You can use different four, three, and even two finger grips and, because the handhold is asymmetric, holding the mug in your left hand opens up even more options. Whether the Pinch Hold Mug is just a bit of fun or whether you can actually increase your grip strength by using it is hard to say. The varied shape of the hold also facilitates a variety of different grips—some being harder than others.

The good thing about the Pinch Hold is that there’s no adhesive and the handhold is part of the mug itself. Some other climbing-themed mugs I’ve seen have an indoor-climbing-wall hold glued onto a ceramic base instead. If I’ve missed anything, feel free to reach out in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer them.But I have been using it to drink hot coffee and tea and, while the handhold heats up a little bit, you can still drink from it as long as you’re careful. Instead of having a handle like a traditional mug, it’s sculpted to look like a rockface and requires the drinker to pinch the hold, in a similar way to holding a rock handhold on a crag or indoor climbing wall. It’s made in Stoke-on-Trent, which is about a three-hour drive from where we’re based in the South West of the UK.

As you can see from the video, the mug is really good quality; it’s fully ceramic with the handhold moulded directly into the design of the mug.

I’ve been using the Pinch Hold as my main drinking mug over the last week or so and wanted to make a quick video (above) to share my thoughts. So, overall I really like the Pinch Hold mug and would definitely recommend it as a gift for both new and experienced rock climbers alike. However, it could also be used creatively to warm up before practising on a fingerboard of something.

Though, it’s still fairly easy enough to hold the mug using a full five finger grip for left-handers. At the very least it will get you used to the different ways in which you can approach and grip a hold and will probably result in some increased grip strength over time as well.So, for newbie climbers especially, I would say that using this mug is bound to have some benefits that will translate over to climbing. ThisIsWhyImBroke is reader supported, some products displayed may earn us a commission if you purchase through our links.