The Kensui Fitness Swissies are attachable handles that allow you to do various exercises with a neutral grip.
I highly recommend these handles if you want to add more variety to your pull day.
Specifically, these handles are perfect for two types of people.
Keep reading to learn more.
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The White Coat Trainer’s Kensui Swissies Review
The Swissies are a simple but well-made product. When I got mine in the mail, I was impressed at the build quality and how sturdy the handles felt.
A nice bonus is that the handles have a textured grip that makes them easy to hold.
In addition, the Swissies are super intuitive to use.
There is no confusion on how to properly attach them to a barbell, a lat pulldown bar, or a pull-up bar.
What Exercises Can You Do With The Swissies?
The Swissies are great for a variety of pulling exercises, such as:
You can also use the Swissies with a resistance band, which is much more comfortable than holding the band itself.
Here is a short youtube video showing us doing various exercises with the Swissies.
Who Should Consider Getting Them?
The Swissies are perfect for two types of people:
1) those who want to add variety to their workouts by changing up their grip, and
2) those with wrist or shoulder pain and would benefit from a neutral grip option.
Let’s go over both of these scenarios in more detail.
Increase Grip Variety Using a Neutral Position
If you want to add more variety to your pulling workouts, the Swissies are a great option.
One of the significant benefits of using neutral grip handles (i.e., your palms facing each other) is that they allow you to target muscle groups from different angles.
In some instances, you even get better muscle activation.
For example, one study shows that you can target your lats more effectively with neutral grip lat pull downs compared to the traditional overhand or underhand grip.
Also, some exercises are just plain easier and more comfortable to do with a neutral grip.
Reduce Pain and Injury
The other type who can benefit from the Swissies is someone with wrist or shoulder pain.
When you use a pronated or supinated grip, your wrists are often in an unnatural position, leading to discomfort in the shoulder or wrist joint.
A neutral grip eliminates this problem by placing your arms in a more natural and comfortable place.
With a simple change in wrist position, you can immediately notice how much more natural pull-ups and other rowing-type movements feel.
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Now let’s go over a list of the pros and cons of this device.
Benefits
Neutral Grip On All Pulling Exercises
The most apparent benefit of the Swissies is that you can do all your pulling exercises with a neutral grip. Some movements feel straight-up weird using pronated and supinated grips.
On the contrary, a neutral grip is always comfortable and helps you build a stronger mind-muscle connection.
Have you ever tried neutral grip deadlifts or neutral grip pull ups?
They feel so much more natural!
Increase Your Range of Motion
In addition, the neutral grip places your elbows in a more natural position, allowing them to move through a greater range of motion.
This benefit is beneficial for exercises like inverted rows and pull-ups.
Change Your Grip Width
The main drawback of other neutral grip handles is that the grip width is usually fixed.
With Swissies, you can adjust your grip width to your liking.
For example, you can do close grip pull-ups (using a neutral grip) to target your arms more or wide grip pull-ups to target your latissimus dorsi more.
Knurled Handle
The knurling on the Swissies is also quite strong and feels good in the hand. It’s not as intense as a regular barbell, but it is enough to keep your hands from slipping.
Anti-Slip Hook Rubber Lining
The Swissies also have a slip-resistant rubber guard on the hook, which provides extra stability and prevents the handle from sliding during your sets.
This is an excellent feature if you plan on using them for exercises like deadlifts or shrugs.
Compact and Light-weight
The Swissies are very light and compact.
They don’t take up a lot of space and easily fit in a small bag.
Easy to Set-up
They are also straightforward to set up and use. Their intuitive design makes it quick and easy to attach them to all kinds of bars, including:
- Pull-up bars
- Barbells
- Lat pull-down bars
- Resistance bands
Reasonable Price
Gym equipment is expensive. But the Swissies are relatively affordable for a piece of equipment that brings a lot of variety to your training.
Drawbacks
The only real drawback of the Swissies is that you can’t use them for pressing exercises.
I would love to see a device that allows me to do the bench press or overhead press with a neutral grip.
Perhaps Remy and the team at Kensui Fitness can come up with a cool gadget that will allow us to do that in the future.
Other than that, the Swissies are an excellent tool for adding more variety to your workouts and keeping your wrist and shoulders happy.
Other Related Questions
How much weight can they hold?
Remy and the Kensui fitness team have tested each handle up to a 400 lb load. As such, both handles should have an 800 lbs weight capacity in total.
What material are they made out of?
The Swissies are made of a hard nylon plastic known as nylon fiberglass. You can check out the other specs on their website.
How much do they weigh?
Together the pair of handles weigh less than one pound.
Are any discount codes available?
Yes, first, you need to follow this link and then enter the code ” WCT ” at checkout for 10% off! These are definitely a solid purchase for your home gym or to take with you on the go.
Overall Verdict
The Kensui Fitness Swissies are an excellent accessory tool for increasing the variety of your workouts and reducing joint stress.
If you are looking for a more comfortable and natural way to do pull-ups, bent over rows, and other pulling movements, the Swissies are worth checking out.
Remember to use my coupon code WCT in this link to get a 10% discount.
PS: I also highly recommend checking out their weight vest, another high quality product that you load with Olympic weight plates.
You can read my review below!
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Alex Robles, MD, CPT / Brittany Robles, MD, MPH, CPT
Alex & Brittany Robles are physicians, NASM Certified Personal Trainers, and founders of The White Coat Trainer: a resource dedicated to improving the health and fitness of busy professionals using time-efficient strategies. Their advice has been featured in My Fitness Pal, Prevention, Livestrong, Reader’s Digest, Bustle, The Active Times, and more. Learn more about them here.