It was never strength.
A hand slides on a bar, and the first thought is that the hand is weak.
It is an easy thought to have. The hand moved, so the hand must have let go. Nobody blames the bar.
But the bar was smooth, and skin on a smooth, fixed surface slips. That has very little to do with strength.
The cost is in what comes next. The hand grips harder, and a harder grip tires sooner. Attention drifts from the movement to the hold. By the end of class the story is "I'm not strong enough", and it goes home with the person. The same bar is waiting next week.
Nobody checks the bar.
When the reason is wrong, the fix lands in the wrong place. If the problem is strength, the answer is more strength: more reps, a tighter grip, more effort in the one spot that was never short of effort.
If the problem is the surface, the answer is the surface. Stronger hands leave the bar exactly as smooth as it was.
So this post is a walk around the studio, bar by bar, looking at what the hand actually meets.
On the reformer
A reformer bar is fixed. The hand arrives, the bar stays put, and the contact is skin on bar.
A glove adds a third thing to that gap. The palm of a SoftGrip glove carries silicone grip dots, and the dots carry on along the undersides of the fingers. Where the palm and fingers meet the bar, the bar meets dots.
The fingertips are bare: the knit covers the fingers part of the way and leaves the tips out. The back of the hand is open, with no velcro and no strap. The glove is pulled on, and there is nothing to fasten.
In the straps
Straps are a different surface again. A loop of webbing sits in the palm, soft and narrow instead of rigid and round. The question is the same: what is between the skin and the webbing?
On the foot bar
Hands end up on the foot bar too. Same bar, same surface, same description: palm and finger undersides on the bar, fingertips bare, back of the hand open.
On the barre
A barre is a rail at about hip height. Often the hand just rests there, but the contact is the same as everywhere else in the studio: skin on a smooth, fixed surface.
The glove has the same description here as on the reformer. Dots on the palm and the undersides of the fingers, bare fingertips, open back.
On the mat
The mat is flat, wide and still. The hand meets floor instead of a rail, and the whole palm and every finger face the same surface at once.
A mat has no bar at all, and a hand can still slip. One of the reviews below is about exactly that.
Two people who noticed
Both reviews are word for word, as they appear on the product page. The first is trimmed where the page trims it.
"These gloves have made a huge difference. I was having a lot of trouble with my hands slipping on my mat… These gloves have great grip and have all but stopped my hands slipping."
-Verified buyer
"Soft, breathable and great for yoga. Fit well and don't slip."
-Sheila D
Neither one says anything about strength. Both are about the surface.
The same bar next week
The bar does not change from one week to the next. What the hand meets on it can.
If the slip was the surface, the story about strength has nothing left to stand on. The hand was never the problem, and it never needed fixing.
The glove, in short
- Fabric: a stretch knit, 82% cotton, 15% polyester, 2% spandex and 1% silicone. Machine washable.
- Cut: half-finger, with bare fingertips and an open back. No velcro and no strap.
- Grip dots: silicone, on the palm and the undersides of the fingers.
- Fit: one size, 10 cm by 12 cm laid flat, in Oat, Rosé, Mint, White or Black. $42 a pair.
Every colour is on the SoftGrip Pilates Gloves page.
And the feet
Feet meet the same surfaces as hands do: the foot bar, the footplate, the mat. SoftGrip socks put a silicone grip on the sole, in the same way the glove's dots do for the hand. Scrunch, Ballet and Stripey are all on the page below, with prices.
Common questions
Do the gloves make a hand stronger?
No. They change the surface the hand meets, and nothing else.
Which classes are the gloves for?
Any class where a hand meets a bar, a strap or the floor: reformer, mat, hot mat, barre or Lagree. The glove is a surface for the hand, so what matters is what the hand touches.
What is the returns policy?
30 day returns, unworn with the tags on.
Shop SoftGrip
SoftGrip Pilates Gloves
Silicone grip dots. Fingerless stretch knit. One size. Oat, Rosé, Mint, White or Black.
$42 a pair
SoftGrip Pilates Scrunch Socks
Full-sole silicone pattern. One size. Oat, Rosé, Mint, White or Black.
$34 a pair
SoftGrip Stripey Socks
Crew length. Silicone grip sole. One size. Black, White, Grey, Green or Pink.
$30 a pair