Do you need help understanding which design and material is the right fit for you? Hopefully this article makes choosing your grips easier.
Victory Grips offers a wide range of choices. Unfortunately, the more choices you have the harder it can be to pick an option. However it’s this wide range of choices that means there is a Victory grip to suit everyone’s needs. Whether you are a Crossfit Games athlete or just someone starting out, I am sure Victory Grips has the right type of gymnastic grips to suit your needs.
Firstly, why should you spend up to $80 AUD on a pair of grips you might only use a hand full of times a week? Comfort and control are the simple answers. Being comfortable while doing pull ups, toes to bar and muscle ups is very important. Comfort is two-fold, one – You want to feel safe while on the bar, this means you need to have good grip and feel in control. Secondly, you don’t want your hands sore at the end of the workout. If you have ever trained without grips or used one of the cheaper brands for large volumes of work, I am sure you have been in a situation at the end of the workout where you are either wiping the blood of the bar or your hands have been so sore you haven’t wanted to train for the next 48 hours. A quality pair of grips will minimize tears and just as important give you better control on the bar, dumbbell or kettle bell.
Why Should I be only looking at Victory Grips?
Simple, design, research and results. Victor Pellegrino the inventor of Victory Grips has a long history in competitive gymnastic. The unique design of the Victory Grips has been perfected over the last 10 years to give you the perfect Crossfit grip. Victory Grips offers a number of key differences in the market. My personal favorite is “The Fold”, it doesn’t sound like much however Victory Grips are designed to have an extra piece of material which folds over the bar. This extra fold is what takes pressure off your calluses and pro-longs your grip. Next is the “one peace design” – The once piece design means the grips don’t cut into your wrist. Instead they give more comfort when doing large volumes of work. Finally, Victory Grips are the only grips one the market to give the wearer “False grip” support. The extra material over the area of your wrist where the bar or ring sits while performing a false grip pull up or ring muscle up, can make the movement allot more bearable.
So we know why quality grips are worth the money and why Victory Grips are the answer. Let’s look at the range of grips which Victory grips offer. In their range you will see they offer 2 finger, 3 finger, 4 finger and now fingerless grips. They also offer a choice of leather vs a specially designed synthetic material called Stealth. Let’s first talk about why they have so many finger / fingerless options and which option would best work for you.
2-Finger
The 2-finger grips have been designed for people who mainly have callus below their index and ring fingers. The 2-finger option will give the wearer the closest experience to not having any grips on due to its minimal surface area coverage of your palm. If you are an ex-gymnast you will also identify with this design, as they have been designed to mimic traditional gymnastic designs. The 2-finger option gives the wearer the most hand contact with the bar for people who don’t always like to use grips.
Best Suited for:
- People looking for minimal hand coverage but still wanting protection Or Ex-Gymnasts
3-Finger
The 3- Finger is the most popular choice between Crossfit athletes. The 3-finger design was built for people who are likely to tear on the calluses on the last 3 fingers on your hand (middle, ring and pinkie fingers). Offering allot more coverage than the 2-finger, the 3 –finger option also allows for some skin contact still on the index finger and palm.
Best suited for:
- People who have calluses or tear beneath middle, ring and pinkie fingers
- People looking for maximum coverage but still like to have some skin on the bar
4-Finger
The 4-Finger design is for people who would like whole hand coverage. Maybe you are someone who tears in the area between your index finger and your thumb. Maybe you prefer the full hand coverage to help keep your hands soft. If you would like to have your whole hand covered but still have full movement with a barbell, Kettle bell or even when doing Double-unders. The 4 – Finger option is the one for you.
Best Suited for:
- People who tear below the index finger or between the index and thumb
- People looking to have total hand coverage.
Fingerless
The Fingerless design is the newest to the Victory Grips range. This new design was built for athletes that like a quick transition between the pull up bar and other movements. The Fingerless model gives full hand coverage with the quickest possible transition switch out of any of the options. However, true to their values Victory Grips, still kept the false grip coverage on this model.
Best Suited for:
- People looking for quick transition between the bar and other elements but with full hand coverage
Hopefully by now, you have picked which design is right for you. If you selected the 3 or 4 finger options, you have one last final choice to make! Do we go leather or the stealth material?
Leather offers a slight more comfortable grip. As the leather is a little thicker you will receive slightly more cushioning when on the bar. The stealth material however will offer a grippier experience and deals with sweat and chalk a little better in the long run. If you do pick leather I would highly recommend getting yourself a brush, maybe once every 2 weeks spend 20 seconds on each grip just to loosen up the chalk on the grips. This will give the leather grips their roughness back and help you maintain the grips. If you choose the stealth material, these grips can be washed if you find they are getting full of chalk and need a “reset”.
Hopefully after reading this article you now know which grips are best for you. The only thing I can’t help you with is colour. However if you are like me, I like the bright colours so they stand out and I can wear my Victory Grips with pride.
If you do manage to get that first bar muscle up or ring muscle up or even your first strict pull up using your Victory Grips we would love to hear about your awesome accomplishment.