Tiger paws are a competition grade wrist support for gymnasts to wear. If you are performing gymnastics, tumbling skills or cheerleading you should wear some tiger paws to make sure you protect your wrists, especially when kip training & practising bar and vault skills. Gymnastics involves physical movements that often put a lot of weight and pressure directly onto your wrists. I know it’s not fun to have to wear something on your arm while performing, but you’ll soon not even realise you are wearing a gymnastics tiger paw.
At first they feel a little stiff and restrictive but quickly become loose and comfortable. You’ll love how supportive they feel and I often hear young gymnasts saying they feel much more confident with their handsprings, vaulting and other gymnastics skills that involve speed and the use of your wrists to support your weight.
Let’s take a look at some of the best Tiger paws. Choosing a Tiger paw is easy because it appears that several brands have been allowed to sell US gloves official Tiger Paws, these brands include Snowflake designs and other less well known brands have created sets of gymnastics tiger paws that don’t live up to the quality of the US glove gymnastics competition standard tiger paws.
Best Tiger Paws for gymnasts
Here are some of my favourite Tiger paws for gymnasts to wear. There aren’t a lot of different brands to choose from and US gym produce the competitions standard gymnastics Tiger Paws so are my top recommendation. Hopefully ore products will become available in the near future, but I think it will be difficult for them to compete with US Glove.
US Glove Tiger Paws
Click the image to view the price on Amazon
The three Velcro straps on these Us Glove Tiger paws fasten tightly so you can be sure your wrists are supported, even if you or your children have tiny wrists. You should receive a few different plastic inserts with the tiger paws, so you can choose which to insert and adjust the stiffness depending on which you prefer. Just be aware that if you choose an insert that isn’t very stiff, it will loosen even more, so it’s better if they are a little bit stiff and ease with use. These is also some additional foam padding included that you can insert if you feel you need the extra thickness and protection.
Practising gymnastics a lot is tiring on your wrists so using a tiger paw for gymnastics practice and meets should help to take off some of the strain and reduce how tired your wrists are getting. Your hands should also benefit from the strong rigid and extra supportive wrist that doesn’t collapse or shake under pressure quite as
easily. Don’t expect US gloves gymnastics Tiger paws to strengthen your weak wrists, you’ll still need to put in the hard work training your wrist and arm strength, but they will definitely add that rigid support that can help make gymnastics practice safer.
Overall the US gym Tiger Paws for gymnasts are strong and comfortable for tumbling in but will take a while to break in. The rigid firm structure is supportive but also much more comfortable as it eases a little while still maintaining it’s supportive structure. The desert like sand colour is the only colour USA gymnastics accept in competition so be sure to choose the sand colour if you plan to wear tiger paws at your gymnastics meets.
US gloves have an exceptionally good reputation and these wrist supports are very strong and you can be sure they will help protect your young gymnasts and give them that little bit extra support which can also lead to a boost in confidence while performing more difficult wrist weight bearing gymnastics skills.
US Glove Waterproof Tiger Paws for gymnasts
Click the image to view the price on Amazon
The design of these black US glove waterproof tiger paws looks almost identical to the sand coloured leather Tiger paws above. US gloves created these waterproof tiger paws using a non-slip waterproof fabric. If you practice gymnastics outdoors, on the gymnastics bars or maybe you practice your fitness routines in an outdoor gym then these can be great for training even when the weather is wet or the bars you are gripping on to are slippery.
If you are diving from a wet diving board or practising cheer and tumbling skills outdoors you might also find waterproof tiger paws a good option. I personally only usually practice indoors and will sometimes practice floor skills or use an air mat in the garden when the weather is good, but I don’t ever bring my Tiger Paws outside. Even if you don’t need the waterproof material, I really like the black colour and the Velcro strap fastenings and rigidity of the wrist support is strong. If it wasn’t for US gymnastics requiring the sand coloured gymnastics paws I would choose the black coloured ones.
What are tiger paws used for in gymnastics?
Tiger paws are usually used to give gymnasts extra write support while practising gymnastics.
When you feel like you need the extra wrist support, let the tiger paws help you out but there will be a time when you start to feel like your wrists are stronger and more flexible. You don’t have to wear them for all your routines at this point, just see how your wrists feel and if it feels like they are collapsing or not able to support you through certain more difficult tumbling, bar or vault skills then wear a tiger paw for the extra stability.
Tiger paws are also often used after a wrist injury or when wrist pain during gymnastics practice is becoming too uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s a good idea to rest your wrist if it start to hurt during gymnastics but sometimes you can continue with the support of a tiger paw for gymnastics that helps keep your wrist more rigid and stops it bending and becoming more injured.
Where can I buy tiger paws for gymnastics?
You can buy Tiger Paws from a selection of online stores including Amazon. If you search on Amazon you’ll see that the products I have listed above are all listed at the same price. This is because different companies must have been given the rights to sell US gloves Tiger Paws on amazon for the same price. I don’t often find tiger paws in sports stores but it may be possible in a specialised gymnastics equipment store.
Why Tiger paws are good for gymnasts
Tiger Paws are wrist supports for gymnasts that have a number of different benefits for gymnasts. These wrist support wraps most importantly offer gymnasts wrists a little bit of extra protection. Gymnastics involves many high intensity exercises that can put a lot of pressure onto your wrists. Using a tiger paw adds a firm but padded extra layer of protection alongside your wrist which can help stop your wrist stretching and bending too far and injuring tendons, muscles or even the wrist bone.
While practising the back handspring I’ve seen many gymnasts wrists overextending in the unnatural position the skill puts your wrist into. An tiger paw can help lot with protecting a gymnasts wrist during the back-handspring and other gymnastics skills that put pressure on your wrists and bend them backwards.
If you are a gymnast and you’ve recently had a wrist injury then wearing a Tiger Paw offers some protection while the muscles and tendons in your wrist area recover. If you have had a gymnastics injury be sure to speak to a physiotherapist, doctor or your coach so you can work out when it is safe to begin training your gymnastics skills again.
