Your palms burn before your back gives out. That is the moment lifting grips exist for. 🏋️
A lifting grip is a padded palm pad on a wrist cuff. It sits between your hand and the bar, supporting the bar from underneath and protecting your palm from knurling, calluses, and slipping — on deadlifts, rows, pull-ups, and shrugs.
But let us be plain from the start: grips do not build grip strength, they do not replace grip training, and they do not make a weak grip strong.
They help you hold on when your hands tire, so your back, lats, and traps get the work they are ready for. If grip itself is the weak link, train it separately — dead hangs, farmer’s carries, and heavy holds — and use grips for your heaviest sets.
Used that way, grips are the middle ground between straps and hooks: more hand contact than a hook, faster to set up than a strap, and kinder to your palms than either.
How We Picked These Grips
This guide is research-based. We did not buy or hands-on test these grips, and we do not claim otherwise.
We compared verified buyer reviews and manufacturer specifications, and we checked each product’s Amazon listing status through search results and listing trackers.
We picked 6 grips that are genuinely sold and cover different needs: a premium palm-flap design, a quick all-in-one grip, a value rubber grip, a padded neoprene grip, a leather grip, and a rugged rubber tab grip.
Prices are not quoted in this guide because they change often. The check-price links take you to the current listing, where you can see the latest price and availability.
Availability can vary by size and colour, so if your size shows as unavailable, check the listing’s other options before switching products.
Quick Comparison
| Grip | Grip style | Material | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Versa Gripps Pro | Self-supporting palm flap | Rubber non-slip flap | Best overall premium |
| Cobra Grips PRO | Cobra-shaped rubber flap | Rubber + 6 mm neoprene | Best quick all-in-one |
| Gymreapers Lifting Grips | Rubber palm pad | Rubber + dense neoprene | Best value |
| Grip Power Pads Lifting Grips PRO | Neoprene palm pad | 6 mm flexible neoprene | Best padded neoprene |
| Harbinger Lifting Grips | 2-in-1 palm protector / strap | Durahide leather | Best leather |
| JerkFit Death Grips | Rubber tab under the bar | Car-tire-grade PVC rubber | Best rugged rubber tab |
Photo: stu_spivack / Wikimedia Commons
1. Versa Gripps Pro — Best Overall Premium
Who it suits: serious lifters who want the best-regarded grip design available and are willing to pay the premium price tier for it.
Versa Gripps Pro use a self-supporting palm flap: a 6.25-inch rubber flap with a non-slip texture that folds over the bar, so the bar sits between your palm and the flap. Setup takes a couple of seconds, and both grips can be engaged at the same time.
The flap is the whole idea. Unlike a strap you wrap around the bar, the flap locks in by folding — quick on, quick off, with your hands still on the bar. The brand says the design includes arch support that spreads pressure across the palm; that is the brand’s design claim, not a medical finding.
Versa Gripps are made in the USA, come in four wrist sizes, and are the most consistently recommended grip in roundups — the premium pick other grips get compared against.
Pros: fastest setup of any grip here; self-supporting flap needs no wrapping; non-slip rubber works on knurled and smooth bars; four sizes for a proper fit; made in the USA.
Cons: premium price tier; sizing by wrist measurement is critical — measure before ordering; one recent listing crawl showed no featured offers available, so check availability; sizes and colours sit on separate listings.
👉 Check price on Amazon (check availability — one recent crawl showed no featured offers).
2. Cobra Grips PRO — Best Quick All-in-One
Who it suits: lifters who want one accessory that covers grip, palm protection, and wrist support, with no separate wraps to manage.
Cobra Grips PRO use a cobra-shaped rubber flap on a 6 mm neoprene palm pad, with an extra-wide 2-inch Velcro wrist strap built in. The brand’s pitch is that the weight rests on the base of the hand rather than on the wrist, and the built-in strap means no separate wrist wraps are needed.
The PRO fit covers wrists from 5.5 to 8.75 inches in one size. The brand also sells a FIT version for smaller wrists — sources differ on its exact range, so check the size chart rather than trusting either figure.
Pros: grip, palm pad, and wrist support in one design; quick on and off; 6 mm neoprene cushioning; one-size PRO fit covers most lifters; long sales history with many reviews.
Cons: an older listing under a different ASIN exists for a similar Cobra Grips product — confirm the listing matches the PRO Black Rubber version before ordering; one crawl showed no featured offers on a variant listing, so check availability; the all-in-one design is bulkier than a simple palm pad.
3. Gymreapers Lifting Grips — Best Value
Who it suits: lifters who want a straightforward rubber palm grip with wrist padding, without the premium price.
Gymreapers’ grips pair a reinforced rubber palm pad with dense neoprene wrist padding and adjustable straps, sold as a pair in three sizes. They are the value version of the palm-flap idea: rubber grip surface, padded wrist, nothing exotic.
One roundup describes them as a more affordable and efficiently sized version of the Versa Gripps design — that is the roundup’s comparison, not a claim that the two are identical.
Pros: reinforced rubber grip surface; dense neoprene wrist padding; adjustable straps; three sizes; sold as a pair at a value price tier.
Cons: sizes and colours sit on separate listings — confirm your size before ordering; bulkier than the premium flap designs, according to one roundup; no quick-release flap — the pad sits flat rather than folding over the bar.
4. Grip Power Pads Lifting Grips PRO — Best Padded Neoprene
Who it suits: lifters who want maximum palm cushioning, especially on high-volume pulling days when knurling chews up the hands.
Grip Power Pads’ grips use 6 mm flexible neoprene as the palm pad, with adjustable wrist straps and a patent-pending design claim from the brand. The neoprene pad cushions the whole palm rather than just adding grip, which suits lifters whose hands, not just their grip, are the limiting factor.
Sizes run by wrist: Small 5.0–6.40 inches, Medium 6.50–7.50 inches, and Large 7.50–8.50 inches. Measure your wrist before ordering — the sizes are close together and guessing wrong means a poor fit.
Pros: thick 6 mm neoprene cushioning across the palm; adjustable wrist straps; three wrist sizes; sold as a pair.
Cons: the Amazon product link below rests on a single source, so confirm the listing before ordering; sizes and colours sit on separate listings; one recent listing crawl showed no featured offers available, so check availability.
👉 Check price on Amazon (please confirm the listing matches the Grip Power Pads Lifting Grips PRO — its link is single-source, see the note in our research).
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
5. Harbinger Lifting Grips — Best Leather
Who it suits: lifters who prefer leather, want a palm protector that can also wrap the bar, and like full finger movement.
Harbinger’s lifting grips are a 2-in-1 design: they lay flat as a palm protector, or wrap around the bar with a patent-pending BioForm pad between hand and bar, transferring the load in what the brand describes as a leather hook-style strap. The open “Un-Glove” design leaves the fingers free, and the SpiderGrip Durahide leather is built to resist calluses and blisters.
Do not confuse these with Harbinger’s Lifting Hooks — a different product with steel hooks, covered in our lifting hooks guide. These grips have no steel hook; the grip comes from leather and the BioForm pad.
Pros: genuine Durahide leather palm; 2-in-1 use as palm protector or wrap-around strap; open-finger design keeps full finger movement; long-established lifting brand.
Cons: no built-in wrist wrap — wrist support here is a pad, not a wrap, so lifters who need wrap-level wrist support on presses should look at dedicated wrist wraps instead; sizes sit on separate listings; leather feels firmer than rubber or neoprene until broken in.
6. JerkFit Death Grips — Best Rugged Rubber Tab
Who it suits: lifters who want the toughest, simplest grip aid for heavy pulls and do not mind a rubber tab design.
Death Grips are thick tabs of car-tire-grade PVC rubber with neoprene-padded wrist support. The setup is deliberately minimal: slide the tab under the bar, put your hand on top, and squeeze. No wrapping, no flap to fold, no straps to wind — reviewers note they are easier to set up one-handed than traditional cloth straps.
Sizes run Small, Medium, and Large by wrist, with Large listed at 8 inches and above. Sizing depends on both hand size and bar diameter, so measure carefully — reviewers and the brand both stress this, and the wrong size is the most common complaint.
Pros: extremely durable rubber construction; very fast one-handed setup; neoprene-padded wrist support; sold as a pair in three sizes.
Cons: no single confident US product-page link was found across the sizes, so this is a search link — check the listing before ordering; reviewers note a rubber smell when new that fades with use; PVC rubber wears over time and is less flexible than fabric straps.
👉 Search for JerkFit Death Grips on Amazon
How to Choose the Right Lifting Grips
Start with the job. Grips are for pulls — deadlifts, rows, shrugs, pull-ups, lat pulldowns. They protect the palm and help you hold on when grip tires, but they are not a wrist wrap and not a hook.
If your palms tear or your grip fails on the last reps of a heavy pull, grips are the right tool. If your grip fails on every set, including light ones, train grip first and use grips only for top sets.
Grip style: palm pad vs finger-loop vs open-palm
Most grips in this guide are palm pads: a pad on a wrist cuff that sits between hand and bar. The pad supports the bar from underneath and spreads the pressure across the palm.
Flap grips (Versa Gripps, Cobra Grips) add a fold-over flap that locks the bar in place — faster and more secure than a flat pad, at a higher price.
Tab grips (JerkFit Death Grips) are the simplest of all: a rubber tab under the bar, squeezed by the hand. Nothing to wrap, nothing to fold — but sizing matters more, because the tab has to match your hand and the bar.
Open-palm designs (Harbinger’s Un-Glove) leave the fingers free, which suits lifters who dislike the closed feel of a glove. Finger-loop gymnastics grips are a different category, built for bar work and kipping — not covered here, because they solve a different problem.
Photo: Nenad Stojkovic / Wikimedia Commons
Material: rubber vs leather vs neoprene
Rubber (Versa Gripps flap, Cobra Grips, Gymreapers, JerkFit tabs) gives the most bar grip, especially with sweaty hands. It is also the easiest to wipe clean, but rubber wears over time and can smell when new.
Leather (Harbinger) is the most durable palm material and moulds to the hand with use, but it feels firmer at first and needs breaking in.
Neoprene (Grip Power Pads, and the padding on most grips here) is about cushioning, not grip: it pads the palm and wrist, and it is usually paired with a rubber or leather grip surface. A pure neoprene pad without a grip surface would slip — every pick here pairs padding with a grip material.
Wrist support built in or not
Every grip here comes on a wrist cuff, but the wrist support is not equal. Cobra Grips build in a wide 2-inch Velcro wrist strap; Versa Gripps and Gymreapers use padded wrist straps; Harbinger’s grip has a wrist pad but no wrap.
None of these replaces a dedicated wrist wrap on a maximal press. If your wrists themselves are the weak link on bench or overhead press, a wrist wrap still wins — see our wrist wraps guide.
For pulls, the cuff’s job is simpler: keep the pad in place and take some load off the wrist. A snug cuff that does not rotate is worth more than a thick one that slides.
Sizing and fit
Most grips are sized by wrist circumference, not hand size — measure your wrist with a tape before ordering, and use the brand’s own size chart, not another brand’s.
Two exceptions matter. Versa Gripps come in four sizes with close boundaries, so a measurement error means a poor fit. JerkFit Death Grips depend on hand size and bar diameter as well as wrist size, so check all three.
Fit check before a heavy set: strap the cuff snug, set the pad on the bar, and hang for a few seconds. If the pad slides, the cuff rotates, or the wrist feels pinched, adjust before you load the bar.
Grips vs straps vs hooks
These three solve the same problem differently, and the difference matters.
Grips support the bar from underneath and protect the palm. Fast to set up, good hand contact, best when palms and grip tire together.
Straps wrap around the bar and lock your hand to it. They still need some grip, they take longer to set up, and they keep your hands on the bar — better if you want to keep training grip while getting help.
Hooks carry the bar for you. Fastest to use, least grip work required, best when grip is truly the limiting factor on a heavy pull.
Many lifters own two of the three: grips for most heavy pulling, straps or hooks for the sets where grip is completely gone. See our lifting straps guide and our lifting hooks guide for the other two sides of that setup.
Using grips safely
Check the grip before every heavy set: pad centred on the bar, cuff snug, no slipping when you hang. A grip that slides mid-rep can throw your balance under load.
Never use a grip that is torn, cracked, or missing its grip surface in patches. Grips are cheap; a dropped bar is not.
Grips change how a pull feels: the bar sits slightly further from your hands, and your lats and traps work without your forearms limiting the set. That is the point — but it also means your grip gets less work, so train it separately.
If you have wrist or hand problems, or pain that keeps coming back, talk to a clinician or physiotherapist before training with grips. This guide is general information only, not medical advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do lifting grips build grip strength?
No. Grips help you hold on, so your grip actually gets less work on gripped sets. If grip strength is the goal, train it directly — dead hangs, farmer’s carries, and heavy holds — and use grips only for your heaviest pulls.
Are grips better than straps?
They are faster to set up and kinder to the palms, which suits high-volume pulling. Straps lock your hand to the bar more firmly, which suits maximal deadlifts. Many lifters own both.
Can I use grips for pull-ups?
Yes. Grips work on any bar you can hang from, including pull-up bars and lat pulldown bars. They are a common choice for lifters whose palms tear or whose grip fails before their lats do on high-rep pull-up sets.
Do grips work for pushing exercises?
Some brands claim their grips suit pushes as well as pulls, but grips are bought for pulls, and their wrist padding is not a substitute for a dedicated wrist wrap on a heavy bench or overhead press.
How do I measure for grips?
Measure your wrist circumference with a tape and use the brand’s own size chart — sizes are close together on several picks here, and another brand’s chart will not match. For tab grips, check hand size and bar diameter too.
How long do lifting grips last?
It depends on the material and how often you train. Rubber wears over time, leather lasts longer once broken in, and neoprene padding compresses with heavy use. Any grip that has torn, cracked, or lost its grip surface should be replaced — it is no longer helping.
Our Pick in One Line
If you want one answer: the Versa Gripps Pro is the best all-round buy because its self-supporting flap is the fastest, most secure grip design here — but if budget matters most, the Gymreapers rubber grips do the basic job well for less.
For the rest of your home setup, see our dumbbells guide and our beginners equipment guide.
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This guide is research-based: we compared verified buyer reviews and manufacturer specifications, and we did not buy or hands-on test these products. Prices and availability change, so check the listing before ordering. The training information here is general information only, not medical advice — if you have wrist or hand problems, talk to a clinician first.