Parents Need grips help!

[Mom2GymMonkey]

DD's hands are starting to get calloused and blistered so coach said she needs grips. I know nothing about any of this- its all new to me! Does it matter which grips we get?

This is what she wants: Link Removed because they're PINK (which is all that matters to her! :LOL: ) Or she also likes the Nastia Liukin grips because they're PINK and have Nastia's name on them!

Which is better- velcro or buckle? Are the ones she picked OK or should I find something else? TIA!

 

[bogwoppit]

The very best person to ask is her coach. Many coaches like their gymnasts to use one certain type. Even if your coach doesn't have a particular brand in mind they will certainly be able to tell you the best choice for your DD.

Those pink ones are so cute!!!

 

[mariposa]

Did the coach not give you any suggestions? I would ask the coach what grips he/she recommends since he is suggesting it. There are so many out there and it is overwhelming to try to make a decision with no experience using them. Hopefully he/she will tell you what brands they have had the best experiences with.

Most girls don't start wearing grips until around level 5, so I have no idea what grip brands are best.

My DD gets rips, blisters and callouses sometimes and so do her teammates and none of them wear grips. Even the majority of our L5s don't wear grips. I wonder why he is suggesting grips?

You might ask in the coaches are as well. As well as their opinion on a 7yo using grips at the pre-team level. Might get some good ideas.

I do know that since I started really helping DD to take care of her hands, she gets less rips. We put lotion on her hands every night and use a foam pumice like thing to sand off any callouses that build up. She does gym 10 hours a week and also plays on the monkey bars, etc at the park any chance she gets and she doesn't get them very often now.

This article has some tips about rips.
Link Removed

And I think that girls that use grips still get rips.

Good luck!

 

[gym law mom]

I agree about talking with the coach about this. I was also totally clueless when my gymmie got her 1st pair of grips, but the coach sized them all and the gym had them in stock----all I had to do was write the check. There are lots of threads on here about grips--pros/cons of when to get them, what kind is best etc. Palm guards are really pretty useless. They don't have the dowel so when your dd is ready to do more circling skills on bars and the dowel is needed she would have to get used the dowel grips.

The biggie is grips don't prevent rips---they might cut down on them a little, but really care of the hands at home is the best prevention. Shaving the callouses down, using a hand moisturizer and care of the rip once it happens keeps their hands in pretty decent shape.

I see your dd is pre-team, so I'm not sure grips would really help her on bars yet. My gymmie got her 1st pair when she was learning giants. Many coaches like the girls to get their hands toughened up and learn to really grip the bar barehanded up to a certain level of skills.

My gymmie's fav gymnast is Nastia also----no way would she ever wear pink grips though(she's anti pink plus pink grips aren't allowed in the gym!)

 

[Mom2GymMonkey]

Well, thank you all! You can see I really am clueless on all of this! He didn't recommend a certain kind- just told me to go to ten-o.com and get her a pair. He also mentioned a cream I needed to get but I forgot what its called. I'll ask him about the cream and whether she really does need grips at the next practice. I have seen some of the younger team girls wear them and some don't so I really don't know if she needs them. I just showed him her hands because she was complaining and he said get her some grips and the cream.

 

[Blackie6]

I agree with what everyone said...the best person the ask is the coach. I know our girls get them at L5 and they get measured by the coach and the grips ordered thru our gym because they want the girls to have a certain type. Your gym may even sell them right to the girls if coaches want them to use a certain type so check before buying.My DD spends a lot of time on bars & gets rips too. When she does her L4 routine well she's allowed to move onto practice kips and cast handstands and so her hands get pretty sore. One coach even made tape grips (from sports tape) for her which she LOVED and used all the time until they were so mangled we had to throw then away. I also put ointment (A & D) or lotion on her hands at night after practice which helps. I know the pixie ones you are talking about, they are so cute, but again they do come in different sizes and types so make sure you check before ordering.

 

[bogwoppit]

For sore hands we give them a scrub with a pumice stone and then put on some hand e balm. If they are very sore they put on the hand f balm and sleep with socks on, it works like a charm.

My oldest began to wear grips this summer and she is happy with them, my youngest who is 9 doesn't wear them. Their hands do toughen up over time, if they take a big break from gym it can be rough for a few weeks until it settles down.

I too would wonder why they want a little one wearing gripd, they don't really save their hands too much.

 

[gymmom14]

We get grips after the finish of the l5 season. My dd is very fair skinned and rips very easy to the point she has bled on the bar. She would build up calluses and then they rip right off. We tried hand e balm too and I think it works. Since she got the grips, she still has some rips, but it is much better.

PS- We use single buckle dowel grips, Gibson brand I think.

 

[gym law mom]

Blackie mentioned tape grips. My gymmie used them also before being getting the real grips. A coach can show you how to make them and they can cover part of the area on her hand that is hurting----much cheaper than buying grips and they do work.

I also took Bog's advice on the pumice. My gymmie faithfully uses a pumice stone every night before bed and it really has cut down on the number of rips. Her hands still feel like you're petting an alligator, but its all part of doing gymnastics. She does wear Ten-0s--velcro closure, but that seems to become more the gymnast's preference as they move up the levels.

 

[gymgal]

there are so many different opinions on what to do with rips and whether grips help or not. One of dd's coaches recommended mederma. It's for scars. Has vitamin e among other things. It worked fairly well. Then another coach (who is mainly with the boys) mentioned that the best thing to do is nothing - just keep it clean and dry. The more lotion on the skin, the softer it gets, the more it will rip. But also to be careful not to get too big of a caulus. They should be filed down so they don't cause rips. A male gymnast friend (former) said they used to just put sports tape on them. Apparently something in the sports tape allowed for quicker healing. We haven't tried that yet. Basically, we have just done the "keep it clean, no fuss" method and they seem to heal faster and better than trying to keep it moist and covered. Keeping it dry and uncovered, they heal within a day or two.

Half the girls on the team (equiv. to level4) wear grips. dd doesn't. Coaches haven't yet recommended them and I would prefer her to go as far as she can without them. She's only 8 and has small hands. From what I've read, it's better for her to go bare handed for now. She has done the tape grips if she gets a bad rip during same practice. Coaches are very good about making them upfast so the girls can get right back on the bars.

 

[gymgirl0805's Mom]

Her hands still feel like you're petting an alligator, but its all part of doing gymnastics. .

haha funny. i tell my dd all the time how rough her hands feel.. i'll have to tell her the alligator thing LOL


as for the grips.. chels wears reisport grips..

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

Everyone on here has some great advice! Most important, talk to your coach. I don't understand why he's pushing for grips so early either. Most girls have a huge learning curve when adjusting to the dowel grips. The palm grips ARE totally useless.... but of course DD HAD to have a pair of them in L4 b/c the it made her look more like the big girls! She was great on the bars at L4, so I really didn't feel it would interfere with her skills (and it didn't). But as far as "getting used to grips", they were useless.

Anyway, DD's hands are, as a previous poster stated, just like alligator skin! And that's with using grips for the last 3 years now. The grips, in her case, do NOT help prevent rips. I've heard people say that maybe the rips just occur in different places?

Here's what we do to try to take care of her hands:

(1) make sure the callouses do NOT get too big -- we use a pumice stone to sand them down when they get huge. The worse thing is to have fhe whole callous rip off during practice... ouch. And then that takes forever to heal back up!

(2) when they're really rough and sore, the best tip I ever got was to buy Aquaphor (or if there's an actual rip, some thick antibiotic OINTMENT (not cream) and have her put that on and then sleep with a thin pair of cotton gloves over her hands. Her hands are so soft in the a.m.!

But back to the original post/question. I've always gotten DD's grips through Ten-O. They're pretty easy to measure.... from the tip of the middle finger to the base of the palm. And she's always used the velcro ones as well. Hope that helps and good luck!

 

[gym mom]

I do not know anything about the diferent types of grips.My dd is 8 L4 never had a problem until they started practing there kips and it made a mess of her hands ,the coaches at her gym try to hold them off on wearing grips, I tried to get her to wear tape grips she refused.So I got a calus shaver and e balm with gloves at night when she has been working hard on bars and it has helped alot!

 

[Mom2GymMonkey]

Well, after hearing all you have to say, I told her I was not going to buy her grips just yet. I will ask coach the name of the cream/ointment he mentioned and we will start there. This is exactly why I like having a place to get first hand info about this kind of stuff!

 

[mariposa]

here is a post from a coach here on the CB about how to make tape grips. he has links with pics in there.
Link Removed

 

[mariposa]

One more thing, he probably recommended Hand E Balm. They sell it at 10-0.

Link Removed

 

[gymmom14]

We always joke with DD that "no boys are going to want to hold those hands". She thinks its funny, but DH and I kind of like it that way. No boys!