I own them, and they are well worth the money. They are easy to use and extremely durable. You can use them on pretty much every barbell/dumbbell exercise. However, I don't think you should go in with crazy expectations about how much stronger you're going to suddenly get. Absolutely, your grip strength will increase, but you need to use them intelligently. If used on pulling exercises (most back and arm exercises, deadlifts, etc.) your forearms will gas out far before your intended muscles (back, arms, etc.), which is detrimental to their development. There are ways to get around this, so by no means is this a reason not to pick up a pair. Just understand that you're going to have to use them in creative ways (I'll give an example in a min.)
Likewise, with pushing movements, you may feel an initial loss of strength. This will go away within a few workouts, as soon as you get used to the thickness of the grip. I suggest doing every single pushing movement with the grips. Though it doesn't work your grip anywhere near as much as the pulling movements will with the grips, you will definitely benefit, and it allows you an easier transition into implementing them. More so, lifting with the grips makes far more functional sense if you compete in bjj, wrestling, or even mma. Most guys' wrists are far thicker than the typical olympic bar. Getting used to handling weight the thickness of the grips is extremely helpful when you transition over to one of these disciplines in which controlling the wrists is important. This is by far where I've seen the greatest improvement.
Now, back to using the grips with pulling movements. Flat out, I'm opposed to using them with any variation of the row. You simply cannot sufficiently work out your back muscles without first exhausting your forearms and biceps. I suggest not using the grips for these exercises. If you do bicep curls, absolutely use the grips every time. More important than either of these, though, is how you can use them when doing compound movements such as the deadlift. Many powerlifters who use thick bars often perform a kind of wave technique, switching from thick bar to standard olympic bar, thus effectively working both their grip strength and their intended muscles as well, without being hindered by exhausted forearms. I do a similar thing with the Fat Gripz, and I have to say it works really well. Basically the programming goes as follows:
On all your warm up sets, use the grips. Once you are ready to begin working sets, you will be alternating back and forth between lighter weight with the grips and heavier weight without. You may think that this will tire your forearms out far before you get to your heavier sets, but that simply isn't the case. When using the thicker grips, your body is required to recruit more muscle fibers to lift the same amount of weight. After completing a set with the grips, your muscles will still be primed to attempt to recruit roughly the same amount. By swapping to the heavier weight without the grips, you take advantage of the increased muscle fiber recruitment, and are thus able to lift the weight without suffering from the heavy work your forearms just did the previous set. A sample wave routine on deadlifts would look something like this:
Warm up sets with grips, working up to a real starting weight:
135x5; 135x5; 185x5; 225x5 (however many it requires to get up to your starting weight)
Once you are sufficiently warmed up and ready to start, simply start alternating sets with/without the grips, such as:
225x2 with grips, 315x5 without, 225x2 with, 345 without, 225 with, 365x? without, etc., etc.
I don't know if you even do deadlifts, and if you do what your set x rep range is. Regardless, this wave pattern can be used for other exercises as well. I always do 8 sets of deadlifts, and never any set over 5 reps. The alernating allows me to still work with the really high weight on some sets, but also get the benefits of working my grip strength on the in between sets.
I know that was a lot of information, and perhaps far more than you were looking for, but I hope it helps. In the end, definitely purchase a pair. However, realize that you are going to have to get used them, and learn to use them in ways that are beneficial to what your goals are. If you want to make them work, check your ego at the door. Your lifts are going to take a major hit initially, in terms of how much weight you can move, but if you stick with them they are well worth it - especially if you compete in bjj or wrestling.
