Get a Grip
All it takes is one bad rip (of the hand, not the rear, variety) to experience the pain-in-the-assed-ness that is a workout-induced tear.
“Any athlete who has ever had a rip will tell how much showers suck and how hard it is to continue your workout once your skin goes,” says Nate Richie, Co-Founder of Bear KompleX, a grip brand made to solve this very problem. Can’t relate? Imagine a B-A-D skinned-knee… on your palm.
In addition keeping showertime from becoming a scream-fest, *not* tearing is essential for reaching your fitness goals, according to physical therapist Grayson Wickham, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., founder of Movement Vault, a mobility and movement company for athletes. “Consistency is the number one determinant of how quickly you’ll reach your fitness goals,” he says. “If you rip your hands, you have to either stop working out or train around your hands until it heals—which typically takes about a week.”Any injury is going to side-line your training and result in less speedy gains, and “a rip is an injury, of sorts,” says Wickham.
Pull-ups, chest-to-bar pull-ups, bar muscle-ups, toes-to-bar, ring muscle-ups, ring rows… according to Richie, any workout that features a pull-up bar or rings can break down your hands. But “wearing grips can delay the process and keep you in the game and out of pain,” he says.
When You’re Holding Through Hell Keep On Holding…
“In addition to keeping your hands healthy, a good pair of grips will actually allow you to hold onto the bar longer than you’d be able to without them,” says Richie.
He explains: Good grips, which are typically made out of leather or a sticky (hu)man-made material, won’t slide off a slick pull-up bar the way your hands—especially sweaty hands— might. And on textured, rougher pull-up bars they’ll provider a barrier between your bar and your hand so you can hold on longer without worrying about collateral damage.
Haters say wearing say grips interfere with proprioception of—aka your ability to feel—the bar. But Wickham says that’s hodge-podge. “In theory the wrong pair of grips could do a little, but not enough to keep them from being beneficial,” he says. Cheers to net positives.
To figure out which grips are best, I (ahem) handed it over to the experts. Below, Expert Pull-Uppers (as they’re officially known) dish on the best grips.
Bear KompleX Carbon Comp 3 Finger Grips
Link: https://www.bearkomplex.com/collections/hand-grips/products/new-bear-komplex-carbon-comp-grips
“They’re on the thin side, are built for competitive athletes, and take less breaking in than leather grips,” says Tony Milgram CF-L1, coach at ICE NYC in New York. Leather grips, according to Richie (who, again, works for Bear KompleX), usually take five wears to break in, while these carbon ones are ready-to-wear right away.
Pro tip: Opt for the tan or grey color over black or purple. According to Milgram, the darker colors leave a ring of color around your wrist after a sweaty workout that’s hard to get off.
Bear KompleX 3Hole Hand Grips
Link: https://www.bearkomplex.com/collections/hand-grips/products/bear-komplex-3-hole-hand-grips
Not vegan? I recommend Bear KompleX’s classic leather grips. (ICYWW, I’ve got creds! I coach CrossFit in addition to writing about it!). While this pair comes with two or three finger hole option, I prefer three because it’s usually the callouses below my ring and pinky-finger that cause me trouble.
“Three finger holes are a must for people who rip on the outside of their palm,” confirms Richie. Though he says most CrossFitters say they like the way the three-hole feel, while gymnasts tend to opt for the two-hole pair. The more you know!
Pebble Grain Roogrips
Link: https://www.roguefitness.com/roogrips-2-hole-kangaroo-pebble-grain-hand-grip
Kara Saunders, Tia-Claire Toomey, Pebble Grain Roogrips… Yep, all of CrossFit’s greats come out of Australia.
Made of textured kangaroo, these grips feature two finger holes and a slim-cut design. Best described as “grainy”, or even “course” they’re great if the pull-up bar at your gym is slick.
Taylor B, 22, a Florida-based CrossFit athlete who uses them says, “I find that some of the other grips are so thick that turn every bar into an extra-wide bar, but these are pretty thin and light.” She adds that the the wrist Velcroed attachment is less obtrusive than some of the other grips she’s tried. Noted.
Goat Tape
For folks who like to go raw dog but *know* a particularly pull-up or toe-to-bar heavy workout (like CrossFit Open Workouts 17.2 and 19.5, for example) will do their hands in, Wickham suggests making your own grips out of Goat tape. It sounds complicated, but the whole arts & crafts sesh takes less than 90 seconds. This video will teach you how.
“They’re really thin, while still protecting your hand,” he says. “I like them because unlike pre-bought grips which sometimes bunch, these lay flat against your hand on the bar.”
Real talk: At 9 bucks a roll, Goat Tape ain’t cheap. But does it work better than ‘ole athletic tape? Much. As Wickham says, “Regular athlete tapes is fine for a one-and-done pair, but I can usually get Goat Tape grips to last me a few workouts.”
WOD and Done
Link: https://wodndone.com/product/wod-done-athletic-grips-low-1-20pc/
If the other grips on this list are menstrual cups, these bad boys are tampons. Meaning, use ‘em then toss ‘em (though ideally not in the crapper).
Made of a self-adhesive kinesiology-tape-like material, each package features two long cylindrical sheets with three holes (where your fingers go), and a slit at the bottom (so you can wrap the tape around your wrist).
“They really help protect my hand, I’ve never ripped while wearing them,” says New York based CrossFit athlete Amy Winn, 33. “I wear them for workouts with pull-ups, toe-to-bar, and even WODs with a lot of barbell cycling.”
She notes that at under five foot tall she has really small hands, and that some of her larger-pawed workout buddies found that they slipped off. Though, that could be because her buddies have sweatier palm. Still, for grippy WODs they’re worth a try.
AEOLOS Leather Gymnastics Hand Grips
Somewhere between half a one-third the price of the other grips on this list, Milgram says, “they’re a great beginner pair.” Will they last forever? No, only three to six months. But they’re a good way to figure out if 1) like grips, 2) like leather grips, and 3) like leather grips with three-finger holes.
“Once you know what you like you can splurge the extra twenty to thirty bucks on a nicer pair,” he says. Gotta love a mindful money hack.
Victory Grips Leather 4 Finger
Link: https://victorygrips.com/collections/4-finger-grips/products/womens-4-fingers
This are the one-piece bathing suit of grips: Fullll coverage. These babies will cover your entire palm, giving protection to the spot between the forefinger and thumb where many athletes rip.
“There’s a bit of extra fabric on the side by your pinky, which offers protection when you’re using the false grips, like during ring muscle-ups,” says Allison B. Warner, M.D., Ph.D., an ICE NYC CrossFit coach, who swears by Victory Grips.
Note: While the featured pair is leather. Victory grips makes a vegan-friendly pair from a high-performance synthetic microfiber material that’s actually lighter-weight than these.
Victory Grips Freedom
Link: https://victorygrips.com/pages/find-your-grips#freedom
Bridget Sloane, an Olympic Silver Medal Gymnast turned CrossFitter, is a big fan of this finger-free grips. “My fingers tend to rip during chest-to-bar and toes-to-bar, and these grips actually allow me fold the material over the bar, protecting my fingers,” she tells me at Power Monkey Camp.
Hole-free grips are a great options for competitive CrossFit athletes. Milgram explains: “Instead of wasting time putting your fingers and in and out holes, you’re able to seamlessly transition from the barbell to the rower to the pull-up bar by simply changing where the flap is.” In a sport where mere seconds determines who’s the Fittest On Earth, and who’s not, quick transitions matter.