Handguards

Handguards protect the skin of the palms and improve contact with the bar or rings. Gymnasts usually start using them on a coach’s advice once they’re doing regular bar or ring work; many have a dowel, a small rod across the inside of the guard that the fingers wrap around.

The rules focus on condition:

• Training: British Gymnastics’ safety guidance says special equipment such as handguards must be suitable, not loose-fitting, and in good order.
• Competition: the FIG Codes of Points permit handguards, body bandages and wrist wraps if they are securely fastened and in good repair.
• When one breaks: if a handguard tears badly enough to cause a fall or interrupt a routine, a woman may repeat the whole exercise with the Superior Jury’s approval, and a man may repeat a rings or horizontal bar routine at the end of the rotation.

“Grip” also means the way the hands hold the bar — regular, reverse, mixed or L-grip — which is a separate idea.