Weight Lifting Straps
Why I recommend them and when and how to use them
Lifting straps, like anything related to training, have received their fair share of controversy.
Some suggest you shouldn't use them as they'll limit your grip strength development, while others recommend their use to maximise the potential of every other muscle. Personally, I'm strongly in favour of their use; in fact, I can't think of any other training equipment I've recommended more.
Prefer to watch than read? Then please check out the video below:
Why weight lifting straps are important
To help you conceptualise the importance of lifting straps, let's take an exercise like the RDLs. You've got multiple muscles involved in this exercise, and they're big muscles, such as the hamstrings, glutes and spinal erectors. All of these muscles are going through varying degrees of tension, whereas the forearms, your grip, is under constant tension. Which means our little old forearms need to outperform the combined strength and endurance of all these other much bigger muscles. That's a big ask, and it's too much of an ask.
You might get away with not using lifting straps in the early stages of training, but eventually, you'll get to the point where you can lift more than you can physically hold. Even if you have forearms like Popeye, even if you have the strongest forearms in the world, you'll need to utilise straps to further progress with your lifts.
Even Mark Felix, who's likely got the greatest grip strength in the world – a guy who dominates World Strongest Man events that rely on grip strength, even he uses lifting straps when necessary.
Needing to use straps is more of a testament to your strength, your overall strength, rather than a sign of weakness.
And don't worry; you're still going to develop your grip strength, as the forearms receive so much volume when training. Literally, any time you're holding, curling or rowing a weight, the forearms are stimulated, and your grip will develop.
When to use weight lifting straps
I'd recommend using straps for deadlifts, dumbbell lunges, and any leg exercise where you're holding a weight. I'd also use them for heavy row movements. For other exercises, such as lighter row movements, pull-ups and pull-downs, I'd rely more on grip strength if possible; the forearm stimulus you get from these exercises will be enough to develop your grip strength and help build your forearms.
How to use weight lifting straps
Now you know the importance of straps, let's go through how to use them. Wrap the strap around your wrist and through the loop. From there, the strap should start from the karate chop part of your palm and end between your thumb and index finger. This is the same direction it'll take when wrapping it around the dumbbell or barbell. Tightly wrap under and over the bar across the full length of your hand, and finish by pinning the strap in with your thumb. Don't go over then under the bar, as they'll not work.
And that's it! Lifting straps will do a lot of the heavy lifting as far as your grip is concerned, so you can get the most out of the other muscles involved with the exercise and concentrate on technique rather than on how much your forearms are burning.
They're awesome!