Comments on: gymnastics bar safety straps

By: coach Rick

coach Rick — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:43:43 +0000

I strongly encourage all girls to put their thumb around the strap bar. But many, particularly the smaller ones, don’t.

By: anna

anna — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:39:56 +0000

Rocky, as a girl I’ve always swung on strap bar with my thumbs around the bar. I can’t remember whether I was taught to do this, or just picked it up (I’m sure it’d help with feeling ‘secure’ on the bar, especially if you had small hands!). It’d be interesting to know.

By: Rocky

Rocky — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:02:30 +0000

At our gym the boys tend to use gardening gloves while the girls use socks. I always thought the reason for this was due to the boys having their thumbs around the bar while the girls don’t, although I guess it could just be the coaches’ preferences.

By: gloves for bar safety straps at Gymnastics Coaching

gloves for bar safety straps at Gymnastics Coaching — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:16:43 +0000

[...] a follow up from our post gymnastics bar safety straps [...]

By: Evelyn

Evelyn — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:48:53 +0000

We use the exfoliating gloves that you can usually buy in any normal chemist/supermarket/drugstore – see link. They work perfect. They are a bit rougher than normal woolen gloves to give more grip. They are inexpensive and the kids can buy them in a variety of different colours which keeps them happy!!

http://www.athenashn.com/storecart/catalog/5015_fs.jpg

By: M.L.

M.L. — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:37:59 +0000

We used to use oven mitts but I’m not sure they’d work for little kids with less of a grip. Also could be tough to find a small enough size. Very effective for us, however.

By: Gem

Gem — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:12:32 +0000

Gardening gloves work really well – can be hard to find in smaller sizes. Also Polyprop gloves seem to work well (smaller sizes easy to find). I have heard girls complaining about other types feeling ‘slippery’

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:29:37 +0000

I don’t really like the PVC for advanced gymnasts either because the kids lose that “true” feeling on the bar. I’ve also noticed that it tends to get thin when it wears and then it can lock on itself if it’s taped too tight.

What about using gardening gloves? Does anyone have experience with that? I’m sure I’ve seen it used in videos (on this site, I think).