New Grips

[blondegymnastxo]

How do I know when i should get new grips. I am a level 8 now and I am still on my first pair!!!

[TDiver]

I'm not exactly sure, I was on bars a ton and so I had to get new grips quite a bit. I knew it was time when they were so thin it was as they were about to rip. They did tear a little on the sides though and that is when I ordered them.
How long have you had these grips?

[gymgymgymnast08]

Oops Mine are torn a little on the sides. I do have another pair but I don't really feel like breaking them in yet so I will probably break them in when my season is over in July.

[blondegymnastxo]

I have had them for about 3 or 4 years. (we do bars A LOT)

[hammy]

I would say it all depends on how thin and stretched out they are. Some kids keep their grips for a year or so, depending on how hard they swing bars and what not.

[mac.n.cheese.flipz]

It really depends but you might want to have a back up pair broken in just in case. My friend was at a meet and while she was warming up her grip somehow tore in half but she had a back up pair so she was ok! =D

[Takiah]

I had a nightmare that happened to me at the 2009 masters which im training for !!! haha =(

[gymkat]

Ahhh if your grips are tearing on the sides, then get a new pair ASAP. I've had teammates whose grips totally tore in half while they were on bars.

My first pair of grips lasted for 2 years. By the end of club (L9), I was going through two pairs of grips per year. I like thicker leather, though, and during the summer, we were on bars 1.5 hours every day, plus 3 hours of bar classes every week. Needless to say, my bars drastically improved the last two years in high school after I switched to that gym!

[KBT]

If they are starting to tear, get a backup pair broken in soon! You never know when they're going to break. But as long as you feel safe in them, I suppose you can keep using them. If you've got a lot of small tears already, though, you might want to retire this pair so you don't have them fully rip on you during the middle of a skill. I like to "rough up" my grips and after a while they get so flattened that I can't rough them up anymore and that's when I get new grips. Most people keep their grips longer than that, though.