Jul. 21, 2025
Agriculture
When we do high friction movements like kipping and we begin to work on getting movements out of our finger tips, new calluses will start to form and/or blisters will appear when we push it just one step farther than our hands are ready for.
Here are some things I recommend for taking care of our hands as we continue on trying to improve our gymnastics!!
Consistency:
Before we talk about techniques to prevent tears and maintain our calluses, we have to make sure we aren’t always creating new points of contact!
Our bodies will always adapt to new stimuli. It’s what helped make us the dominant species on the planet. We always want to encourage this growth, which is why we always push the boundaries in our workouts and change up what we work on. When it comes to our hands we want to do the opposite. We need to make sure we have 1-2 consistent hand placements and stick with them (the 2 is there because we should also work on false grip).
The reason we do this is that it will create consistent wear patterns on our hand, making it easier to just maintain one set of calluses instead of having to take care of the whole hand every time we do our maintenance routines. Rather put out 1 fire, rather than 20.
The best place to put our hands on a bar is to have the bar as close to the center of the hand as possible rather than the finger tips. The reason being that we can focus more on using our lats rather than our biceps (always use the bigger muscle to move). Another reason is that if we tear in the center of our hand, we can still go about our day using our finger tips. If ya tear your fingers, you will be grabbing everything with exposed skin and we all know that ain’t fun!
Prevention:
The best way to take care of our hands is to make sure that we don’t tear in the first place! The best way to prevent a tear, is to protect your hands!
We always recommend using grips/gloves!
The main thing about using grips is that you can grip the bar, protect your hands, and it is long enough to get a mechanical advantage on the bar. For all grip manufacturers we recommend getting 1 size bigger than what they recommend, this will give you the option to play around to figure what you actually like to do for grip placement rather than going with the manufacturers intent, which may not be your style!
For gloves we want to make sure they fit, have proper ventilation, and can absorb chalk! Gloves do a better job of protecting your whole hand but you will lose some mechanical advantage compared to the grips. I like to personally use these for rope climbs, a place where grips fall apart and roll.
Recommended Grips: Victory Grips (Tactical and X2), Bear Complex (Carbon Grips), and Rogue V2 grips.
Recommended Gloves: Mechanix (The Original Gloves)
Maintenance:
As we do more and more gymnastic movements, we will begin to develop calluses due to the friction we create between our hands and the bar. These calluses will build and start to get really gnarly and raised. It’s at this state that you are at a greater risk of ripping these open, creating a tear!
Tears can happen with or without calluses, it just takes creating more heat or force than your hand is ready to handle at the time. These tears usually occur for CrossFitters through volume and using way too much chalk on overly callused hands!
(Chalk Tip: Don’t be like LeBron on this one. You should still be able to see your skin! Also, applying via scraping rather than crushing ensures a safer amount of chalk coverage).
So how to we manage these calluses to prevent a stray one ripping open? Pumice stones.
You’ll usually hear a callus shaver be mentioned as well but I feel that when people use these, they take off too much removing all the hard work your body put in to protect your hands!
Any pumice stone will do. I use the cheap Walgreens branded one, but as long as it is gritty and you can control the depth of your sanding down, it’s good for the job!
Make sure that when you do this that you wear it down enough to remove the raised edges without removing the entire callus. Shouldn’t take more than 10 second per finger with the main focus being on the big knuckles of every digit but the thumb). Also, do this while your hands are dry. Your hands being wet for a shower is nice because you can remove more quickly, but it also means you are more likely to remove way too much callus!
THE INEVITABLE…Repairing a Hand Tear:
Even if you do all of this, you will tear your hands. It’s inevitable. You will want to kill a workout or just do one too many pull-ups and your dermal layer will become exposed.
What the heck do ya do?
First, make sure you always clean out that wound. Disinfect and clean the wound then wrap it. It’s recommended you put the skin flap the tis created from a tear down over the wound to help improve recovery time. But, every one I have ever seen tear their hands just cuts it off. If you are gonna cut it off, use a sterile pair of scissors.
Great, you performed general first aid. Avoid putting the tear through a high friction situation till the skin heals.
Here’s the thing, you won’t stop moving the whole time you have to heal. Your hands are always in use, which means that your hands can start to crack! If this happens it can be painful to grab on to a pull-up bar for weeks. The way to help heal these cracks faster is to moisturize your hands daily. What we recommend to moisturize is No-Crack Creme. It helps lumberjacks so why not us! The brand we recommend is Duluth Trading Co’s No Crack Creme. When ever I use this stuff my cracks have healed faster than when I didn’t use it. We have had the same tub for 6 years and only used a quarter of it, so it’s a worth while investment if you just like lotion in general. (A little goes a LOOOOOONNNG way).
It’s A Combination:
The thing to remember about hand care is that it is a combination of all the topics covered. I wanna leave y’all with these two clichés. “Buy nice or buy twice,” is only the case to a certain extent with grips, once you get to about 5+ pull-ups in a row, you will start to wear through cheaper grips. The other cliché I would like to use is, “take care of your hands and they will take care of you!” If you are into CrossFit and love gymnastics, you will use your hands a ton. If they always tear, it means you will be doing less work. Invest time into your hands to make sure you can do more of what you love! It’ll take at most 5 Minutes a week and will pay off in the time you go without tearing!
If you do tear, take care of yourself! It’s better to switch to banded strict pull-ups than force your way through kipping pull-ups to push yourself. You will improve either way, so why prolong any unnecessary pain.
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Now go have fun with your gymnastics, protect your hands, and let’s aim to have as few hand tears as possible!
We’ve reviewed 10 of the best CrossFit grips available to buy online and added a buyers guide to help you choose the best ones for your WOD workouts.
Since CrossFit involves a lot of holding on to metal bars like kettlebells, barbells and pull up bars, it can take a heavy toll on your hands. So having a quality set of hand grip protectors is essential if you plan to get serious about CrossFit training without shredding your paws.
Below are reviews of 10 of the best hand grips for CrossFit, available to buy online. We’ve included those designed for more for pull ups and others that are better suited to kettlebell swings and barbell lifts.
Bear Komplex Carbon Hand Grips are one of very few sets of grips made from carbon fiber, with the majority being made from leather. The material is durable and flexible, and the grips, which come in a 2-hole or 3-hole design, are especially ideal for pull up bar exercises and do tend to fall short of leather grips for barbell training.
The carbon fiber really does a good job of gripping and while the Bear Komplex grips are a little on the expensive side, they will last and they will protect your hands well. Other than the high price, the only real pitfall is that the circular finger holes tend to dig in a little bit.
Leather grips are the most common type of hand grips for CrossFit and many other exercise and gymnastics formats. They’re strong, tough, and they offer the kind of protection you want. However, they can be inflexible and get hot and sticky.
ProFitness Ventilated Cross Training Gloves are made from a suede leather. It offers greater flexibility and breathability while still offering decent protection. The hand grips come with two or three finger holes, according to your preference, and are a good all-rounder grip. These inexpensive grips also have wrist support, although the sizing can be a little bit off so you do need to double check when you order, to avoid disappointment.
Single use grips are designed for exactly that purpose: use them once and then throw them away. They stick to your hand and wrist using adhesive and they are supposed to be sweat-proof, although this is only really true for shorter workouts. The grips are reasonable, however, and suitable if you’re in a pinch. Also, we know some people prefer single-use grips, even though we believe you would be better finding a decent set for long term use.
If you’re new to CrossFit or are just looking to try some grips out of the first time, single-use grips like the WOD And Done Grips might be a good option, although there are cheaper options out there that can be used for much longer and offer better grip. Alternatively, you can throw a pack in your bag for emergencies or as a backup, until you find a permanent pair.
Element 26 is another company experimenting with the use of different materials, and their IsoGrip Hand Grips use a rubber material that grips onto the bar even without chalk. They don’t have finger holes which can be a blessing and a curse. The gloves don’t feel as secure around the fingers but there is no danger of the grips digging in around the base of the fingers.
The wrist strap can also be trimmed to size, which means that there shouldn’t be any problem getting a good fit no matter your hand size. The grip itself is made from a single piece of rubber so there is no stitching to fail and the material won’t stretch. They’re also a decent price, although there are cheaper options out there.
Picsil Azor Grips come in a 2 or 3 hole design and they’re made from a patented material that is flexible enough to sit around a pull up bar but strong enough to offer decent protection. The material may not be strong enough for hard rig work or regular heavy weights, but great for pull up bar work.
These hand grips are priced reasonably and are comfortable. They’re also washable, which means you can get rid of the smell after a those intense workouts.
AEOLOS Leather Gymnastics Hand Grips are true leather grips. They have three finger holes and are designed to be robust and firm. They’re also very reasonably priced and do have wrist support built in. They also come with a free carry bag.
Some users will love the firm leather, while others will find them inflexible, and this inflexibility is magnified by the connected wrist strap. Because the whole thing is one piece, it means that you can’t move the support separately to the gloves. For this, the grips are only really suitable for exercises and movements that don’t require wrist movement because you’ll have to keep putting them on and taking them off.
WODFitters Textured Leather Hand Grips are a fairly basic grip design with two finger holes and a fastening wrist loop. The textured leather is robust and strong while being surprisingly flexible. The textured grip does prevent slips and gives you confidence on the bar, too. The grips are also some of the cheapest on our list.
However, while the grip itself is good quality, there are some issues with the wrist strap. The nylon fabric is easily torn and the stitching has a tendency to break, while the strap itself digs into the wrist and can leave marks and calluses behind.
WOD National Barbell Gymnastics Grips are the cheapest set on our list and are made with tough leather so the grips will last. The extra protection offered by the leather grips makes these a great choice for beginners. They offer more protection and they grip hard, although their lack of flexibility means that they aren’t the best option when progressing to more challenging work and progressive routines.
You have to pay attention to make sure you get a good fit, especially because the finger holes are unforgiving so you should expect them to dig in around this area. And, their lack of flexibility is not only uncomfortable but it does lead to tearing especially around the wrist strap area.
JerkFit WODies Hand Grips With Wrist Straps are made from a neoprene material and have a padded palm section. They have three finger holes and a wrist strip, which needs to be fitted or the grips are unusable. They do a good job of protecting the hands when doing most exercises, but they may not be the ideal solution for all.
First, the WODies fall on the expensive side of this list. What’s more, the wrist strap has to be attached to use the grips, which will prevent solid muscle building in the wrists. Also, while the padded grips do offer a sense of protection and prevent most injuries to the hand, the padding can prevent you from achieving a reassuring grip on the bar.
RooGrips 3-Finger Protective Leather Hand Grips have 3 finger holes, although they also sell 2-hole grips for the same price and are made from leather: kangaroo leather, in fact. They shouldn’t tear but apparently offer good protection on the bar. When you sweat, the leather will get stickier, rather than slicker, and are coated to soak up moisture.
The RooGrips are the most expensive grips we reviewed, presumably because of the cost of kangaroo leather and because of the additional coating. Also, the grips are thin and they feel it, which means less confidence when using them. This also means that while they are durable, they are not entirely protective against blisters and calluses.
CrossFit grips can protect against injury and improve grip. There are various grips on the market and you need to find a set that fits your training style and suits your preferences.
The primary materials used in CrossFit grips are:
There is some debate regarding the use of wrist straps for CrossFit grips. On the one hand, they offer support and can help prevent stress injuries. On the other, if you rely on wrist straps, you won’t be building wrist muscles which may hold you back in the long run. Whatever your preference, ensure that the straps are comfortable and offer a firm fastening when worn.
A few of the sets above have cushioned grips. This means that the palm section of the grip is padded which obviously provides greater protection against the bar or material that you’re gripping but having that extra padding in the grip means that it can be difficult to get a really strong grip and decent purchase and it might be especially impractical with kettlebells and on the CrossFit rig.
CrossFit should be challenging on the whole body, but that doesn’t mean you want to tear your hands and endure blisters and calluses. Grips help prevent these injuries to the hand, and they are considered an essential tool to a CrossFit workout.
We found the Bear Komplex Carbon Hand Grips to be both sticky and durable, although a little on the expensive side. If you’re just starting out or working on a tight budget, the ProFitness Cross Training Grips are not only inexpensive but are breathable and provide good wrist support.
Are you interested in learning more about crossfit hand grips manufacturer? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
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