IronMind EGG - Green

I gave my first eggs away as gifts, so needed to repurchase. I’ve had one in the house for years. It’s awesome quality and if looked after should last a lifetime. On a very hot Summer’s day the egg can become a little soft and not spring back into shape as quick. It’s the only downside I’ve encountered with it. It comes in a plastic packet with instructions from IronMind how to use it. I play with grip sport and am between an IronMind CoC 2.5 and a #3 Gripper. My hands are pretty darn strong. If I only had one grip implement to use I think it’d be the green egg. Grippers are quite hard on the hands and some people get injured when using them (normally incorrectly). Because the egg doesn’t push back like a Gripper does I think it’s a very safe piece of gear to be used at any age. You’ll never regret having a strong grip and the egg is a safe and painless way to develop one.

This is my review for the IronMind Green (Soft) Egg hand exerciser. This is a great device. The first thing I want to note, though, is that if you don't have a strong grip, this "soft" egg will feel fairly firm. At first it didn't make sense to me, but when I thought of it in the scheme of the whole line of IronMind hand exercisers, it did. Although for someone with low grip strength, it will seem firm, for someone who is beyond the first few IronMind "Captains of Crush" hand grippers, it won't. And for someone even higher up on the Captains of Crush, it will seem plenty soft, and the even firmer Blue (Firm) Egg will have an appropriate place as a firmer alternative to the Green Egg. As a testament to all of this, when I first got the Green Egg, I could only do a few reps on the Captains of Crush "Trainer", and I could not close a "0.5" at all. At this time the Green Egg seemed very firm. Now that I am doing my working sets on a 0.5, and can almost close a "Number 1" with my dominant hand, and have been using the IronMind "IMTugs", the Green Egg feels much softer. Keep in mind though, that just because the Green Egg may be firm to a weaker hand, that doesn't mean that it wouldn't necessarily be a good therapy or exercise tool for that hand. I was still able to use it when it was firm like that to me. I just couldn't squeeze my hand very far shut with it, which I can do now. This may or may not be a drawback for you. The Egg has a very interesting, "substantial", squishy feel, and has a great shape that can be used in different positions, either working the whole hand at once, or one finger or thumb at a time. I think that it is a great choice for this type of item, but you just need to be careful choosing it if you think it may be too firm for you. Also know that it is not a small item. It is larger than an average chicken egg and will fill the grip of your hand unless you have huge hands. This is not a drawback though. It still works nicely.

I've purchased three "Eggs" over the last couple of years - one for me (see below), one for a buddy who had carpal tunnel surgery and used it (and still uses it) to rehab post-op, and one for another buddy who unfortunately had a stroke and has impaired use of his right hand (among other issues) to maintain and improve the strength of his hand and wrist (he says it's helping). As for me, the Green Egg (formally known as the "1-Minute Egg") is the perfect complement to the Captains of Crush grippers. I have 4 CoC's: (Trainer, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0) and use the first three (as I've aged I've retired the 2.0). The Green Egg has (for me) the right amount of resistance to warm up for a serious work-out with the CoC's. It's also a great "break" to use on the off-days, when you're hands are sore or otherwise "tapped out" and recovering from hard sessions with the CoC's or recovery following a hard weight workout (for example, doing multiple sets of barbells and/or dumbbells where your grip strength gets torched). In my experience and humble opinion, unless you are religious about working on and maintaining peak grip strength, you will begin to lose it - something you cannot afford if you're trying to hold any serious weight against gravity (for example, any exercise involving heavy dumbbells, barbell dead lifts, shrugs, rock climbing). The Green Egg is a great way to "fill the gap" between CoC workouts as well as a warm-up and overall stress reliever. The Green Egg is relatively "soft", but it's challenging, with a nice "heft". It can be used "fat" side up or down to work different parts of the hand and fingers. Finally, yeah, it's not cheap, but you'll get years of use and you won't regret the investment. Addendum: I purchased the "Blue" egg two weeks ago. It's much firmer than the Green egg and will wear you out faster when you're doing multiple squeezes either as a workout on its own, for a warm up or cool down after the Captains, or for stress relief. I keep the Green egg at the office now for stress relief and "on-the-job training".

What a good tool to have nearby to relieve stress and build strength.

Good size, nice texture and provides effective resistance. Provides a good exercise for building up to the grippers, I'm currently on the 2.0 gripper.