Grip (gymnastics)

[1] The leather strip, which covers and protects the palm of the hand, is approximately five centimeters wide and has finger holes at one end.

This bump, in conjunction with the bar, forms a detent that leverages the gymnast's grip, thus reducing the hand pressure needed to maintain a hold on the apparatus.

Gymnasts typically wear soft material, such as cloth wristbands, under the wrist straps to prevent skin chafing.

Some brands of grips include soft, removable pads that fit under the wrist straps.

Svetlana Khorkina of Russia, the Olympic gold medalist on bars in 1996 and 2000, did not wear them, and several Chinese gymnasts do not either.