Strength athletes can utilize lifting gloves for a variety of reasons, which will vary depending on an athlete’s needs. Bodybuilders, functional fitness, and calisthenic athletes are typically the populations that use gloves the most.
Besides assisting grip, gloves are useful for hand protection over prolonged bouts of exercise. A torn up hand can slow progress, along with taking additional time to heal. In this review, we put the popular Harbinger Training Grip® Gloves through multiple tests.
In our gauntlet of five tests, we assessed how these gloves performed with: Grip, versatility, feeling & fit, construction, and price.
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Harbinger Training Grip® Gloves Grip
These gloves offer additional palm padding, which is great for protection, but can alter how they feel on certain activities. For this reason, we tested these gloves on three grip tests. The tests include a rope climb, pull-up, and dumbbell row.
In the rope climb I wasn’t a huge fan of this glove’s ability to support the upward pulling motion. I thought that the additional padding was slightly loose when pulling upwards, which made keeping a tight grip tough. The padding protected the palm well, but made gripping the rope somewhat slick.
For pull-ups, these gloves felt pretty well. The additional palm padding was good for keeping the hand from a ton of metal friction. I thought this glove did a good job at gripping the metal too, and the material wasn’t overly slick with metal contact.
Similar to pull-ups, these gloves felt fairly good for dumbbell rows. They had a similar feeling to the pull-up bar, and hugged the metal pretty tight. Additionally, the extra padding kept the calluses protected from the dumbbell’s knurling.
Versatility
When it came to bar work, or dumbbell and barbell gripping, they performed pretty well in the terms of versatility. They’re not incredibly heavy, so they don’t limit range of motion, especially like some gloves can with extra wrist support.
Yet, there was one area that these gloves struggled to support versatility of, and that was with rope climbs. They don’t have a rubber texture like some gloves do, so gripping and pulling a rope was pretty tough. For the functional fitness athlete, I think they’ll struggle when using these gloves.
Feeling & Fit
These gloves were very hit or miss in terms of fit and how they felt. On the plus side, they hug the palm well, and don’t feel excessively loose around the fingers. This is huge when it comes to avoiding slippage between the hand and one’s grip. Also, I liked how lightweight they were, and they didn’t have excessive extra material surrounding the wrist and fingers.
The downside to their lightweight feeling comes with their ability to fully tighten around the hand. They have a naturally tight fit, but for those with skinny hands, then they may be troubled by the lightweight material. The wrist strap could only be tightened to a limited point, and may cause problems for those with smaller hands.
Construction
For the most part, these gloves are constructed fairly well. They have a stronger leather-esque material that covers the palm, and have a lightweight stretch mesh in some areas. The mesh is great for form fitting purposes, but I worry about its long-term durability.
I think these gloves will last a while for single use purposes such as bodybuilding, but also think they may degrade quickly for the multi-purpose athlete.
Price
This particular glove costs around $24.99, which I thought was slightly high. In our tests, this glove lost points for its all around versatility, and its speculative feeling of long-term durability. For this reason, I think its priced a little high. Yet, it did an exceptional job when it came to strict grip work on metal objects, and hugs the palm well. The calisthenic and bodybuilding athlete may find this glove’s price right in line with their goals.
Wrapping Up
All in all, I thought this glove came with pros and cons. I liked how lightweight it felt, and the supportive hug it gave my palm. Also, I thought this glove did a good job at providing protection to the hand on metal objects. The downfalls lie in the long-term durability and functional fitness versatility.
If you’re a calisthenic and bodybuilding athlete, then I think this glove will be a good fit for your activities.
Harbinger Training Grip® Gloves
$24.99
Pros
- Additional Palm Padding
- Lightweight Feeling
- Tight Feeling On Palm
Cons
- Long-Term Durability
- Somewhat Expensive
