There are a wide variety of gym gloves in the market that it gets hard to pick one at times. If you are in the process of buying a gym glove, there are 3 important factors to consider when buying a weightlifting glove. These key factors influence the effectiveness of the glove to achieve its main goal i.e. enhance grip, avoid hand calluses or ripped up hands.
It is important to note that, wearing gym gloves doesn’t 100% prevent you from having calluses, etc. It just helps you reduce the chances of developing hands calluses if you are always lifting weights.
The 3 Important factors to consider when buying a gym glove are outlined below :
3 Important Factors To Consider When Buying A Weightlifting Glove
Lightweight Fabric
If you are looking for weight lifting glove for your workouts, you need to carefully consider the fabric used on the gloves. Some of the best weightlifting gloves are made of lightweight fabric i.e. mesh breathable fabric, microfibre, neoprene, lycra among others. Having lightweight material means that you don’t have any added resistance to your lifting. It also ensures that you have the flexibility and optimum mobility as you lift weights.
Additionally, you will find that most weightlifting glove reviews emphasize the type of fabric used in making the gloves i.e. leather, neoprene, silicone, spandex, etc.
Leather is often preferred because of its good grip. It also cushions the palms from the bars of the weights. Any lightweight glove that has a mesh or sweat-wicking fabric around the palms are the most preferred. The absorption of sweat helps maintain a good grip for longer. Also, neoprene material gloves with silicone and spandex around the palms are also a good choice.
Note: Neoprene is soft and absorbs sweat and lets you stay dry
Fingerless or Half Finger Gloves
Another important feature when buying a weightlifting glove is whether or not it has open, closed, half, three quarter or one quarter finger stalls. The best weightlifting gloves are fingerless or have the half-finger stall design.
There are a number of reasons to support this. First, they allow free flow of air which helps to control sweating — which helps to maintain a good grip while lifting.
Secondly, they allow for unrestricted movement, unlike their full-finger counterparts. They are therefore more comfortable.
Finally, these style of gum gloves allows you to use your fingers (assuming you track your progress by recording your lifts on your phone). Unlike full-finger gloves, you don’t have to remove them every time you want to start or stop recording while at the gym. For more information about the various designs of weightlifting gloves, see our post on The A-Z Guide To Weightlifting Gloves.
Wrist Support
The best weightlifting gloves offer wrist support. One of the dangers of weightlifting is spraining your wrist. The back and forth wrist movements during lifting can easily lead to injuries if your wrist isn’t properly supported. The best glove should provide wrist support through adjustable Velcro wrist wraps. This support protects from or reduces wrist injuries such as strains and sprains.
Conclusion
There you go, the 3 important factors to consider when buying a weightlifting glove. It is easy to focus on finding a specific product that other people have liked or talked about in the past.
The problem with this is that you don’t know what exactly to expect from the gloves or how they are meant properly function. Other people’s opinion of a particular product may be helpful but you may not feel the same if you bought the same product.
The better approach, therefore, is to find out the preferred and most beneficial features in any glove i.e. lightweight fabric (flexible, breathable), fingerless or half design, wrist support.
That being said, it all boils down to what you want to achieve with your gym gloves. Knowing the features described above will equip you in making informed decisions when buying your gym gloves.
Best of luck!
