Best Wrist Wraps for Lifting

Contraband Black Label Wrist Wrap Reviews [usr 4.5]

In a line: The best wrist wraps, hands down

• Durable wraps with solid stitching that maintain elasticity
• Available in light, medium, heavy, and extreme duty
• You can get 18″ or 36″ size

So basically without different stretch levels as offered here by Contraband, you’re only limited to increasing the compression of a wrap by getting the longest option possible so it wraps around your wrist more times (and compresses more). Now Contraband is offering 4 different “stretches” and two lengths so you really have 8 different options of compression from their wraps. In a basic analysis use the lengths like half sizes – for example the 18″ light duty is lighter duty than the 36″ light duty. However, the 36″ option also locks the wrist in place a bit more than only 18″ because you have extra material that blocks the hand from rolling back so there’s that to consider as well. You can use the sizes to actually correspond to your wrist size or just go with the 36″ option for max compression.

In my opinion these are overall the best wrist wraps for lifting on this list. Use them as a beginner starting out, or if you’re a powerlifter, olympic lifter competing at any level these will last you for ages.

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Emerge Wrist Wraps Review [usr 3.5]

When it comes to protecting your wrists during heavy training, you can’t afford to choose second best. Emerge WX1 wrist wraps are the strongest wraps on the market, bar none. They are also one of the most cost effective. Here’s what makes Emerge your obvious choice:

• Extra support and stabilization
• Extra thick thumb straps
• Unrivalled comfort and padding
• High grade, heavy duty nylon
• 100% money back guarantee

Emerge wrist wraps are made by hardcore weightlifters who know what is needed to provide maximum support and comfort. That gives you the confidence that, when you choose Emerge, you’re not only getting the best price, you’re getting the best wrist wraps on the market – guaranteed!

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Nordic Lifting Wrist Wrap Reviews

In a line: Best budget wrist wraps, or for two people who need wraps

Nordic makes products that make it into my reviews quite frequently for a few reasons. They always provide excellent value, and their products are pretty good. Their wraps aren’t available in multiple lengths and stretches like the Contrabands, but they’re a one-size length that’s suitable for a beginner lifter or a budget minded individual. I recommend these for anyone looking to get good value wrist wraps that will work to support your wrists while you start to lift heavier weights.

• Durable material, good stretch level
• You get 2 sets of wraps in this set
• 3″x14″
• Best budget wrist wraps on the list (you get two sets!)
• Decent quality product

Overall, I recommend these wraps for anyone on a budget interested in trying out wrist wraps. Or if you need to buy for two people you get two sets so you can both have a pair. There’s not a huge difference in construction between these and the Contrabands but the customization of the Contrabands just crush the Nordic wraps.

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Slingshot Wrist Wrap Reviews [usr 4]

In a line: Another great wrist wrap option, close in power level to the Contrabands.

Mark Smelly Bell puts out the Sling Shot line from his site howmuchyabench.net – the guy is a beast when it comes to benching and powerlifting in general so you know he puts out a quality product that you see he himself using in every single one of his videos. These are sort of a side-grade, or on par with the Contrabands so they’ve made it onto this list. Sling Shot products are known to be made with high-level compression and with 4 sizes available in 20, 26, 36, and 40″ you can certainly find an appropriate support level within that range.

• High-quality compression material
• Backed by some seriously strong dudes
• Available in 4 sizes, it’s recommended to use 36″ and below for your wrists as the 40″ is pretty large, most people would use 20 or 26″

I would recommend these to anyone with a specific affiliation to the Sling Shot brand, or if someone has really large wrists and wants to go with the 40″ size. Overall, they make a really solid product but I’m still siding with Contraband wraps.

I’ll include more of the best wrist wraps when I find them but for now if you can’t choose between these three options then your issue involves fashion-gymming and I don’t want to deal with that.

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How to pick the best wrist wraps for lifting

If you’re reading this and have made it this far, you at least know what wrist wraps are and have some interest in using them. So how do you know if you need wrist wraps?

• If your wrist hurt during/after working out
• If you can’t keep your knuckles pointing to the roof when doing pressig movements (bench, overhead press, any form of dumbell press)
• You perform a high-volume of olympic lifts like clean and jerk, and the snatch
• You don’t want to cripple your wrists lifting heavy weights (injury prevention)

There are four scenarios that could make one lifter want to wear wrist wraps. They provide excellent support to the wrists, and may give you a bit more power transfer on some of the compound lifts that are bottle-necked by the wrists.

How to properly use your wrist wraps

So you don’t actually want to wrap the fabric JUST around your wrist. You want to start on the wrist, wrap up around your hand a bit, then wrap further down the arm. This anchors your wrist, hand, and arm together to provide a solid brace for pressing movements. Here’s a video that should clarify what I mean:

Why you shouldn’t wear wraps every session

If you’ve heard about me talk about other lifting aids like straps, or chalk you’ll know that I advocate taking breaks from using said aids from time to time. Supporting and protecting the wrists is important but we also want to develop the muscles, ligaments, and tendons to support more weight overtime themselves. That way they can work in tandem with the wraps to push maximum weight for maximum gains.

I recommend using lifting wraps for your top sets, or working sets, and the following session trying that working set without straps to work the wrists and see how you handle it. There’s no concrete recipe for how often to wear and not wear your wraps but use common sense. If I’ve been progressing heavily with my wraps I’ll take a few sessions to lower the weight a bit and test my wrists and build them up without the wraps. Cycle and use this lifting aid properly to support your body properly, but also grow your body properly.

Why you should use wrist wraps

This was touched on earlier but basically if your wrists are rolling back when you’re performing a pressing movement or holding the barbell upright then you’re sacrificing power. Your arms, chest, shoulders have to work harder due to the angle made by your wrists rolling back. Wrist wraps prevent this by securing the wrist in place and tying them together into the respective arms.

Picking the right size wrist wraps (and stretch)

Picking the right size and compression of wrist wrap is important to get the most out of them. Measure your wrists and refer to the specific manufacturers guide to pick the right ones. If you’re in the middle of a size, a smaller length will provide less compression but be more flexible, and a longer length will compress your wrists and provide more support but be more rigid. For crossfit, Olympic lifting, and for powerlifting beginners I recommend shorter wrist wraps and light to medium duty wraps. For experienced powerlifters pushing big numbers, and weightlifters who need the extra support I recommend longer wraps and heavy duty stretch. For the big lifts you want long wraps for the best protection and stiff stretch to keep everything in line an safe.

Best wrist wraps reviews conclusion

Having gone through these top 3 best wrist wraps and reviewing each of them, there’s not a huge variation in the types of materials that can be used so they’re all pretty similar. I picked my favorite based on the different levels of compression and size available which is important for the different disciplines as I’ve listed above. Overall, the best wrist wraps are the ones that protect your wrists and don’t break the bank – pick accordingly.