Why Australian Lifters Are Ditching Gym Gloves (And What They're Using Instead)

Gym gloves have been in gym bags since the 1980s. For a long time, they were the default answer to sweaty hands, bar calluses, and wrist discomfort. Then serious lifters started taking them off — and not putting them back on.

Here is what changed.

The Problem With Gloves

Gloves cover the entire hand. That sounds like a solution. In practice, it creates two problems.

First, they add bulk between your palm and the bar. On a heavy deadlift, that extra layer reduces your ability to grip tightly and feel the bar properly. Tactile feedback is part of how you control a heavy lift — gloves reduce it on every rep.

Second, the fabric compresses under load rather than gripping. Standard gym gloves are designed for comfort, not for holding 150kg off the floor. They slip. Not dramatically, but enough to affect confidence on maximum effort pulls.

The result: something that feels protective actually makes your heaviest lifts less secure.

What Serious Lifters Use Instead

Lifting Grips cover only the palm — the part of your hand that actually contacts the bar. No thumb coverage, no finger bulk. You get protection from calluses and friction without the loss of bar feel that full gloves create. The Prime Ape Lifting Grips 2.0 add a 5mm non-slip fingertip pad and a widened wrist cuff — more grip, more wrist support, less interference with the lift.

Lifting Hooks take a different approach entirely. Rather than protecting the hand during a grip, they remove the grip requirement for heavy compound pulling. The hook holds the bar. Your hands do almost nothing. For deadlifts, rows, and shrugs at serious weights, hooks make gloves irrelevant — not because they are better protection, but because protection is no longer the question.

Chalk is the third option most experienced lifters reach for. Dry hands, maximum friction, zero bulk. Not always practical in commercial gyms, but for anyone training in a home gym or a lifting-focused facility, chalk outperforms gloves on every metric that matters for heavy pulling.

When Gloves Still Make Sense

Moderate weights. High-rep work. Exercises where callus protection matters more than maximum bar feedback. If you are doing 20-rep sets of pull-ups or cable work and your primary concern is keeping your hands intact, gloves are a reasonable tool.

For heavy compound lifting — the movements where most people first reach for gloves — they are the wrong tool for the job.

The Switch

Most lifters who switch from gloves to grips or hooks notice the difference within the first session. The bar feels more real. The lift feels more connected. The protection is still there, but it is not getting in the way.

Try Prime Ape Lifting Grips 2.0 or Lifting Hooks and use code PRIME10 for 10% off. Ships from Perth, Australia-wide.