my hands paid the price
I'm Jess, founder of GRIPPD and weightlifter of 16+ years. And for most of those years, my hands have paid the price.
Calluses I picked at til they bled and left sores. A nightly ritual with a pumice stone that felt less like self care and more like giving my palms a brutal pedicure they never signed up for. A husband who wouldn't let me forget about my 'crusty hands'.
Small things, but they add up, and training was starting to feel more like bodybuilding for my calluses and less like progressively overloading my muscles.
Then my body said no
Then I was diagnosed with hypermobility. Straps put pressure straight through joints that were already unstable, and I was injuring my wrists doing the thing I love most.
Gloves weren't the answer either. Some days, with an autoimmune condition that flares and makes my joints ache, I don't have the dexterity to wrestle a glove onto my sweaty hands.
I needed something that protected my hands and backed my grip, without asking more of my joints than they had to give that day. Nothing on the market did that.
So I built it myself.
So I built it for us
Around here, we're Redefining Inspiration, Power, Progress and Discipline.
Because moving your body matters, regardless of whatever your hands, joints or your body are dealing with that day. I built GRIPPD for women, first and always. For the ones who've been told to push through pain that shouldn't be pushed through. For the ones who've had their hands teased, their limits questioned, or their training written off as "too much". You're not too much. Your hands aren't a problem to fix. You just need gear designed for you, to work with you.
And it turns out a decent chunk of men rate Grip Shields too. Good... the ones who stick around are the ones who aren't threatened by girl power.
Talk about your brand
Strong doesn't have a body type. It doesn't have a hand size, a diagnosis, or a look. It just has women (and men) who keep showing up.
That's who GRIPPD is built for.
Thank you for being apart of a community and movement