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Gripper Set
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Set refers to placement of the gripper in the hand prior to closure in order to gain best leverage on the handles. Key to a good gripper set is to flex the thumb pad and position the gripper such that the pinky is halfway off the end of the gripper handle prior to the close. Liberal use of chalk on the closing hand will aid in getting a good set, by minimizing the amount the gripper will move around in the hand.
Strong thumbs maximize leverage with a deep set.
The distance between the gripper handles after setting the gripper has a significant impact on difficulty of closing the gripper. The most common styles of gripper sets are parallel, credit card width, and no set. The further the handles are from close after the set, the more difficult the gripper will be to close. Outside of the greater closing distance, the leverage on the gripper handles is reduced via less favorable positioning of the gripper with wider sets.
Impact of hand size on closing a gripper with varying set widths is often debated. An individual with small hands will have greater difficulty obtaining good leverage with a wide gripper set than an individual with large hands. Practice is needed to learn to generate maximum power with any setting style and largely offsets the impact of hand size.
