What Are Victory Grips and What Makes Them Special?

Are you tired of having nasty calluses and rips in your hands from lifting? Then you should check out Victory Grips and seriously consider adding them to your gym bag. Victory Grips are particularly useful for CrossFit athletes, gymnasts, and weightlifters who often use pull-up bars and barbells during their workouts. 

Below we will discuss what Victory Grips are, what they are made of, the different styles to consider, and the many benefits these grips provide to athletes who enjoy training in functional fitness and CrossFit. 

 

What Are Victory Grips?

Victory Grips are a type of lifting grip often used by CrossFit athletes during WODs (workouts of the day). They are used to help support and protect athletes’ hands against calluses and rips while lifting and gripping different bars throughout a workout. 

Lifting grips, often referred to as CrossFit grips or gymnastic grips, also help with grip strength when performing specific complex exercises such as toe-to-bars, muscle-ups, and pull-ups. 

Victory Grips were specially created by Victor Pellegrino, a former gymnast turned CrossFit athlete. When designing Victory Grips, Victor collaborated with athletes of all levels to perfect his product. Victory Grips were designed in the United States and are still manufactured here using the highest quality materials. 

 

What Are Victory Grips Made Of? 

You can find Victory Grips in four different materials: 

• Leather: Leather grips are the classic hand grip material. Leather is best used with chalk and works well on bare steel bars.

• Stealth: This is a synthetic microfiber fabric that is vegan and washable. It works well on coated bars.

Stealth grips are much thinner than other materials. They provide less cushion and make this type of grip best for use with low to medium rep counts. 

• X2: This is another synthetic microfiber material. Grips made of this fabric provide excellent protection on both steel bars and coated bars and are best used for high rep counts. 

X2 grips have more cushion and extra compression to provide more comfort and allow you to get the best grip possible. 

• Tactical: Tactical is a fabric made from a combination of rubber and kevlar. Tactical grips are also very thin, which provides an excellent hold on a bar.

It is essential to match the material to your personal needs. If protection is something you desire during your workouts, then a thinner material is not what you want. You also need to consider the workouts you are performing to choose the material that best fits your routine. 

 

What Are the Different Styles of Victory Grips? 

Victory Grips offer four different grip styles based on the number of finger holes. Each grip style offers a different level of protection that you can choose based on your personal preference: 

• 4-Finger Grips: This type of grip is the best option for complete protection as it covers the entire palm of your hand. 

• 3-Finger Grips: This grip style offers a lot of protection but allows athletes to have bare contact with the bar. 

• 2-Finger Grips: This grip style is excellent for WODs involving more rings and kettlebells instead of barbells and pull-up bars. 

• Fingerless Grips: This grip style is best for athletes who need to make quick transitions between movements during their workouts. 

For example, if you are performing kipping pull-ups and then need to transition to jump ropes immediately, finger grips will get in the way of your transition because you would need to take them completely off between exercises. 

 

How To Wear Victory Grips

There are two ways to wear these grips: 

• Standard Way: The standard way to wear Victory Grips is to place them all the way down your fingers to keep the material sung on your hand. 

• Dowel Effect: This is when you wear your grips higher up on your fingers, allowing the material to fold over itself, creating a dowel. 

Many CrossFit athletes prefer to wear their grips this way because it allows more of the fabric to cover their hands and the bar for more friction. It also makes for an easier transition between exercises.

 

Are Victory Grips Useful? 

Victory Grips are useful when it comes to weightlifting, CrossFit, or other functional fitness training. 

When you are performing specific lifts such as kipping pull-ups, deadlifts, muscle ups, toe-to-bars, or other complex movements, it is crucial to protect your hands. These specific movements often cause rips and tears in your fingers and hands that can be very painful or impede your workout. 

Rips and tears in your fingers and hands happen after developing calluses. If you already have calluses from previous workouts and then perform a complex movement with high reps and no protection, there is a higher likelihood that you will tear and rip the calluses. 

Adding grips to your gym bag can help add a level of protection and performance for your hands and can also help improve your grip strength as you perform complex movements. 

 

Other Beneficial Lifting Tools 

While they are not actual grips, we wanted to take the time to mention other beneficial accessories that Victory Grips has to offer when it comes to CrossFit. 

Not only is it essential to protect your hands while lifting, but it is also essential to protect your wrists as well. 

• False Grip Straps: False grip straps protect your wrists from abrasions and pain while doing strict muscle ups. By using false grip straps, your hands remain bare, allowing for natural dexterity. 

• Wristbands: Wristbands are thin-like bands that provide compression to your wrists. They are great to wear underneath your grips to help prevent sweat from interfering with your performance. 

• Wrist Straps: Wrist straps provide maximum grip strength to allow you to lift heavier weights. Wrist straps loop around the barbell to make a hook grip between the barbell and your hands. 

• Wrist wraps: Wrist wraps provide support and stabilization for the wrist when performing heavy lifts. Wrist wraps are especially helpful when pressing or doing overhead movements because it prevents hyperextension of the wrist while beneath the bar. 

 

In Summary

When you are pushing heavier weights or completing complex movements, especially for reps, it is crucial for you to protect your hands and support your wrist. Not only do grips and wraps help with hand protection, but they also increase your performance and grip strength, allowing you to lift heavier and achieve higher personal records. 

So before purchasing your grips, consider your workouts and the level of protection you are looking for. Then go ahead and put those lift grips into your Haven Athletic Duffel Bag and go achieve your personal fitness goals. 

 

Sources: 

Determinant Factors of Pull-Up Performance in Trained Athletes | NCBI

Wrist Instability - StatPearls | NCBI Bookshelf

Calluses on Hands and Fingers: Causes, Treatment, and Prevention | Healthline