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Iron Man Hand Grippers

The Iron Man hand grippers were a line of heavy-duty torsion-spring grippers manufactured by Warren Tetting and sold through Iron Man magazine from 1964 through 1977. At a time when most commercially available hand grippers were relatively easy exercise devices, the Iron Man grippers were deliberately made difficult enough to challenge serious strength athletes.[1]

Although sales were modest, the grippers became an important link between early hand exercisers and the modern heavy-duty grippers used in grip sport. Tetting's later work, including grippers produced for IronMind and his own Beef Builder line, developed the same basic concept.[5][6]

Origins

The first Iron Man gripper appeared in the December 1964 issue of Iron Man magazine. It sold for $4 and was advertised as the "Super Heavy Duty Iron Man Gripper." According to historian Joe Roark, who reconstructed the product history through magazine advertisements and interviews with Warren Tetting and others, that first advertisement was already misleading. The gripper being sold was actually the model later called Heavy Duty, not a separate Super Heavy model.[1][2]

This naming error became the first of several complications that now make surviving Iron Man grippers difficult to identify.

Models

The line eventually included four actual resistance levels:

  • Light: An all-metal gripper with resistance closer to an ordinary sporting-goods gripper. It was the easiest and least successful member of the line.
  • Heavy Duty: The original 1964 model. Despite being the easiest of the three serious strength models, it was difficult for most people and many trained athletes.
  • Extra Heavy Duty: A substantial step above the Heavy Duty, intended for exceptionally strong hands.
  • Super Duty: The hardest established model in the line. It was frequently confused with the nonexistent "Super Heavy" designation used in some advertisements.

By September 1966, Iron Man was advertising Heavy Duty, Extra Heavy Duty, and Super Duty versions. A fourth model was later added, but the magazine initially assumed that the new gripper was harder than the other three. It was actually the easiest. By November 1974, the lineup was correctly presented as Light, Heavy, Extra Heavy, and Super.[1]

The Light model disappeared from advertisements in September 1976. The remaining grippers were last advertised in November 1977, when inconsistent sales and limited advertising space brought the magazine offering to an end.[1]

The nonexistent "Super Heavy"

Period advertisements repeatedly used the name Super Heavy, but Roark's research concluded that Warren Tetting never produced a distinct Iron Man model by that name. The term was used first for what became the Heavy Duty and later for a fourth gripper that was incorrectly assumed to be harder than the Super Duty.[1]

An old gripper described by a seller or collector as an "Iron Man Super Heavy" therefore cannot be identified from that name alone.

Construction and identification

Original Iron Man grippers used steel handles and heavy torsion springs. Surviving examples are known with both smooth and knurled handles, and examples vary in overall width and geometry.[1][4]

The largest identification problem is that the grippers were not given permanent model markings. There was no number stamped into the handles, no color code, and no consistent set of initials distinguishing one resistance from another. Two examples may look similar separately even though their spring and overall dimensions differ when placed side by side.[1]

Identification should therefore be treated cautiously. Useful evidence includes:

  • documented ownership history or provenance;
  • comparison with authenticated examples;
  • handle diameter and length;
  • spring wire diameter and coil dimensions;
  • spread and overall geometry;
  • knurling style;
  • pin, weld, and spring-mounting details.

Measurements can support an identification, but they should not be presented as a conclusive model guide until enough authenticated examples have been documented. Variation noted by original owners makes a simple dimension chart potentially misleading.[1][4]

How difficult were they?

Modern RGC ratings are not available for a sufficiently documented sample of original Iron Man grippers, and historical poundage claims should not be compared directly with modern rating measurements.

Roark reported Warren Tetting's estimate that the Super required approximately 220 pounds of pressure to close. This was a historical estimate, not a modern RGC rating. Tetting also suggested that someone capable of closing the Extra Heavy for 20 to 25 repetitions might have the strength needed to close the Super.[1]

Surviving accounts also suggest meaningful variation between examples. Terry Todd believed differences in both spring strength and gripper width affected performance. A wider example could prevent even a very strong athlete from wrapping all four fingers effectively around the handle.[1]

Notable stories

Terry Todd and the mystery gripper

Lifting News reported in July 1966 that Terry Todd closed an Iron Man gripper for five or six repetitions. Which model he closed became surprisingly difficult to establish.[1][3]

Warren Tetting recalled that it was probably an Extra Heavy. Peary Rader later gave Todd a Super that Todd reportedly could not bring halfway closed. Former national powerlifting champion Jim Witt remembered the story differently. Witt said he kept the hardest of three Iron Man grippers in his Dallas gym and promised it to anyone who could close it. After numerous strong men failed, Todd closed it for four or five repetitions and took it home.[1]

Todd still owned that gripper when Roark researched the article. The conflicting accounts may reflect mislabeled grippers, differences between individual examples, or the lack of permanent model markings. Rather than resolving the story, it illustrates why the original line remains difficult to document.

Scott Studwell makes the Heavy look like a toy

Roark recalled giving an Iron Man Heavy Duty to Scott Studwell while Studwell was a student at the University of Illinois. Studwell closed it so quickly that the handles clicked together, then closed it again without using his little finger. When handed the Super, he brought its handles to approximately parallel. Studwell later won the NFL arm-wrestling championship and became a longtime linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings.[1]

Even Warren Tetting could not close the Super

The grippers also demonstrated how specific crushing strength can be. Tetting reported performing ten wrist curls with 325 pounds in July 1967, yet said he was never able to close the Super gripper. Roark used this contrast to illustrate how poorly one form of hand and wrist strength may predict another.[1]

Legacy

The Iron Man grippers were not the first torsion-spring hand exercisers, but they were among the first commercially available grippers intentionally built to stop very strong athletes. Their steel construction, heavy springs, and escalating resistance levels anticipated the modern use of grippers as strength challenges rather than merely light exercise devices.[1]

In 1990, IronMind founder Randall Strossen worked with Warren Tetting to reintroduce heavy-duty grippers derived from the Iron Man tradition. Those early IronMind grippers led to the Silver Crush and eventually the Captains of Crush line.[6] Tetting continued producing grippers under his own names and for other strength-community projects, giving the original Iron Man design an influence far beyond its thirteen-year magazine run.[5]

Later Warren Tetting and Beef Builder grippers should not automatically be identified as original Iron Man examples. Construction similarities can help explain Tetting's development as a maker, but provenance remains essential.

Further reading and photographs

References

  1. Joe Roark, "The Iron Man Hand Grippers," *Iron Game History*, Vol. 1, No. 2, April 1990, pp. 18-19. PDF hosted by the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center. ↩
  2. Peary Rader, *Iron Man*, Vol. 24, No. 1, December 1964, p. 58. Cited and analyzed by Joe Roark in reference 1. ↩
  3. *Lifting News*, July 1966 and October 1966. Cited by Joe Roark in reference 1. ↩
  4. David Horne, "David Horne's Gripper Collection", Iron Man collection entries. Horne identifies his Heavy, Extra Heavy, and Super as Warren Tetting grippers obtained from Joe Roark in July 2001. ↩
  5. Matt Cannon, "Tetting Gripper Timeline", The GripBoard, begun March 5, 2024. The author describes it as a developing record and identifies uncertain dates accordingly. ↩
  6. Randall J. Strossen, J. B. Kinney, and Nathan Holle, *Captains of Crush Grippers: What They Are and How to Close Them*, IronMind Enterprises, first edition 2003, second edition 2009. ↩

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