^ +1
ive been conditioning my hands into weapons for a year now. my knuckles are much like small hammers, and my fingers are much like small spears. im confident that my claws could rip flesh and the organs behind it, should they grab ahold of something soft and malleable. my grip is thusly quite strong.
im training up to this level:
as i want to be able to puncture ribs, flesh, throats, etc with one finger, and simultaneously not have to worry as much about my weapons (fingers) becoming damaged by attacking weapons.
to start hand conditioning, you need nothing but your body. knuckle pushups and mantis finger pushups are all you need. versatility can be achieved by swapping the positioning for pushups, such as doing them upside down (vertical), with one hand, changing tempo, etc. its also not a muscle exercise either - you dont want to be absorbing the shock of impact with your muscles (meaning you arent doing pushups for your chest/arms/etc). you have to breathe very quickly, and perform the reps as fast as possible.
at first it puts such unbearable stress and pain on the joints that most would give up after the first try. it can take months for the pain to become tolerable (it never becomes painless). also, doing them improperly can lead to broken knuckles or fingers, so its best to get some instruction (theres youtube vids if u wanna go that route).
i can easily do 20+ reps on just my index fingers and thumbs. 40+ if i add the middle fingers. countless reps if im using all 5 fingers. i can pretty much do knuckle pushups all day.
a couple of months ago, one of the head instructors of one of harlem's more renowned karate academies challenged me to a pushup contest, just for fun. i nearly shit a brick when a teacher of many decades even considered lining up next to me in anything, and took him up on it. i had to use just index finger and thumbs, but he was doing thumbs only, and did like 1.5x as many as me before popping up and just smiling, shaking my hand, and walking off.
there are of course gimmick items that will
increase your grip, but your body is all you need to use to get your grip at its maximum potential. why settle for some cute toy that gives you the appearance of a strong hand, when you can just strengthen your hands for real any time, any place, any where?
two-finger-zen is the ultimate hand conditioning discipline:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LkhVeW7VV0