ive never used gloves or straps or anything of the sort, but ive noticed more and more people using straps. well ive always seen them around, but im seeing them more often specifically on deadlifts, which is where i might consider using them
im not too educated on what straps do for you other than an increased gripping area...but does anyone use them and do you think its worth looking into them? they are cheap enough, but i dont want to get them just because of that

also, side question: im way out of the loop on lifting and fitness in general, as you can probably tell by this question. what magazines or sites do those who are into lifting check out?

i use them for deadlifts and heavy shrugs. the only two lifts i do where you dont have to worry about being able to hold the weight entirely in your hand and control it.

Straps let you hold onto more weight than you can grip with your hands, or it lets you pull easier and takes the stress of your forearms. Some people use them on any type of pulling exercise because they feel it hits the target muscle better. Lots of pros will use them for everything because when you're really strong the forearms take a beating every workout just because of the weight being lifted.

I personally never use them and go pretty heavy and lots of stuff. Chalking up works for me. I would certainly use them if I had to, though. There is no sense in letting your back workout suffer just because you won't use straps. If I had to use them I would start training grip more to overcome the issue. Gloves are just fucking pointless for anything in the gym.


The only magazine I read regularly is Muscular Development. If you're not into competitive bodybuilding it's not really worth reading every month, but pick one up and see what you think. They aren't full of shit about everything, and have a lot of good information. Flex has better nutrition writing, but definitely isn't near as good overall. Bodybuilding.com has more info and whatnot on it than any other site, and their store is great too. The Muscular Development site is good too, and their boards can be pretty ridiculous.

i hate gloves. i even hated batting gloves in baseball so i never wore them...so i don't get them in lifting either
maybe i should get back into some of the grip and wrist strength stuff i used to do. my dad reads Milo all the time and has a lot of grip strengthening attachments and doo-dads he got out of there for pinch gripping and shit like that. john brookfield is the man for grip strength though...dude tore through three decks of cards all at once and does tons of gripping

Fuck yeah, check out the Ironmind site. Brookfield is a machine when it comes to hand strength. If you did some thickbar work and grip once a week you should be fine. Still, a lot of people stand by straps for a number of reasons. IMO they really aren't needed for the average gym goer.

yeah ironmind is a great site. now that i looked, im pretty sure thats where my dad got two of the "doo-dads" i mentioned earlier
and

those things are great, plus a few others not on that site.

heres a grip exercise, its not the best but if all you have is plates its tops.
take two plates and put them face to face, meaning smooth sides out. grip the plates, squeezing them together, hold your hands at the top of the plates and let them hang, hold for 10 seconds then switch hands. i cant find a picture to better explain it, but its not hard to understand

Pinch gripping. Being able to do two 45s like that is pretty intense. It used to be world class but grip strength is getting pretty crazy these days. I've done two 35s but only with my right hand.

Ironmind also make the Captains of Crush grippers that are really popular. They're like regular hand grippers, but much much harder to close. There are a bunch of different levels, and the top three are just insane.

i didnt mean use 45's, just any plate that youre comfortable with. i was using plate as a generic term

yeah my dad has a few of the captains of crush grippers (Trainer, 2, and 3 i think), but im looking at getting one of john brookfield's own grippers that have extensions so you can vary the weight a bit more granular than you can with standard grippers

the last time i pinch gripped would have been in high school and i think i could only do two 25s at the most.

Originally posted by:FireBeerMidgets

i didnt mean use 45's, just any plate that youre comfortable with. i was using plate as a generic term

Haha I know. The only person here that could probably grab 2 45s would be Pudge.

I didn't know Brookfield made grippers. I'll have to look into that. I have a bunch of the COC ones, and an Ivanko Super Gripper. The Ivanko is nice because it's variable, but really digs into my hands sometimes. The highest COC I have is a #3 and that thing is ridiculous. I think my batch of grippers is way over torqued, though. I can close every other #2 that I come across, but have never even shut the one I have.

hahahahaahhha that is just comical looking. I'll definitely have to get one of those.

Originally posted by:Matt Lippert

I feel really uncomfortable wearing gloves for some reason. Straps I know next to nothing about, other than some of my friends use them for deadlifts (an exercise I don't do).

click here for link

This website has a lot of annoying ads on the page, but the information on the site is actually really informative.

that one rep max calculator is pretty cool

Originally posted by: pahulkster

hahahahaahhha that is just comical looking. I'll definitely have to get one of those.

i ordered one. its $80 though, which in the end isnt that bad because its really several grippers in one.
plus it looks awesome haha

I used to use them.

But the new gym I go to is an "Old School" type meathead gym and I have been using chalk actually.

Both straps and chalk to totally different things..but like them both.