Are grips ruining your gains?
Walk into any Crossfit gym or watch any CrossFit competition anywhere on earth and without a doubt you will see multiple athletes (if not every athlete) with flaps of material strapped to their wrists – the ubiquitous “grips”. For anyone who has been in the space for a while they are accepted as an essential piece of equipment for you to go anywhere near a pull up bar but those new to the CrossFit space they are one of the first things people ask about when they see them in a gym (What are they? Do I need them? Shortly followed by “Ive ordered a pair”).
A quick tip for newbies dont even think about suggesting “Could I wear gloves?” – even though you can buy Rogue gloves and they have been worn at the CrossFit Games in the past – gloves aren’t cool and obviously a sign of weakness that you want to protect your hands but grips on the other hand are perfectly acceptable… (dont try and break down the logic of this, just accept it as a CrossFit thing))
There is definitely no doubt that modern grips have made it easier (read – a LOT easier) to hold onto a pullup bar for significantly more reps of movements. What is up for debate – are they inherently a good thing for regular people training in the gym aiming to become as physically proficient as possible?
What are grips?
First a quick history of the grip and CrossFit – people have been ripping their hands pretty much since Day 1 in CrossFit, rips aren’t fun and people wanted to find ways to stop that happening. This is a very key point – initially it was all about protecting the hands, we saw guides for how to tape your hands, we saw pre cut strips of tape available for sale, then through the joys of capitalism and innovation we saw the first Crossfit specific hand protectors available for sale. It was JAW in 2011 that really got the ball rolling with their 2 fingered fabric hand protectors (memory tells me they were about $30?) – these things changed the game and a LOT of them were sold, and a lot of bloody hands were saved.
Interestingly around this time the Crossfit Games rulebook was also very clear in stating that you could protect your hands but gymnastics grips were and to this day are still banned. That rule essentially highlighted gymnastics grips which contain a wooden dowel and are used by competitive gymnasts to hold onto bars to save grip – these are not permitted at all in CrossFit as you know we don’t want you to have artificial help holding onto the bar… We’ll get back to that later and whether any grip has actually resulted in any penalty.
So from 2011 till now we have seen the grip evolve from 2 finger holes to 3 finger holes to now no finger holes and the material getting longer and longer (looking more and more like that dirty illegitimate gymnastics grip), the material has changed from fabric, to leather to now space aged hypernano tech super sticky material that in some cases loses all of its function if it even see’s a speck of chalk and we have seen them go from $30 to it being very easy to spend in excess of $100 to cover your hands and hold onto that bar (minimising the use of those pesky “hands” of yours)
So now they are clearly marketed as grips and they do a very very good job of taking out some of the hard work of holding on to a bar, the question remains – is that inherently a good thing? Bear in mind we’re not talking about the elite end of the functional fitness spectrum (read : competitive CrossFit athletes – we’ll address that later on) – we are talking about everyday people looking to develop physical proficiency as part of the bigger picture of total wellbeing (which is essentially what CrossFit for most people should be)
First there is definitely a case for hand protection, especially if you require hands that aren’t shredded up gnarly bird claws for your job – yes you need to protect your hands because rips are no good, so grips can be the answer here. The other less cool answer is – maybe you should look at what you are doing to rip your hands – one answer potentially is volume, have you considered that you might actually be doing an excessive amount of kipping movements in your program? Could some of that work be replaced with strict work? Would just a good hand care routine along with developing more grip strength solve the issue?
Now we get to the crux of the situation when the grips start handling most of the gripping and not the person wearing them. One of the primary tenants of CrossFit is functional movement, in functional movements the body works as whole, as a system if you will – now if you are taking out some of the grip aspect of an exercise, ie physically having to hold onto the bar during pull ups or toes to bar are you not just missing an opportunity for your grip strength to develop in line with your ability to perform those movements? The goal is always to get strong – why would you skirt around it?
If you are unable to perform a movement because you aren’t strong enough to hold onto the bar – perhaps there is a case for looking at the problem (ie I need to work on my grip strength) rather than just addressing the symptom (ie – grips are a quick fix for the issue). There is definitely a metaphor for modern medicine in here about getting healthy vs getting quick fix drugs from a doctor, which ironically a lot of people in Crossfit preach about but we’ll leave that alone for now.
If you are someone that can “do” most CrossFit movements – perhaps is time to reevaluate your actual proficiency with them – Can you perform 5 strict pull ups, 10 kipping chest to bar pullups, 15 toes to bar , 1 strict ring muscle up and/or 3 bar muscle ups without grips? If you can’t do these minimums without grips then maybe its time to reconsider how proficient you actually are at these movements. It could be a case of taking 1-2 steps back to take 3 steps forward in terms of actual proficiency and gain a greater understanding of priorities in terms of strength and skill development. If the base of your gymnastics work in CrossFit is not or hasn’t been built around strict work – you are doing it wrong, if modern grips are in some way responsible for people fast tracking towards high volumes of kipping movements before developing the requisite strength and movement pattern in their training – that’s 100% a problem.
The Pointy End – Competitive Crossfit athletes
This is where the waters get a little murky and does start to become a little chicken and the egg. High level Crossfit competitions are high volume, that’s not up for debate – you will regularly see workouts with movements up around and beyond the total 100 rep mark. Event 2 of the recent Semi Finals had 5 rounds of 20 toes to to bar in it and doing it unbroken every round was very much an option for a lot of athletes – would it have been an option for as much of the field without grips – uh no. So first question – have the grips evolved to better meet the existing demands of the sport OR has the sport evolved the volume to meet the performances allowed by the equipment? Or a little of column A and a little of column B.
Looking at the final event of Semi Finals, would it have been different without grips A) being banned just for that event or B) for the 5 years leading up to the event? Were athletes struggling to hold onto the dumbbells due to them being super heavy OR did the grips allow them to hold on for a bigger set of muscle ups compromising their ability to carry them OR is the grip strength / endurance of high level CrossFit athletes relatively poor compared to the rest of their physical attributes due to the constant use of grips? These points are just intended to be food for thought – to not just accept everything just is what it is but to stoke a bit of conversation about how maybe competitive fitness could be done better.
Now Crossfit recently banned the Alec Smith grips due to being in violation of the long held grip rule, this in itself is somewhat comical considering they are essentially no different to countless other grips on the market and they have been used in competition for the last 6 years. Should the grip rule be actually enforced fully? Should all grips just be banned or should there be a standard issue CrossFit grip – ala Pirelli tyres for all F1 cars. Equipment manufacturing sponsors have always danced technical requirements and duelled with governing bodies in basically every sport to gain a competitive advantage since sport was a thing – think disc wheels in cycling, speed suits in swimming, the Cathy Freemans outfit at the Sydney Olympics – the list goes on, is this just CrossFits version of that dance?
Heck – Gymnasts wear gymnastics grips – should we just allow them or do we admit the demands of the activity a little different – the stakes are a little higher flipping between uneven bars than knocking out Fran with your chin barely getting over the bar (and people say Crossfit is dangerous)
These are all debatable questions and a lot of people would say, yes just let grips be a thing for high level athletes but something to consider – but undeniably like it or not what happens at high profile competitions like the CrossFit Games filters down into the grassroots gyms – things like butterfly pullups are a direct result of competition, If what is considered normal unbroken volume of movements steadily goes up at Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and the Games then that idea will filter through to affiliates and it will alter the expectation of everyday athletes of what they should be striving to achieve
At the end of the day – you do you, if you are convinced that grips are the secret to higher order fitness – strap those bad boys on and ignore everything you just read. All I ask is that next time before you grab those grips, matching sweat bands and proprietary technology chalk removing towel from the handy carry case in your gym bag that you take a moment to think about what you are ultimately trying to achieve in the gym – do you want quick fixes and instant gratification or are you seeking genuine mastery and longevity with your training – and do those grips line up with the goals?