Mark Bell Grippy X sleeve vs Froning 7mm sleeve

This is a comparison between the Grippy x sleeve and the Froning 7mm sleeve including pros, cons and alternatives. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the Froning Rehband 7mm knee sleeve

These are the best knee sleeves for all around usage at $49.99 a sleeve. Take that these are sold individually and not in pairs.

Overview of the Froning knee sleeve

The Rehband RX 7mm Knee Sleeve from the Froning series is probably the safe bet when it comes to sleeves. For the price, you get a thick sleeve with a wide range of options in size. With Froning branding, you still get some inspiration from a top Crossfit athlete while the sleeve itself is produced by the main vendor in the sleeve industry for sports. Take care that these are sold individually and not in pairs. The specifications of the Rich Froning 7mm are:

Sold Individually
7MM thick SBR / Neoprene blend flex-material
Size Options: XXS-XXL (See Chart Below)
Color: Black & Red

This is the sleeve for Crossfit champions.

Size of the Froning knee sleeve

These are the sizes that are available for the Rich Froning knee sleeve. Measure at the upper calf about 10 cm down from your knee cap.

XXS 29 - 31cm
XS 31 - 33cm
S 33 - 35cm
M 35 - 37cm
L 37 - 40cm
XL 40 - 43cm
XXL 43 - 46cm

This is one of the widest ranges of sizes you can find for knee sleeves in the current market.

Pros of the Froning knee sleeves

The pros of the Froning knee sleeves are:

Wide range of size options
Reliable vendor
Only vendor with Froning products for sleeves

Rehbandis one of the powerhouses in the area of knee and elbow protection across all sports. They have teamed up with one of the most successful athletes in Crossfit to provide a solid sleeve option for Crossfitters and strongmen.

The cons of the Froning knee sleeves

The cons of the Froning knee sleeves are:

Not sold in pairs
Price
Design

The Froning 7MM sleeves are unfortunately not sold in pairs. This is an exemption from the standards for other vendors. This drives the price up. In addition, some also might think that the design of the Rehband sleeves might be a little outdated. Rogue and Rocktape have made some efforts here to push the envelope for the industry. Especially Rogue with their custom designs from the Zeus engine.

Alternatives to the Froning knee sleeve

Alternatives to the Froning knee sleeve are:

The Dan Bailey clang and Bang knee sleeves come in 5mm with a grey design. The good news is that they come in pairs. If you are a Crossfitter who wants to support an athlete but do not want to pay double for protecting both of your knees, the Dan Bailey sleeves might be the option for you.

If your main goal is to get your One repetition maximum up, the X treme Sleeves from Mark bell might be just the right option for you. These sleeves have been designed very stiff so you get maximum support on your one-repetition maximum attempts. With this, they can be quite restrictive if you want to run and jump in them.

If you want to do your own design on a knee sleeve with medium thickness and support the custom Rogue knee sleeves are currently one of the options where you can upload your own design and get it delivered to your doorstep.

Summary for the Froning knee sleeve

The safest bet for overall quality, comfort, and support. This comes at the cost of not being able to buy in pairs.

Overview and review of the Grippy X Sleeve

Grippy x sleeves are one of the stiffest and thinnest knee sleeves on the market and comes in at $85. This is the one to go for to optimize your one repetition maximum.

Overview of the Grippy x sleeve

The Grippy x sleeves come out of the range of Mark bell’s wraps and sleeves. His channel supertraining06 is probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, powerlifting channel on YouTube. They are designed to emulate wraps and be as stiff as possible for heavy squats. The specifications are:

Sold in Pairs
Thickness: 6.5mm
Length: 29cm
Approved by USPA

To provide a good, right support to place another squat personal record.

Sizing for the Grippy x sleeve

I take no responsibility for any size information as it usually lands me in trouble with at least one person. What I will say is that the design of the Grippy x sleeve is unforgiving. Take the measurements seriously and spent some time thinking about size or you might be in a world of pain to get these on. This is intended for the support the x sleeves provide. Rehband models are more forgiving in this regard. The sizes are

S - knee circumference 13-14”
M - 14.25” - 15”
L - 15.25” - 16”
Xl - 16.25” - 17”
2xl - 17.25” - 18”
3xl - 18.25” - 19”
4xl - 19.25” - 20”

If you have very big calves which are potentially thicker circumference then your knee, go a size up.

Pros of the grippy x sleeve

The pros of the grippy x sleeves are:

USAPF approved
Stiffness
Experienced vendor

The grippy x sleeves are USAPF approved. This means that you can use them in competitions in this federation. It is always good to simulate competition conditions as close as you can in training. With these sleeves, you at least compete on a national level. IPF approval is a different topic.

The stiffness of the x sleeve is its main selling point. The grippy x sleeves are probably the closest you can get with sleeves to simulate a wrap. A good knee wrap will be tighter and provide more bounce, but it is also hard to do it yourself.

Mark Bell has been around for a long time and was a powerlifter for a long time. Whether you actually need all of the sleeves he puts out can be debated, but his products do what they say on the tin, based on my experience.

Cons of the Grippy x sleeve

The cons of the grippy x sleeve

IPF controversy
Price
Stiffness

One con for international powerlifters is that there is a debate about whether they should be IPF approved. There is a controversy for how they function and a complaint was filed (probably by SBD).The IPF is the international rather than national federation for powerlifting and considered the gold standard of raw lifting. If you read this check the current status as it might have changed.

The price is a little steep but you pay for the quality. This was so good that it was ruled out, so it will probably protect your knees and improve your PR.

The stiffness can work against you. Of you want to use these sleeves for CrossFit WODs or Olympic lifts they might limit your range of motion too much.

Alternatives to the grippy x sleeve

Alternatives to the grippy x sleeves are:

Knee wraps are the ultimate stability tool for your knees. While they are harder to put on correctly they provide the most amount of bounce. Depending on the lifting federation they might be allowed or not. Lifting with wraps is not considered raw lifting.

The Rehband knee sleeve is the long-held general standard for knee sleeves. You will find Rehband products across all different sports. The use is versatile and they are not as stiff as the Mark bell grippy sleeves.

The x knee sleeves from Mark bell are the upgraded version after the IPF pulled their approval for the grippy sleeves. This is the updated version with thicker neoprene that covers USAPF and IPF approvals.

Summary for the grippy X Sleeve

The grippy x sleeves are the “cheater” sleeves which will provide you with great support for raw lifting and were so effective that the IPF banned them. Definitely worth having if it just for the story around them. Of you want sleeves with similar attributes to go for the extreme x sleeves.