantages of maximum-intensity, low-volume training, when done correctly, is that it is very time-efficient. Grip Gains sessions are designed to deliver a meaningful stimulus within relatively modest time windows, often 20–40 minutes depending on the configuration of your week and your current phase. Because the app automates exercise selection, load prescription, and progression, you avoid the overhead of planning each session yourself. For working climbers, parents, and those with limited time, this style of training is often more practical than high-volume, low-intensity approaches that demand multiple hours per week of additional hangboarding on top of climbing. The system is built with the assumption that you have a life outside of climbing and need training that is both effective and compatible with real-world constraints.

What kind of progress should I realistically expect?

Specific progress will vary based on your training history, current strength, injury history, and how consistently you follow the program. However, for climbers who have never engaged in structured, high-quality maximum-intensity finger training, it is common to see substantial improvements in maximum force over the first 6–12 months. These gains tend to be particularly pronounced in the first few months as you adapt to better joint positions, improved recruitment, and clearer training structure. Over years, progress naturally becomes more incremental, but the system is designed to help you keep moving forward by making small, steady improvements and avoiding setbacks. Importantly, Grip Gains is not marketed as a “2-grade improvement in 8 weeks” gimmick. It is built as a long-term platform for sustainable strength development. The goal is stable upward trends over years rather than dramatic short-term spikes that burn you out or get you injured.

Is this system only about fingers, or does it help with overall climbing?

The primary target of Hand of God and Grip Gains is finger strength because this is often the main limiting factor in hard climbing and one of the most difficult qualities to train safely and efficiently. However, the effects of improved finger strength ripple out into the rest of your climbing in several ways. Stronger fingers allow you to relax more on holds that used to feel close to your limit, which preserves energy and improves movement quality. You can attempt harder moves with better confidence, try more challenging projects, and sustain more high-quality attempts in a session. The system also encourages a disciplined approach to training structure, load management, and data-driven progression that often improves how climbers think about all aspects of their preparation. While Grip Gains is not a full-body strength or power program, it can easily coexist with other training blocks and forms a robust cornerstone for any performance-oriented climber.

How do I get started once I have my Hand of God device?

Once your Hand of God device arrives, you will receive detailed instructions on taking the initial baseline measurements and RPE 10 calibration sessions that the Grip Gains app will use to set up your profile. You will create your account in the app, connect your device profile, and perform a series of guided efforts that map out your starting point. From there, the app will generate an initial training plan tailored to your current capacity and schedule. You simply follow the prescribed sessions, report your perceived exertion when prompted, and let the system adjust your plan accordingly. As you accumulate data, the app becomes increasingly precise in its prescriptions. We provide clear onboarding materials and support to make sure you understand how to perform the efforts, interpret the feedback, and integrate the sessions into your weekly climbing routine. The hardest part is often just committing to consistent execution; the app and device handle the complex thinking beneath the surface.

What equipment do I need to use the Grip Gains app?

The app is designed exclusively for use with Hand of God devices because of the safety and performance reasons outlined above. You will need a Hand of God device that has been customized to your hand and configured properly with its mounting and loading options. You will also need an appropriate place to mount or hang the device safely, whether at home or in a training space, as well as any additional small accessories we specify for certain protocols. Beyond that, you only need a smartphone or device that can run the Grip Gains application. We have designed the system to keep additional equipment minimal so that once you have your Hand of God, you can largely train anywhere with a stable anchor point – a doorway, beam, or training frame is sufficient. The goal is to bring high-quality finger strength training into your real life context, not to require a complicated gym setup.

Can I use the training principles with other grip tools?

While the principles covered in the Grip Gains ecosystem – progressive overload, RPE 10 calibration, data-driven adaptation – are generally applicable concepts, we strongly discourage trying to replicate the specific protocols on non-individualized or poorly designed grip tools. Doing so negates much of the safety foundation that allows us to advocate maximum-intensity training. You may certainly apply more general lessons about structuring your training, respecting recovery, and tracking performance trends to other aspects of your climbing and strength work. However, the full system – including the most aggressive and effective elements of the programming – is intentionally tied to Hand of God hardware. We have no interest in encouraging climbers to push RPE 10 efforts on arbitrary edges or implements that were not built for this type of training. Responsible coaching means acknowledging the limits of generalization and keeping the complete integrated system requires the proper tools.

How do you program training around outdoor climbing?

The Grip Gains app is designed to be flexible around outdoor seasons, trips, and project cycles. During periods where you are climbing outdoors intensively, we typically reduce the volume of high-intensity finger sessions or shift their timing to avoid interference with performance days. The system allows you to flag outdoor climbing days, adjust your priorities (for example, performance vs. long-term development), and adapt the plan accordingly. Some climbers prefer to use the system more heavily in the off-season to build a higher strength base, then maintain during peak outdoor periods. Others maintain a low but consistent dose of Grip Gains training year-round, even when climbing outside frequently. The key is communication: you inform the app about your schedule and objectives, and the program changes accordingly. Outdoor performance sits at the top of the pyramid; the system exists to support, not undermine, your climbing outside.

What about periodization and training cycles?

Grip Gains uses a form of “auto-periodization” where the structure of your training evolves based on your performance data, load tolerance, and goals rather than rigid, pre-set blocks that ignore reality. That said, the system still respects the classic concepts of training theory: phases of higher emphasis on accumulation, intensification, or consolidation naturally arise as you move through your plan. For example, after phases of strong progression in maximum force, the app may reduce peak loading to consolidate gains and avoid chronic overload. Similarly, when signs of stagnation or plateau appear, it can adjust volume, intensity distribution, or exercise selection to re-sensitize you to the stimulus. For climbers with well-defined competition or project windows, the plan can be further tuned to peak at appropriate times. The goal is not to force you into abstract periodization models, but to make periodization a living, responsive process grounded in your actual results.