Introduction
Everyone in the game knows how important grips, and grip strength are. Recently we at We Love Bjj received GrappleGrips from Eric at gripjitsu.com. I myself was a little reluctant at first, mainly because I’m always skeptical, however I thought that most of grip exercises you needed to do could be done with an old gi. As is usual in Bjj, I was quickly humbled. I was surprised at the versatility of the object and the toughness.
 

Performance
When we were asked to review the GrappleGrips we simply just accepted. It was our job to the product through the paces. I was not told of what the item could do or what I could do with the item. The grips seems to be made of very tough gi material, I do recommend maybe taping up your fingers for some of the exercises I’ll be talking about. They are attached by clips to very durable elastic tubing.

Definitely a good item to have while warming up, was able to use the item for stretching almost like you would use any of those elastic bands. I myself am more partial to open guard so I began with some Spider guard drills moving side to side, practicing some hip movement, fully extending my legs. Then moving on to leg circle movements or eggbeaters, which will lead you into a Lasso-Spider guard or De La Riva-Spider guard. All while switching my grips from pistol grip to hanging/claw grip. Very useful item when your away from the gym, but still want to get some Bjj in.

Since the grips are removable I was able to attach them to some of the machines around my gym where I weight lift like the lat pulldown machine. I am by far not a small guy, so the weight was respectable. Even removing the punching bag and clipping the GrappleGrips to the chain I was able to use it for pullups, I am approximately 240lbs (closer to 250 after lunch) so after doing a quick set of a 100 (just kidding 10) realized how tough the material was. Also wrapping it around, eye level , one of the machines that was bolted to the ground I was able to use it for a number of band exercises. Which led me into doing judo drills. At this point people were already staring at me, but since I had already exhausted every idea I had for the GrappleGrips, I didn’t really care and I left.

Conclusions
As you could already see the item was incredibly versatile, probably has many other applications that I didn’t even think of, definitely withstood everything I put it through. Don’t have very much to be critical about, except item was so tough while doing some of the exercises I lost some skin around the knuckles, so I began taping my fingers. Prime example of Jiu-Jitsu problems. Definitely recommend it for bjj practitioners of all levels. WLBJJ APPROVED. If you guys purchase the item and have any questions about some of the workouts and exercises I did please don’t hesitate to contact me through the We Love BJJ page, just shoot me a message.

Information
Available to purchase: http://www.gripjitsu.com or www.GrappleGrips.com

Cost: $39 plus free shipping

About Writer
Prior to starting BJJ I had wrestled in high school and through college. I have been doing Bjj for almost six years now, and am currently a brown belt. I have competed and been successful in many local tournaments and national ones, including winning the No Gi Pan Ams in 2012, and placing at No Gi Worlds three years in a row.
 J. Sand