Review: WODies

One of the most common requests/questions I get asked about at my box are what products people can use for protecting their hands.  Personally, I’m not a huge fan of gloves, grips, or tape.  They’re either too cumbersome, don’t offer enough grip, or they’re just way too much hassle to put on.  Luckily, I don’t rip all that often either so I just generally stay away from the stuff.  I don’t rip often doesn’t mean that I NEVER rip though.  So what do I do when it happens, I suck it up and wear some kind of protection.

Up until now, I haven’t really found any kind of gymnastic grip that I don’t mind having on.  I’ve tried the leather ones, but those things are too thick and hurt like hell until they’re broken in.  Tried some fabric ones that were okay, but burn through pretty easily and don’t cover enough palm.  Finally, the age ol’ use of athletic tape, and I’m too cheap to buy the good kind so that stuff never really works; plus it doesn’t last more than one work out.  I had caught word of WODies months before they actually came out when Coach Becca showed them to me one day.  Once again, I wasn’t so enthusiastic about them since I’m just generally not a fan of grips.  Fast forward a couple months after they were released and a lot more people asking about hand protection later, and here I am writing a review on them.

Like most gymnastic grips, the palm protector slips over your fingers; but unlike most grips, WODies slip over you index, middle and ring fingers, covering much more of your palms than most.  The fabric is a neoprene type material; it’s pliable and thin enough so that it doesn’t chaff in between your fingers or add that much more to hold on to, but is sturdy enough so that you won’t have to worry about them ripping.  Make sure you’re chalking up to get the most out of your grip.  I haven’t noticed any kind of slippage issues holding on to the pull-up bar or barbells and the material is flexible enough so that you’re not going to even notice you have coverage on for most barbell work.  You’re going to want to make sure the wrist wraps are tightened well enough so that the palm grips aren’t sliding around laterally.  Luckily they don’t need to be cut-off-the-circulation tight either.  Though I’d say the main attraction for the WODies are their palm guards, the wrist wrap functionality works very well too! My wrist has been jacked up for the past few months and the support that WODies give me were enough to get me through “Linda” unscathed.  There are a couple stages of velcro that make adjustments a breeze, and you can really lock down the WODies for pretty legit wrist support.  I’d say they’re on par with some of the more heavy weight wrist wraps, such as the Rogue heavy wraps.  Definitely a versatile package you’re getting for the price.

Now while the WODies perform great on the barbell or pull-up bar, they should NOT be used for rope climbs.  No matter how much I chalked up, I couldn’t get a grip on the rope and just ended up sliding down.  Probably shouldn’t be an issue for most, but it’s something worth noting.  I also haven’t found a comfortable way to use the WODies as just wrist wraps yet. And of course, while you’re getting great palm protection, if you’re like me and you grip the pull-up bar with your fingers, you’re going to be out of luck.  That’s where the majority of my rips end up.

All in all, I’m going to say that WODies definitely have more plus than minuses.  I have absolutely no problems wearing them and I’ve been using them as my go-to wrist wraps for the last month or so without any issues other than rope climbs.  If you can get me to wear gloves, that’s a pretty big accomplishment.  Kudos, JerkFit.

Also, I’m still nursing that wrist injury, but a review on Nubs are coming in the near future!

Pick up your WODies and Nubs here!