Product Review: NewGrip Weightlifting Gloves

The fitness world is divided into many different niches. There are those that swear by aerobics, those that believe in resistance training and other dorks who go around aimless and get swayed by the latest greatest trend and end up seeing no results. I belong in the resistance training crowd, which is further divided into micro niches. There are those that spend their time on stupid machines and those that man up (or woman up) and lift the heavy stuff against gravity – the way it was meant to be lifted. And if you are into lifting free weights, then you’re gona benefit from the latest product I’ve been testing for the past 2 months.

”It is no secret… Weight lifting is a contact sport, and the contact is with your hands. And your hands lose every time. But not any more. NewGrip gloves are like shock absorbers for your hands because strength goes up as sore hands and grip fatigue go down. You can also customize the way NewGrips fit and function to match your unique hand shape and grip need… The Hand Pads attach to the Wrist Support Straps with velcro. Adjust them ‘longer’ for pulling and ‘shorter’ for lifting and pushing.”

Let me get something out of the way – you should not use gloves all the time and every time. A little bit of callusing, chaffing and soreness is part of the game. There also nothing that beats the grip of bare hands with a bit of chalk on raw steel. Nothing. However, there are times (such as days where you’re lifting for a personal best) where using proper gloves will save your hands. Like I said, a bit of calluses and shit will toughen up your hands but beating them up over and over will result in rips and tears which will keep you away from the gym; and that’s a frustrating position to be in. Trust me, speaking from real world experience here.

Now, NewGrips aren’t exactly gloves and so I’m going to compare them to an earlier product I reviewed – the Gripads. Both function similarly but when it comes time to lift the heavy shit, they feel very different. Both have strengths and weaknesses so I’ll leave it up to you to decide what to get. I have both, and I like it that way.

So let’s talk about the strengths. First and foremost is the kick ass wrist support. While wrist straps are things that I think you should use sparingly, they come in quite handy on heavy bench days. I also like the fact that there isn’t a “one size fits all” nonsense. The pair of NewGrips that you order will be custom suited to your wrist size and as such you can wear them loosely if you wish.

Next is the ingenious grip design. Once again, it’s one of those products where you’re playing around with it thinking to yourself “Fuckk… why didn’t I think of this?!”. It’s brilliance is in it’s sheer simplicity. The grips have a very strong velcro pad that attaches to the wrist strap, allowing you to adjust the length of the grips. If you check out my Gripad review, one of the things that annoyed me was the fact that they weren’t long enough for my big(er) than average hands; making the bench press a painful experience. With NewGrips though… it was a pleasure.

Then there is the neoprene material that the grips are made of – it’s tough shit. With Gripads, shortly after my review, the pads started to tear up while using it for heavy deadlift sessions but in the two months that I’ve been using NewGrips, they look as good as new.

And finally we have the custom grip ability. Unlike the Gripads which only had one way to use them (first 3 fingers), the NewGrips can be used in anyway you like. You can use three fingers, two fingers or all fingers or even no fingers. It’s nice to have choices.

So, compared to the Gripads these things sure seem like a winner, right? Hmm… not so fast. See the two things that the Gripads excelled at was sweat absorption and absolute grip. And while NewGrips provide a very respectable amount of grip, they absolutely suck at sweat absorption. I found myself removing the pads after ever set and letting my hands air out because if I didn’t, the sweat would collect between my skin and the pad and then all my pulling exercises would go to hell.

Trust me, when you’re doing heavy deadlifts, having absolute grip becomes crucial. It can literally mean the difference between a clean lift and nothing. I found out the hard way when the bar slipped out of my hand. I’m not sure if you’ve ever heard what 325lbs sounds like when hits the floor from waist height but I can tell you that a 10 foot radius around me went completely silent. Heh. From time to time I still get looks from the regulars at the gym when I load up the bar for my deadlift sessions. At the time it happened I was pissed… but now I just think its funny. So yeah, air it out.

Other than that I had no problems using NewGrips for all my lifts. They were particularly useful for the dumbbell bench press and pullups. Even muscle-ups were a pleasure since these things will only grip if you squeeze hard and in a muscle-up there is a transition phase where your hands must twist around the bar… and these let you do that! The harder you squeeze, the harder they grip. Nice.

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