10 Best Finger Tapes for BJJ & Grappling in 2023

Often, you’ll see BJJ practitioners with swollen knuckles that look about 50% wider than the rest of the finger. This results from constant sparring and rolling on the mat, trying to lock in grips with your opponent’s Gi. In extreme cases, as the opponent tries to break your grip, one of your finger joints might get dislocated.

I’m reviewing the best finger tapes for BJJ & grappling to protect your finger joints. People will often use regular athletic tape/ bandage tape, but 0.2” monkey tape is a far more sensible choice, given its narrower width and ease of tearing. Remember that the easiest way to reduce finger strain in BJJ is to not always use a death grip, especially when the opponent can rip it off.

Meister StickElite Professional Athletic Tape

• Size: 0.3” x 45 feet
• Color: Black
• Material: Latex-free cotton blend
• Features: Super-strong adhesive, sweat-resistant, surgical-grade
• Strengths: Don’t need scissors to rip it off, uses hypoallergenic materials

Suppose you’ve never tried any kind of tape on your fingers before and just want a single roll to try the concept. In that case, I highly recommend the Meister StickElite. It’s 0.3” wide, which is slightly thicker than the 0.2” tape commonly used by fighters. However, this just means you use a different wrapping pattern (or you can use the same one; it’s no big deal).

Gold BJJ Tape

• Size: 0.5” x 30 feet
• Color: White
• Material: Cotton-polyester blend
• Features: Zero residue adhesive, surgically sterile
• Strengths: Backed by a one-year warranty, non-elastic

The Gold BJJ tape is wide, at 0.5”, so you just use the old-school method of wrapping it once around whichever joint you wish to protect. With 30 feet of tape per roll, you get 15 uses- assuming 24 inches of tape each time you wrap both hands and 2 knuckles per finger. Due to the higher width, you can also use this tape on your wrists.

Monkey Tape 1” Single Roll

• Size: 1” x 15 feet
• Color: Black
• Material: Latex-free cotton blend
• Features: Non-elastic, flexible
• Strengths: Endorsed by famous MMA practitioners and BJJ champs, sweat-wicking design

One-inch wide tape is hard to fit around any finger knuckle other than the thumb, and that’s exactly where it should be used. You can also use 1” tape for your wrists to provide support while striking a bag (it works under gloves).

If you use this on fingers other than your thumb, just go around the joint once. And don’t wrap it too tight, or it will come off if you bend your finger even slightly.

D-NYX Finger Tape 8-Pack

• Size: 0.3” x 45 feet
• Color: White
• Material: Cotton-polyester blend
• Features: Residue-free adhesive
• Strengths: Multi-purpose, easy to tear by hand, hypoallergenic

You get 8 rolls of 0.3” tape, 45 feet each- so 20 to 21 uses per roll. It’s hard to find anything better for the price, as the D-NYX tape costs less for a pack of 8 than a single roll of any other tape. And it’s not bad at all; the adhesive is strong and works even with sweat pouring out of your hand.

FRESINIDER Finger Tape

• Size: 0.3” x 45 feet
• Color: Black
• Material: Cotton substrate
• Features: Sweat-resistant, zero-residue
• Strengths: Hypoallergenic, comes in an easy-to-carry metal canister

It’s over twice as expensive as the D-NYX tape, but you get a higher quality product and one extra roll (9 instead of 8). Each roll comes in a tin can that you can easily carry to BJJ or Judo class in your bag. The pro-grade tape, developed in coordination with BJJ champs, and uses a hypoallergenic cotton substrate with zero-residue adhesive.

Fuji Jiu-Jitsu And Judo Finger Tape

• Size: 0.5” x 30 feet
• Color: White
• Material: Cotton-polyester blend
• Features: Super-strong adhesive, hypoallergenic
• Strengths: Precut so you don’t need scissors, leaves no residue

While the 6 rolls in each pack are contained within a canister, it’s made from cardboard, and there are no individual containers for each roll. Nevertheless, Fuji’s tape is of good quality. It is flexible, which means it will wrap perfectly around your finger joints. It is also non-elastic, so it won’t stretch lengthways (you get maximum support for your finger ligaments).

Bighorn Athletics Jiu-Jitsu Tape

• Size: 0.3” x 45 feet, 0.5” x 45 feet
• Color: White, red, blue, green, black, orange, pink
• Material: Cotton blend
• Features: 88gsm cotton, residue-free
• Strengths: Available in a wide range of colors and two different widths

You can get these in either a 0.3” profile or a 0.5” profile. I suggest you get two rolls of the 0.5” tape for your thumbs and an 8-pack of the 0.3” tape for your other 8 fingers.

The tape is pretty thin (which makes it easy to wrap around joints). Still, it’s extremely strong and contains very sticky glue that doesn’t let go, no matter how sweaty you get.

Monkey Tape 3-Roll Pack

• Size: 0.2” x 45 feet, 0.3” x 45 feet, 0.5” x 45 feet
• Color: Black
• Material: Cotton blend
• Features: Grippy texture, residue-free adhesive
• Strengths: Fits well on hands of every size, doesn’t come off while grappling

This is the product I recommend to BJJ and Judo practitioners who don’t really know which tape size is ideal for them and are using it for the first time. While most folks are happy with the slim 0.2” Monkey Tape, there are uses for the wider 0.3” and 0.5” versions.

The wider tapes can take more tensile load and provide better support for the ligaments in your fingers. Plus, they are ideal for people with large hands.

White Finger Tape

• Size: 0.3” x 45 feet
• Color: White
• Material: Rayon
• Features: Anti-fraying, breathable fabric
• Strengths: Multi-use, very grippy

This is a versatile piece of kit used by everyone from rock climbers to weightlifters, and yes- BJJ practitioners. It doesn’t do anything really well but scores high on all core aspects- strength, grip, flexibility, etc. It’s also really easy to carry and use because each roll comes in a separate canister, and you can comfortably cut it with your finger (no scissors required).

Hampton Premium Finger Tape

• Size: 0.3” x 45 feet
• Color: Black
• Material: Cotton substrate
• Features: Non-elastic, super-strong glue
• Strengths: Double refund if you’re not satisfied, works with chalk

It may seem expensive at first, but remember- this pack of 8 rolls, each 45 feet long. You’ll get 120 uses out of this pack, or the equivalent of 4 months of daily training.

This is also one of the few finger tapes that is specifically designed to not fray. So you won’t find threads sticking out of the tape after rolling for a few minutes with your sparring partners.

Conclusion

Certain types of guards in BJJ have an increased risk of finger injury compared to others. For instance, a spider guard is way more likely to cause knuckle swelling than a half guard or butterfly guard. And newcomers often lock their fingers into a death grip, refusing to let go, even in positions where the other guy can forcibly rip off your grip.

Not knowing when it’s okay to let go is the biggest reason for “mallet fingers” in BJJ and similar grappling arts. If you want to be extra safe, wrap some good tape on the knuckles to keep your finger tendons and joints in place. There are many ways to tape your knuckles; you can learn more about them in following video (never go too tight, or you’ll restrict blood flow).

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Last update on 2024-07-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API