ReallyStrongNerds

I recently saw an ad for the brand Goblin Gear online, and decided to check out their products. They carry elbow wraps, wrist wraps, knee sleeves, elbow sleeves, and belts as well.

Overall, they have great product design and they ship what seems to be every product in this half mesh, half plastic zip up bag/container. I personally love that because it makes keeping them stored in my gym bag even easier. As of now I only have tried the elbow wraps, so I’ll be reviewing them today (I’ll be posting my affiliate link as well).

Which, is another thing. I got signed up for their brand ambassador program rather quickly so, read to the end if you’d like 10 percent off of your order!

Anyways, back to business. The Goblin Gear Elbow Wraps. I’ll just start by saying they are fantastic. Plain and simple. The literal only downfall in the product is getting used to their loop-locking mechanism. Which, is a really cool way to lock in your elbow or wrist wraps. But, it took me a good handful of tries to get used to using them.

Overall they are, well, comfortable as a wrap can be. They aren’t exactly supposed to be comfy. But, compared to knee wraps, I will say that elbow wraps are a bit less… Intrusive, if you will. And the Goblin Gear Elbow Wraps are definitely one of the better feeling wraps I’ve put on.

In regards to adding weight to the lifts, I’m not so much concerned with that by using them. I care more about building work capacity over time by using them on my heavier accessory presses. Close Grip Bench, Incline Bench, Axle Bench, Strict Overhead Press, Dumbbell Press, things of that nature. I think accessories are just as important as the main movers, especially as a Strongman competitor like myself. In Strongman, you may be in prep for one show, then have another a few weeks later, where your main accessory press for show number 1, is the main press event in show number 2. So having these as a training tool to overload those heavier accessory presses, is really awesome.

I will say, I’m unsure of the legality of them in various competitions. Some Strongman comps allow elbow wraps, some don’t. I think most powerlifting feds don’t allow them either. Although the Raw with Wraps (meaning knee wraps) may start including Elbow Wraps if they keep growing in popularity. That’d be a pretty cool division to watch, actually. They could call what we know now as Raw with Wraps, the Classic Raw With Wraps, then add in like a Raw With Full Wraps division or something where you can wear elbow wraps on bench. That’d be really cool to watch. This may already exist actually, I’m unsure as I don’t follow powerlifting as much.

Overall in performance, I’d give them a 9 out of 10. The only reason it’s a 9 is because you have to get used to putting them on. Which, the same could be said about traditional knee wraps too. That being said, it’s not too difficult to put them on, but it is something to consider. I loved being able to do my heavier sets of close grip bench and strict barbell press with a bit more ease. I was able to add 2 reps to each set, on both exercises. In the long run, that’s great for improving overall work capacity.

I will say, even though I’ve only used them for Close grip bench and strict overhead press so far, I do think they may not be as useful for push press, split jerks, and power jerks. The reason I say this, is because since those are much more explosive, you can’t really get as much of that tightness in the bottom of the movement as you do on a bench press, or a strict overhead press. See the mechanical reason wraps work is because of the tightness you get, in the bottom of a bench, or the bottom of a squat. It creates a rebound effect. I don’t think that rebound effect is going to be that strong in a movement where you are explosively driving the bar upwards, and effectively skipping the portion of the lift where that rebound effect does the majority of its work.

That being said, that doesn’t mean an Oly lifter or maybe an athlete who’s doing Oly lifts can’t benefit from these at all, it just means maybe stick to doing the strict pressing movements with them on instead of something like a push jerk.

The quality and design of the wraps is great too. And like I said, I love the little bag they come in. Easy storage, stays organized in my gym bag. Let’s face facts here: us Strongmen and Strongwomen have like 67 things in our gym bags, we’re worse than Powerlifters most of the time. So that storage ability is great.

All in all I’d give the Goblin Gear 2x Elbow Wraps a legit 9.5/10. They do exactly what they’re supposed to do, they feel good, look good, and add a whole new piece of equipment to your training arsenal. That being said, I give it a 9.5 instead of a 10, solely for the reason of having a bit of a learning curve to put them on. That’s the only reason, I wish I could just say 10/10 but I can’t because of that specific reason.

I’m looking forward to trying out their wrist wraps here soon, as I’m done for a new pair here soon. I am due for a new set of elbow sleeves as well, and I’m going to give them a shot here in the near future. I also really hope that they’re able to make knee sleeves (hint hint, Goblin Gear if you see this that’d be really really cool).

If you’d like to buy something from Goblin Gear and you enjoyed my review, feel free to follow my affiliate link here.