Workout Gloves – How To Choose The Best Option For You

Workout gloves have a lot of options to choose from. I hope my experience in choosing the best option for my needs, helps you choose the best option for yourself.

Winter is coming and it’s getting cold. Holding metal bars in the calisthenics park near my home became unusually uncomfortable.

I’ve started researching workout gloves to continue my outside training a bit longer into the winter.

Before I started my research there were a few things I wanted from my gloves:

• I need a non-slip grip on the entire palm including fingers (I will mostly use gloves for hanging from a pull up bar and I want to be sure I can hold my weight securely)
• I need them to be thin so I have a bare-hand feeling as much as possible
• I need full-finger gloves to protect me from holding cold bars with bare fingers
• I don’t have any issues with my wrists, so wrist protection is not something I care about

Keeping in mind what I wanted I searched to see what options were available. Before getting deeper into analysis here are full finger man workout gloves I found on Amazon:

Workout gloves pros and cons

You may have noticed some people prefer doing their workouts using gloves, while others like the bare-hand approach. In most cases, it’s a personal preference.

I prefer working out without gloves year long. But in winter conditions, I want to be able to work out outside. So, I’m thinking about getting gloves.

If you think about getting yourself a pair of workout gloves there are several pros and cons to consider.

Workout gloves pros

Keeping your hands warm during winter helps you train outside in low temperatures.

Gloves may give you a feeling of a stronger grip because of their non-slip palm design.

They will protect your palms from blisters and calluses.

Some gloves come with wrist wrap so they give you more wrist stability and strength.

Workout gloves cons

You may prefer the bare-hand feeling when working out. Gloves will come between your palms and the surface you are grabbing with your hands. So, gloves might be a nuisance to you.

When you wear gloves and your palms sweat it may induce bacteria growth and your gloves may stink. This may cause skin issues on your hands.

If you don’t get gloves that are snug, they may rotate a bit around your hands which can cause grip slipping and calluses forming.

Factors to consider when choosing workout gloves

When choosing workout gloves there are a few factors you may want to consider before making a buying decision.

For me, I want full-finger gloves to protect me from gripping cold metal bars. I also want them thin, because I prefer bare hand feeling. I need a grip on the entire palm of the glove because I will mostly use them for hanging from the pull up bar. Lastly, I don’t need wrist protection.

All this is my personal preference. It might be totally the opposite for you. If this is what you prefer it’s absolutely fine. It’s about what’s best for you – not someone else. I just hope, my choices and reasons will help you choose the best option for your needs.

Use and preference

First is your preference to work out with or without gloves. Second is how and where you will use those gloves (outside, or in the gym).

Depending on where you will use gloves and your overall preference for training with or without gloves may impact your glove choice.

Finger or fingerless

After that, you may want to consider whether you want gloves that cover your fingers or not. If you choose full finger gloves your hands may get more sweaty than with fingerless versions. But if you want gloves for cold weather to use outside, a full-finger version might be the best option.

Grip

For better grip, you would want to check if gloves have silicon or rubber non-slip material on the palms and fingers. Depending on how and where you want a solid grip, it’s useful to know where this material is placed on gloves. You can check the palms of the gloves and you will instantly see where the grip material is placed.

Padding

Some gloves have more and some have less padding. It depends on your preference if you want more or less padded gloves. For me, less padding is better. The more barehand feeling I can get with gloves the better for me.

Wrist protection

Workout gloves may come with or without wrist protection. It’s up to you to decide if you prefer gloves with wrist protection. Since I don’t have problems with my wrists, this is something I don’t care about.

Fit

If you want gloves that will be snug on your hand, trying them on will give you the best feeling of fit. But, if you are buying gloves online, measure your palms as instructed by the manufacturer to get the best possible guess if the gloves will fit you.

Of all the factors and options to choose from, I would give the most weight to the fit of the gloves.

Price

You can check various models of workout gloves and get a feeling about the price. From the research I did on Amazon, I found gloves from around $7 – $35. It’s your choice how much you are willing to spend on workout gloves.

Conclusion

To conclude, if you are looking for workout gloves there are a lot of options you can choose from. You can choose gloves with or without fingers covered, with or without padding, and with or without wrist protection.

It mostly comes down to the way you want to use your gloves and personal preferences.

The most important of all choices I would put on is the glove fit. If gloves fit your hands perfectly, they will serve you best.