Review for
Nike Alpha Strength Hand Grips Rating- 3 out of 5
Nike has
always been known for their ingenuity and flashy designs in all of their sports
wares. Their designs have been nothing less than groundbreaking at times, so
when they came out with the Alpha Strength Hand Grips I was pretty excited to
try them out.
Upon
arriving at the store to buy this unorthodox equipment, the first thing I
noticed was the flashy packaging. It was a silver box that was made of high
quality materials and even had pictures of the enclosed product and the details
of its’ design. They only came in black and red (my favorite colors). Add the fact that it was only $25.00 and I was
sold on the spot.
I couldn’t
wait until my next workout to use them; however, when I finally was able to put
them to the test I couldn’t wait until my workout was over. In theory, they are
more ergonomic and allow a much better grip when lifting weight. In execution,
that theory goes out of the window.
I am not
here to bash the Nike Hand Grips. I do want to point out some of their flaws.
Firstly, upon looking online to see if anyone else was having some of the same
problems I was, I ran into a review in which a user said that he normally wears
an XL in workout gloves but was able to fit a large in the Nike Hand Grips.
This tells me that this product runs large in sizes. This is normally not too
much of a problem but I will explain why this makes the world of difference at
a later time. Secondly, the grooves on the gloves are a bit too deep. This
makes it awkward to do many exercises, and therefore, makes it hard to solely
include this equipment into your routine. When doing moves such as bent over
rows, deadlifts, Lat pull-downs, or any kind of bar curls, it seems to work
just fine. If you do a move like squats, pull-ups, dumbbell curls, or triceps extensions
(bar or dumbbells) it is quite uncomfortable. Lastly, the grips do not truly secure
your hands properly in order to lift heavy weight.
The little
strap that you see on the back of the grips secures just under your knuckles
On my hands
it looks slightly too big, and it is. I believe that the fact that there is
plenty of material missing from these “gloves” they slide around on your hands
throughout dynamic moves. When using heavy weight, this is highly undesirable.
Due to the fact that they shift around on your hand, the weight creates
pressure points in your hands and I would assume may possible cause micro
fractures. After doing deadlifts with 300ibs I noticed that my hands were
killing me. I have never had this problem when lifting bare handed or with
traditional gloves.
Due to its
faults, I will rate this product a 3 out of 5. It needs to have the kinks
worked out a bit. The concept is an interesting one, but some concepts should
never make it off of the designers’ notebook.