Which Are The Best CrossFit Gloves For You In 2017?
New CrossFit Gloves for 2017 Best CrossFit Gloves
At the start of 2017, new lines of fitness products began rolling out onto the market. In the rapidly growing sport of CrossFit, many companies have focused on developing new technology and increasing comfort in their gloves to help these athletes perform at new limits. Before throwing out your old, torn up pair, and making an impulse buy, leverage the technology and comfort behind the designs of the top 5 cross-fit gloves for 2017.
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Dynamic Workouts Tear Up Hands
CrossFit is an explosive regimen of workouts filled with dynamic full-body movements, implementing all different types of grips, and demands on your hands. Whether your swinging kettlebells, clinging with bars, gripping dumbbells, or hanging from pullup bars, your hands are critical in CrossFit. It’s also true that even with adequate grip strength, sweaty hands and palms can make it difficult to maintain the leverage you need throughout an intense workout.
Not wanting to stop to dry your hands, it’s important to make sure you have the grip you need when you need it. Even using chalk to help with gripping can dry out your hands and lead to the painful cracking of skin, which can sideline you from working out for an extended period of time. Maintaining the condition of your hands is very important in CrossFit and can be difficult if they haven’t been conditioned to withhold the sport’s extreme demands.
Traditional Weightlifting Gloves Don’t Cut It
The issues listed above have led many CrossFit enthusiasts to turn to traditional weightlifting gloves for relief. Unfortunately, these gloves are typically bulkier and aren’t designed for the cardiovascular intensity and diverse range of motion required in a good CrossFit routine. Also, weightlifting gloves typically cover your entire hand, which can still lead to sweaty hands and cause your hands to slip within the gloves, causing blisters and tears. Weightlifting gloves aren’t designed for the intensity of CrossFit, they incubate hands, lead to sweaty palms and fingers, and an extremely distracting and uncomfortable workout.
The Emergence of CrossFit Gloves
With the high demands of CrossFit and the inadequacy of chalk and traditional weightlifting gloves, a new form of glove, designed specifically for CrossFit, emerged, and this new type of glove continues to develop year after year. Buying a glove designed specifically for CrossFit is important because it was made to solve the specific needs of the sport and aren’t just a blanket solution like any old glove. CrossFit gloves are less bulky, typically made of materials that are both lightweight and tough. Leather is naturally a common material but so are synthetics such as neoprene and silicon. Beyond the simple materials constructing the gloves, CrossFit gloves typically do not have any material covering the backs of your hands.
This makes them extremely lightweight, much more breathable, which helps keep them dry, and helps maintain a natural and full range of motion. During an intense CrossFit regimen these gloves keep you confident by keeping your hands feeling as bare as possible while also adding an extra layer of protection for the softer, more important, side of your hands.
CrossFit Gloves Deliver Better Workouts
Once you make the transition from a traditional weightlifting glove or from bare hands to CrossFit gloves, you’ll see an immediate difference in grip strength and confidence during workouts. Not to mention, you’ll no longer have post workout sores and rashes that take days to recover. With CrossFit gloves you can workout uninterruptedly and more intensely, knowing that your grip isn’t going to waiver and you can get more out of each exercise with the added torque that comes with better traction on the bars, dumbbells, or kettlebell. The days of sweaty, sore, and cracked hands will be gone and the days of making quick progress will be here.
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The Top 3 Qualities to Look for in 2017’s Best CrossFit Gloves
1. Lightweight
In CrossFit, it is extremely important to find a glove that leaves you with that “bare handed” feel as much as possible. Gloves that are too bulky are distracting and as we said earlier, lead to sweaty hands and palms that can still lead to abrasions and sores that are caused from the gloves themselves. Furthermore, the demands of CrossFit require that your hands have a full and naturally responsive range of motion. Lightweight CrossFit gloves ensure that your hands are going to function as naturally they do without gloves while still giving that extra layer of protection you need to prevent injuries.
2. Wrist Support
The majority of CrossFit gloves will do a complete wrap around your wrists. This not only secures the gloves in place but the added compression gives your wrists support and helps prevent any straining from the pull between your hands and your forearms. Wrist support in your CrossFit gloves will help protect your muscles and tendons connecting your hands to your wrists and forearms. The added support will also strengthen and stabilize your grip, giving you more control of the weights or your own body weight, depending upon the exercise.
3. High-Tech Materials
Lots of traditional weightlifting gloves consist of low-quality, leather, hard plastics, or cheap elastics. With the demands for high-technology CrossFit gloves increasing, most of the advances come in the form of materials that are used in the gloves. These materials are designed to deliver the lightweight needs we mentioned above, while extending durability, improving breathability, as well as increasing elasticity to move and flex more freely with the natural movements of your gripping hands.
The Top 5 CrossFit Gloves in 2017
When buying new CrossFit gloves for 2017, it’s important to keep all these factors in mind. In our reviews of the top 5 CrossFit gloves for 2017 we’ll keep all these qualities in mind and more so can choose the right glove to help you exceed all your fitness goals for the year.
1. WODFitters Textured Leather Hand Grips
Via Amazon.com
The motto “less is more” is the phrase that comes to mind with the WODFitters Textured Leather Hand Grips. These gloves perfect for CrossFit have withstood the test of time and continue to remain a top seller, year after year. What sets these gloves a part? They only cover the front of your hands with premium leather and therefore, only give you protection where you need it most. They're extremely easy to take on and off and so you can use them at different points of a workout with any major interruption of your pace. They also strap on around the wrists, giving additional support for your muscles and tendons, which comes in handy especially with hanging exercise which strain those joints and muscles. Furthermore, the premium leather is durable, breaks in overtime to give you a comfortable custom fit, and they absorb sweat well so your hands are left wet and slippery up against the padding.
Pros:
- Easily take on and off
- Premium, durable, leather
- Extremely breathable
- Wrist support
- Most Popular
- Great Price
Cons:
- Stiff leather can cause blisters on inside of fingers until broken in
2. The Gripper
Via Amazon.com
The Gripper is by the most minimalistic CrossFit gloves on the market. They simply go over your four fingers and palms on each hand, leaving your thumb, most of your palms, and the tops of your fingers exposed. This comes with some serious benefits as well as some disadvantages. The parts of your hand that bare the most weight, tear most frequently, and develop uncomfortable and unsightly calluses are all that get covered with The Gripper. This makes them extremely lightweight while also giving you some protection and added grip. They may be perfect for getting the job done with the least amount of material possible. They are also made of a more breathable, lightweight, and flexible, microfiber, synthetic leather, and silicon. These will deteriorate faster than genuine leather but their flexibility will be far superior and fit your hand more comfortably on the first wear.
Pros:
- Minimalistic
- Synthetics provide increased range of motion and comfort
- Breathable materials
- Extra tacky grip support
Cons:
- May leave some parts of hands exposed to wear and tear
- Less durable than leather
3. MAVA Cross Training Gloves with Wrist Support
Via Amazon.com
The MAVA Cross Training Gloves with Wrist Support is a technology driven, highly supportive, CrossFit glove that seems to be the complete package. The majority of material is neoprene which is extremely flexible and will fit comfortably with your hand on the first wear. These CrossFit gloves wrap around the wrists, giving extra support, while only covering the front of your hands to allow for increased breathability. The front of your hands receive extra protection with an extra layer of silicone and split leather over the neoprene. I can see a single set of the MAVA Cross Training Gloves with Wrist Support lasting a very long time.
Pros:
- Synthetic materials increase comfort
- Wrist support
- Increased protection and durability
Cons:
- A bit bulky
- Materials don’t wick away sweat as well
4. WODies 2in1 WOD Grips
Via Amazon.com
WODies 2in! WOD Grips reflect a more modern take on the straight-forward, minimalistic, WODFitters Textured Leather Hand Grips I first reviewed. They convey the same exact design, emphasizing wrist support and palm protection and leaving the rest of your hands exposed, because they don’t need the protection. This makes them lightweight, easy to take on and off, and their synthetic materials provide a perfect mixture of absorbancy, durability, and protection, without being bulky.
Pros:
- Easy to take on and off
- Great protection without being bulky
- Durable synthetic materials
- Sweat absorbent and comfortable
- Breathable
Cons:
- Price
5. Bear CompleX 3 Hole Hand Grips
Via Amazon.com
The Bear CompleX 3 Hole Hand Grips come in both the three finger and two finger versions. They too are extremely low-profile, high quality, offer wrist support, and leave the majority of your hand, which doesn’t come into contact during gripping, exposed to increase comfort and breathability. The Bear CompleX 3 Hole hand Grips are made from soft, high quality, leather, making them extremely durable and comfortable. Another benefit of leather is only a thin layer of protection is needed because of its great strength and durability.
Pros:
- Extremely durable leather
- Low profile
- Wrist support
- Breathability
- Easy take on and off
- Comfort and flexibility
Cons:
- Price
Wrapping Up
All five of these CrossFit gloves are going to meet all of the high demands of your CrossFit regimen. Specially designed and tailored around the CrossFit workout, they are going to uphold under extreme grip situations and provide your hands and wrists the support that they need to keep you off of the sidelines and working hard to achieve your goals for 2017 as often as you desire. Protect your hands and wrists and take your training to a whole new level by choosing the best CrossFit gloves for you in 2017.
