Choosing YOUR Perfect Pair of Grips

A guide to grips for beginners

Yay! You’re getting grips. Do you have a lot of rips? Did you master your kip? Each gym has different rules for allowing gymnasts to get their first pair of grips. Sometimes it’s by level, sometimes by skill requirement. Any way you swing it, getting your first pair of grips is exciting!

Grips are constructed mainly of leather and cover the palm of the hand to protect your hands from blisters created from the friction between the bars and bare skin.

Consult your coach before purchasing grips. Ask if you should be purchasing beginner grips with a dowel, or without. Your coach might also have their own recommendations of brands to use or want to size you themselves.

Below is a list of 5 popular brands of grips gymnasts use and their qualities! *Please note, there are more brands of grips than listed! If you use a different brand we encourage you to let us know what you love about them!

TEN-O
TEN-O is a great brand that offers a large assortment of different types of grips for women to use. Their “pixie” style grips are a great grip for beginners because they offer both a velcro and buckle option, as well as a dowel and palm grip option. TEN-O’s “501 Blues” style options are great for beginners also because they offer a pre-dowel option as well as foam padding in their velcro grips; which is helpful when first starting out. Find them at www.ten-o.com

Baile
Baile grips offer one of the most comprehensive options of wrist support, padding, and style in their grips. From single buckle to double buckle, and to buckle and velcro combined. They’re grips specifically tell you who they’re meant for. They offer a beginner dowel buckle grip which is fantastic for newbies because the leather is narrower than their normal grips and the leather breaks in faster. For more information on Baile grips check out www.gymsupply.com

Gibson
Gibson grips are great because they’re meant for the beginner. Similarly, to the Baile grips, they come in a narrower width. Gibson’s “just right” grip line was made for the beginner gymnast and allows more hand contact to the bar. Often, when first wearing grips, gymnasts find it uncomfortable to not be able to feel the bar at all. The narrow-width grip options are a great first step into wearing grips because of the hand contact still available via the narrower design. Gibson offers three options for beginners; a single buckle version, a double buckle version, and a Velcro option. Find Gibson grips at www.gibsonathletic.com

Nastia Liukin brand
The Nastia Liukin grip line is great for beginners because they offer a locking system which helps to keep your fingers from sliding out of the holes via a rubber band around the dowel. This line offers a beginner grip with no dowel option and transitions smoothly into the dowel option by keeping the design the same but constructing their dowel grips from a heavier leather than their beginner grips. You can find Nastia Liukin grips at both www.gymsupply.com and www.amazon.com

Reisport
Reisport is one of the most trusted grip brands on the market and throughout the world. While they don’t offer a narrow width option for beginners; their grips are made with a stronger leather than most others and are very durable. Reisport grips can also be found at www.gymsupply.com

 We encourage you to do your research when picking out your first pair of grips and hope the options we’ve given you are helpful in helping you to find your perfect pair of grips! To help accessorize them and keep them in one place, check out Destira Grip Bags here!