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The best websites for Crossfit clothing and graphic tees

If you’re a seasoned Crossfitter or just poked your head in once then you know everyone at the box likes to spend a pretty penny on their kit and usually the brighter the better from lifting shoes, wod shoes, compression socks, shorts, compression trousers, graphic tees, vests, hoodies, belts, headbands, hand wraps, hats and bags.

I myself have spent more money on gym gear in the last year than i have in the last 28 years i’ve been on this earth with nearly one of each of the items above in the list.

Reebok the official sponsor of the Crossfit Games have their own Crossfit Wod inspired range of clothing and accessories and although they do have a few nice items on the website, which i’ve bought a pair of the shorts recently myself but they are quite expensive to be honest.

There are a number of businesses coming onto the Crossfit scene recently offering a wider range of tees and apparel with a quite a few coming out of the South Wales area due to the huge following Crossfit has in Cardiff and the valleys recently with around 10 crossfit boxes in a 10 mile radius of Cardiff.

bear strength tee Iconx-mens-black-yellow-shorts-side-pocket-500x500

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like to shop around to get something a bit different as i’m quite fussy even with my gym kit i hate having the same thing on as someone else so i do spend a fair bit of time hunting out something new and different when i’m in the game to make a new purchase of some Crossfit wod kit.

Some of the brands aimed at Crossfit i’ve come across, bought and seen at my box at Caerphilly are:

Bear Strength
Manufacturer and retailer of Crossfit clothing and apparel from graphic tees, shorts and hoodies

Again Faster
Stockist of Crossfit inspired clothing and apparel but also lifting equipment from bars and weights to custom built fully fitted Crossfit rigs.

IconX Barbell Club
Manufacturer of graphic tees, hoodies, shorts, hats, wraps and vests. They even do branded box kit like ours at Crossfit Caerphilly for regular WOD classes and bespoke kit for events and games.

Inov8
Manufacturer of fitness footwear including road running, off road and Crossfit inspired lifting shoes and WOD trainers. They also offer tees and hoodies.

Heavy Rep Gear
Manufacturer of Crossfit WOD kit from graphic tees, hoodies, vests, caps and shorts, which were the first ones i purchased over a year ago and still going strong today with their toughened material used.

Kratos RX’d
Manufacturer of Crossfit inspired sports nutrition but also produce clothing such as graphic tees and shorts.

Rogue Fitness
The most well known Crossfit clothing supplier and manufacturer who sponsor 3 time Crossfit Games Champion Rich Fronning who has his own tees available on the site. They also supply lifting equipment and supply the Crossfit Games with their weights and bars that are used in the competition.

Reebok
Manufacturer and retailer of sports clothing and accessories but also sponsor the Crossfit Games and have a range of Crossfit clothing including shorts, the legendary Reebok Nano shoes, tees and lifting shoes.

 

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Equipment and accessories for Crossfit newbies

If your a beginner or thinking of starting up Crossfit then there are a few pieces of equipment that can help you out in your WOD.

First and at the top of the list for any Crossfitter is the humble chalk ball. You’re going to be hitting some high number of reps whether it’s working on your technique or doing on the minute every minute in the first half of the Crossfit Classes at Caerphilly Crossfit where you do something like 3-10 reps on the minute every minute for around 6 minutes.

Chalk gives you more grip to hold the bar whether it’s a oly bar, pullup bar, ring or kettlebell. You’re going to break more than a sweat so you need to get a decent grip of that bar if you’re going to get through the designated number or reps and rounds.

Wrist wraps are always a good choice for keeping your wrists supported for exercises like bear crawls, head stand press ups and front squats to name a few. Check out my other post on Wrist Wraps for more info.

Shoes are an important factor to consider on your workouts depending on the exercises involved on the day. Most Crossfitters have two pairs of shoes one for the running and aerobic exercises and lifting shoes for stability and support for the olympic lifting.

Back support is a good idea when your hitting high weights on the deadlifts or sheer numbers of reps for some wods you don’t want  to be bending and arching that back or you will be in a world of trouble injuring yourself and putting you out of the game for some time.

Knee support seems to be a hit with a lot of Crossfitters for exercises such as squats. I’ve not got some or tried them to comment but you do see a lot of people wearing them at the box I go to.

Clothing should be sensible and common sense should be used here. Your not going to be having much flexibility on a squat in a pair of skinny jeans but spare a bit of modesty for your fellow crossfitters they probably don’t want to see you smuggling budgies in skin tight lycra leotard either mind. There are some decent crossfit aimed sports apparel brands on the scene right now offering toughened materials that stretch as the barbel is going to be rubbing against the shorts when doing cleans etc so you don’t want them to tear easily.

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Do wrist wraps help in Crossfit?

Are you new to Crossfit and wondering what those straps are that regulars wrapped around their wrists?

When I first started doing Crossfit nearly 6 months ago even though I had done a bit of weight training once or twice a week over the years my wrists were quite week and had a bit of pain in them after some exercises the day after.

I noticed a lot of the guys in the box were wearing the wraps so thought I would give them a go. I found that i had a lot more stability and support immediately with exercises like head stand press ups and moved from scaled versions to RX’in them in no time. I also found the wrist straps good for some of the warm up exercises such as bear crawls as my wrists did used to hurt quite a bit from these as they were relatively new to me and my balance wasn’t the best to start off with.

I also used to get a bit of pain when I first started front squats with flexibility issues from not having done them before starting Crossfit but the wrist straps do seemed to have helped a lot even if my flexibility has improved.

What are the best wrist wraps to wear for Crossfit?

I’ve only tried the standard wrist wraps I picked up in a local health shop from Maximuscle with the thumb loop and velcro strap to keep the wrap secure on the wrist. One thing I have noticed with these wrist straps is that they are very thick and bulky making me sweat a bit too much leaving them smell quite quickly if they are not washed regularly. The velcro on the wrist strap if wound too tight can scag the material of the wrap meaning they might not last as long as they should.

I did notice another kind of wrist strap worn by some of the other Crossfit regulars who had been going for longer and did some looking online and they are called strength wraps. They seem to fix the issues I had with the wraps being too thick and bulky and also there is no velcro to damage the wrap.

The Strength Wraps are a lot thinner in material and have a thin rope when wound around allow the wrist wrap to be tightened and loosened easily without having to take it off. This is ideal for a WOD that requires lifting or exercises with wrist support then followed by an exercises which requires more flexibility.

strength wraps for crossfit wrist support

The price of the Strength Wraps are around £20, which is nearly 4 times more than the standard wrist wrap from £5 but you will probably still be using the same ones in a years time when you might have gone through a couple of the standard ones due to the scagging or the stink from overly sweating.

I’m going to carry on using my standard wrist wraps for another month just to get some more wear out of them then I’m planning on trying out the Strength Wraps for my strength training and WOD’s at Crossfit.

If you want to buy the standard wrist wrap then go to the Maximuscle made from medical grade elastic.

For the lighter and more efficient Strength Wraps for your Crossfit WOD’s then head over to Amazon.

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