Gear review: Grip trainers - Origin vs Scramble

Today I shall be reviewing two similar products by two different companies. The Origin "OrangaHangs" (sweet name) and the Scramble grip trainer (Come on guys you can do better than that). Firstly I would like to say that this in an unbiased review. Yes I was sponsored by Scramble in the  past but that shall have no baring on this review, favourably or unfavourably. Also neither company has asked me to review these. I just am.



So to begin. Both are these products are of very simple concept. They are pieces of gi like material that can be attached to a number of different pieces of equipment (barbells, pull up bars, kettle bells, cable, etc). They are used to work your grip, specifically your hand and finger strength as to strengthen it for when you next grab someones lapel or sleeve. The concept has been around for a while (I saw some primitive versions of these from a company that I cant remember back in 2006). As far as i'm aware I would say that the Orangahangs are probably the most popular and well known having been around a while before the scramble ones, but while the concept is the same the actual design of the two are very different. The differences between the two -


Design


The OrangaHangs are comprised or a two piece design; the body of the gripper, where you hold on to in various way, and a loop that attaches the body to a thick metal ring. You can either feed the loop through its self around a bar or simply use the metal ring and attach that to a clip (or tie shit on it, or whatever you can come up with). The Scramble trainers on the other hand are constructed of a single piece of material comprising of the body and a hole on top that you use to feed the body through to attach it to stuff. I feel that in terms of versatility the OrangaHangs take this. The metal ring allows almost endless attachment possibilites that can be very quickly and easy changed. The scramble trainers need to be put on something with some length to it (barbell, kettlebell, pull up bar) whereas the OrangaHangs can be clipped onto loading pins, chain, bands, etc, etc which just the addition of a carabiner clip.

Orangahangs

Scramble grip trainers

Material

The Orangahangs are made of a significantly thicker material than the Scramble trainers. This has both positives and negatives. I've trained with both and found the scramble ones a lot better for using a sleeve grip (grabbing the bottom and curling it around the tip of your fingers) and pistol grips, I found this slightly less practical with the OrangaHangs considering the thickness of the material. However I found the OrangaHands far better for rolling into a tube and holding like a wrist as the thickness meant when rolled up they had a lot more mass to them than the Scrambles. They were equal when it came to holding the sides in a lapel style grip. Id probably give the edge in feel to the Scrambles as pistol grips and sleeve grips are both pretty useful things to train.



Looks

Who gives a shit how they look?



Price

Without shipping, a pair of Orangahangs cost $49 (£31) and a pair of the Scramble trainers cost £20 ($31) (Crazy coincidence..). So the Scramble ones are a bit cheaper.



The most important one - STRENGTH


Ok. Time for a bit of a story. I first got the OrangaHang trainers a few years ago. I loved them, im a huge fan of grip strength and love any grip related toys. I excited got them out, did some pull ups, played around etc etc. I finished my workout by doing an exercise where we attached the pair together and I held one side and the Goat held the other, we pulled until someone let go (kinda a tug-of-war). It got competitive. We pulled and I herd a small tear, I got excited (I like to break shit). So I pulled harder and bam we tore them. I took a pic and put it on facebook. The owner of Origin found it and contacted me. In all fairness, the service was excellent, I didnt even have him on facebook so I dont know how he found me (come to think of it, its actaully quite worrying... anyway..) and organised for a replacement pair to be sent. I was appreciative as I did like them, I received the replacement pair and I kinda forgot about them. Fast forward a bit and my sponsors at the time scramble release their own grip trainer and I get sent a pair. I play with them, I like them. Fast forward a bit more (im not longer sponsored by scramble at this point) and im at home working out and I remember I have the Orangahangs, I wanna train some grip so I open the packet (hadn't been used since I got the replacements) and I hang them on some hooks in my garage to do some pull ups on, I grab each side with a lapel grip, lift myself up and *chhhhhh* I hear a bit of a tear. Im confused, I tug hard on one and bam the thing rips straight off. Confused at the ease at which them came off I grab the other one. Boom, its off as well.


That night I took the one remaining OrganaHang I had to the academy (was the unripped one from the first pair I had) and proceeded to make the following video.

As I mention in the video I believe that there are a new model of the OrangaHangs, if so then I would be more than happy to test them and see if they are stronger. 

When I first looked at the Scramble trainers I thought they they were very thing and would easily break, compared to the ruggedness of the OrangaHangs. As you can see when looped through correctly they were shockingly strong (the hard you pull the stronger they get). I thought that if I wanted to break them then pulling apart the center loop would rip them easy as shit. And I was blown away by how strong they were in that regard. 

In conclusion, if I was offered either of these I would take the Scrambles. I can't have shit breaking on me. 

Ape out. 

What do I put in my post workout shake?

To begin with, in my personal opinion, nearly all big brand protein/recovery blends are sub par. They generally contain cheap protein, cheap carbs and loads of other crap that you don’t need. I feel the best thing to do is get exactly what you need in the pure ingredient form and create your own blends, allowing for cheaper, better quality shakes (I get mine from myprotein.co.uk). It also allows you to tailor your shakes to suit your current goals. I will use a different blend in the run up to a competition than I will when I'm trying to put on weight. So let's break it down:

Protein  

We'll start with this because it's the most obvious and there is a massive number to choose from.  Let's start with the basics:

Whey - Whey is the most commonly used protein you will come across. Whey protein is extracted from the cheese making process, it's then filtered to create what we call whey protein. Depending on how much it's filtered leaves you with varying degrees of quality. Going from whey concentrate to whey isolate to hydrolysed whey isolate.

Concentrate - This is the least filtered, cheapest form of protein. Because of the low quality it can take 3 hours to fully digest (which if you read part one you will know is no good for after a workout to meet your anabolic window).

Isolate - This is highly purified and will therefore fully digest in within 20 - 30 mins. Which will meet your anabolic window for after a training session. This is what I use. 

Hydrolysed isolate - This is the most expensive most, filtered form of whey and will digest incredibly fast, in around 10 mins. This is therefore great for post workout and is the optimum protein to take. Sometimes digestive enzymes are added in the production process that can reduce the digestion rate to basically instant. Predigested hydrolysed isolate protein in the highest quality protein you can buy. You may be wondering why I don’t take that if it's so good? Because, to put it politely, it tastes like shit. 

WARNING - If you ever pick up a brand name protein powder or all in one you may read something along the lines of “New protein blend”, “Revolutionary protein matrix” or “Whey isolate blend”. What this normally means is that they fill the majority of the powder with whey concentrate and chuck in a tiny spoonful of the more expensive isolate, allowing them to use the term Isolate but not spend too much money. Always check the ingredients, and this is why its best to make your own from the ingredients. 

Casein - This is protein produced through ultra-filtering milk. This is by far the slowest digesting protein around. This can be good for putting on weight, having protein sustaining for long periods of time (when bulking casein is great for before you go to bed) however a terrible choice for a post-workout drink. 

I would talk about alternative/vegan/vegetarian protein but I don’t believe in vegetarians or vegans...

CARBS

As mentioned in part one, carbs are just as important as protein, if anything more important. There are 2 main types of carbs:

Dextrose and Maltodextrin - These are the most common carbohydrates found in most “all-in-one” powders and are basically a building block of sugar. They have a very high glycemic index and therefore create a big insulin spike when ingested. This is good for getting the big post workout insulin boost that you’re looking for during your anabolic window to carry the nutrients to your muscles. Although there are some differences in the molecular structure of the two, what they actually do in your body is pretty much the same. 

Vitargo - This is a higher quality carbohydrate made from starch in a very specific way to give it a particular molecular structure. Vitargo, while still stimulating an insulin response (possibly a even larger one than Dextrose), actually contains no sugar. It also digests far far quicker than glucose derivatives (Dextrose and Maltodextrin). This makes it a lot more efficient at replenishing glycogen supplies and transporting nutrients to the muscles, also causing less bloat and possible stomach discomfort. It costs a bit more than Dextrose but I use this 99% of the time and believe this to be the best post workout carb on the market. 

There are many other things that you can put in a post workout shake but these are the basics and I may go into the other stuff another time. Once you’ve decided what you're taking, you must figure out the amount: 20-40 grams of protein and around double that of carbs. 

So, what I take after every training session (BJJ, weights, conditioning, cardio, some particularly vigorous nights out) is a post workout shake containing around 40g of whey isolate and around 70 grams of vitargo pure. I've done this for the last couple of years and this is what I recommend to most people who ask.

Ape out