If you’re lifting weight on a regular basis, wearing a pair of weightlifting gloves can help you out immensely.  First, they padding in them will protect your wrists from pain and discomfort.  The padding will also make sure that you don’t develop thick calluses on your hands that can be painful and unsightly.  Perhaps more importantly though, gloves help to increase your grip on barbells or dumbbells, either through no-slip grips on the palms or my making sure the sweat from your hands doesn’t get onto the bar.

If you’re thinking of buying a pair of lifting gloves, here are five of the best.

Harbinger 143 Men’s Pro Wash and Dry Gloves

The first set of gloves comes from Harbinger.  These gloves are specially designed to fit the larger palms that many men have.  The Harbinger 143 is also built with ventilator mesh on the back and through the fingers.  This keeps your hands as cool as possible while still providing the comfort and support that you need on your palms.

Perhaps best of all, and as the name suggests, this glove is completely machine washable.  Everyone that’s worn gloves at the gym for a long enough time knows that they eventually get infested with odors and bacteria.  With most gloves, you have to hand wash them to keep them from shrinking.  However, with these gloves, you can just stick them in the wash with your everyday clothes, making keeping them clean easy.  Check out the full review.

Harbinger 149 Women’s Pro Wash & Dry Gloves

This pair of Harbinger gloves is the same as the gloves just reviewed above, but they are designed with women in mind.  They have a convenient slip-on design and all the benefits of the Harbinger 143 model, including the fact that they are machine-washable.  For any woman that wants to protect her hands from the rough weights of the gym, but still wants to develop some muscle tone, these gloves are a great option.  Look at the full review for more information.

Saranac Women’s Luxe Fitness Glove

Another great pair of weight lifting gloves designed for women are the Luxe Fitness Gloves from Saranac.  These are lightweight and durable gloves that include a gel insert for extra hand protection and suede lining that makes the gloves easy on the rest of your hands.  Not only are these a great pair of gloves, the company will devote a portion of each purchase to supporting breast cancer awareness.  For information on how you can get a pair of these gloves, look at our full review.

Harbinger Power Stretchback Glove

This is the third glove from Harbinger that has made our top five list for weightlifting gloves.  It is constructed with stretchback lycra that keep the entire glove breathable and comfortable on most every weightlifter.  The palm side of the glove is constructed of leather with a foam insert to protect your hand and wrist while increasing the grip you have on the bar. Read the review for more.

Valeo Meshback Lifting Gloves

The final set of gloves in our review are Meshblack Lifting Gloves from Valeo.  These are a high quality pair of leather gloves with a patented material called meshback across the back of the hand and finger for ventilation.  The padded palms and terry cloth lining of these gloves will make sure that your hands stay comfortable in almost any situation.  These gloves are precise fitting and very durable, with each model being die-cast.  For more information see our complete review.

All of these gloves are durable, well-fitting, and will make a great addition to your next workout.  For more on these gloves and to check out some other models, look around our weight lifting gloves category.