Gymnastic hand grips primary purpose is to prevent blisters and had tears due to high friction forces on your palm. Grips secondary purpose is to aid in grip on the bar or rings. However, the amount of artificial grip that the hand grips provide directly correlates to the amount of grip strength you have. The tighter you can "squeeze" the pull-up bar by your hand, the better you will be able to increase the amount of traction "grip" that hand grips provide resulting in better grip on the bar or rings overall.

Hand grips effectively work by creating a layer of high friction surface between your palm and the pull-up bar. This aids in grip and protection at the same time. The more force you can apply onto the grip from your palm, the better the grip will be.

Gymnastic Hand Grips For CrossFit & Functional Fitness

Q: Do I really need grips?

This is a fair question to ask and one that should be taken into consideration. A rule of thumb is, if you are not ripping your hands, you don't need grips. It is always better to develop natural grip strength first. Once you are more proficient at skills like kipping pull-up, toes-to-bar and muscle-ups and you start to feel your hands getting sore with more volume, this is the time to invest in grips to protect your hands.

Q: Which grips are right for me?

The best pair of grips for you are based on your personal style, goals and types of pull-up bars you commonly use. Chalk grips like BumbleBee and Panda are designed to be used with chalk for best performance. These are also very suited for gymnastic rings. No chalk grips types rely heavily on clean contact with the pull-up bar to aid in absolute grip. BumbleBee grips will work on most types of pull-up bars and rings. If your gym uses chalk and there is chalk on the bars, these are the best option for you. Panda grips are designed for higher volume work due to the thickness and generally work best on rough, uncoated (bare) bars with chalk as well as gymnastic rings. Seal and Seal Pro grips are strictly no chalk models. Seal Pro is designed for clean powder coated bars while Seal grips will hold better on clean uncoated (bare) bars. Pit-Viper grips work on chalk or non-chalk surfaces. They are great pair of grips to have if you are constantly mixing surfaces. Important thing to note, Pit-Viper grips are ultra-thin and do not have sweat-proof back layer.

Q: Chalk or no-chalk grips?

There is no right or wrong. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Chalk grips have higher lifespans and more versatility, because they can be used for other pieces of equipment such as kettlebells or gymnastic rings. No chalk grips are mostly made of rubber compounds and offer maximum absolute grip on clean pull-up bars, however, they might experience higher wear-rate depending on use.

Q: How to use hand grips?

Reyllen gymnastic hand grips are designed to be worn slightly looser around the wrist. If you can poke a finger in between the wrist strap and your wrist, this is the optimal tightness. This way the grips brace around your wrist and prevent any skin pinching. For best result with any of our grips we recommend thumb-over style grip, however, if you prefer thumb-under bar grip, make sure you have you knuckles as high up and over the bar as possible for grips to work their magic. Important note - The closer you can get the bar to the wrist strap, the better the grip will be.

Q: How long should grips last?

Grips are high friction, high wear product. They go through a lot of stress and force on daily basis. As a result they will wear-out over time. The wear-rate depends on the bodyweight, frequency of use and the amount of reliance on the grips themselves. Typically we recommend changing grips every 6-9 months. *BumbleBee and Panda grips can have very long lifespans if taken care of properly, well beyond the 9 month mark.

Q: What size grips do I need?

Reyllen gymnastic grips have been re-designed for simpler more straight forward sizing. We offer sizes WIDE and NARROW. This refers to the wrist strap and wrist circumference. Use the sizing chart on the product page for most accurate sizing reference. Most male athletes will naturally wall into size WIDE and most female athletes size NARROW. Both sizes offer more than enough length with optional cutlines to cut the length to size desired.