Advice about weight lifting gloves

Danielle_Husband wrote: »

dbmata wrote: »

Danielle_Husband wrote: »

Are you being sarcastic about handwraps being a great idea? I thought you were serious, but then you wrote the thing about the kettlebells...

I think you should definitely try it out.

I still can't tell if you're being serious. I'm not sure if it's because you're doing it on purpose or because I have Aspergers (really) and sometimes have difficulty with things like sarcasm, but I'm being completely honest when I say that I can't tell if you genuinely think that I should use wraps or if you think that I'm going to catapult a weight into my face because I've wrapped my hands.

fyi, I currently do 35 lbs kettlebell swings and will be upping the weight this weekend... I've never lost control of the kettlebell while wearing wraps.

dbmata wrote: »

dlvuyovich wrote: »

From not using gloves, and lifting very heavy, including body weight exercises (pull ups) I ended up with tendonitis in both forearms. As it turns out, a lot of people in my gym, those who are more on the serious side of lifting, have developed this too.

You do realize, that's not how that works right? You go tendonitis because of repetitive use, also known as not doing enough OTHER things. Gloves have zero impact on that. Regardless of what your cousin's uncle's roommate's chiro may have said about it.

This. The tendonitis was unrelated to using or not using gloves.

Back to the handwraps, I think that's a great idea, and you should do that. I used to work out at a boxing gym, so we're talking strong guys, good grips, and lots of handwraps. We always loved kettlebell days, because handwraps are so deleterious to grip that those kettlebells would often get launched.

Also this, but to be less sarcastic and make the point less confusing:

Hand wraps will keep you from getting callouses, but will also weaken your grip, making it harder to lift heavy. Think about why boxers wrap their hands -- it has nothing to do with grip. Then think about why lifters wear gloves -- it's ALL about grip. Then you'll have all the answers you need.

Also, it takes all of 2 seconds to put on gloves. A good wrap takes several minutes, and an extra person. Pointless.

dbmata wrote: »

I don't use gloves, they impact my grip. That's a big deal when I'm cranking a deadlift that's 90% of my max.

If you are going to get a silly set of gloves, get the smallest that you can fit on. Note, they don't need to be comfortable, just the smallest and least likely to compress you can find. That should impact your grip the least.

It's very hard to find small gloves. Does anyone know where to get extra small gloves?

The heavy weights also became too much for my wrists. And my callouses would get torn open every time I deadlifted (200#+). Not fun. I found a pair of small Harbinger gloves with attached wrist wraps. Callouses are gone and wrists feel much better.

Do what makes the experience comfortable for you. Don't worry about others' preferences.

I'm not going to tell you whether you should or shouldn't use them OP, but you may want to consider Versa Gripps. You can use them for pushing exercises, much like a glove, and they double as straps for pulling exercises so your grip on the weight will actually be more secure than barehanded/with chalk.

xmichaelyx wrote: »

dbmata wrote: »

dlvuyovich wrote: »

From not using gloves, and lifting very heavy, including body weight exercises (pull ups) I ended up with tendonitis in both forearms. As it turns out, a lot of people in my gym, those who are more on the serious side of lifting, have developed this too.

You do realize, that's not how that works right? You go tendonitis because of repetitive use, also known as not doing enough OTHER things. Gloves have zero impact on that. Regardless of what your cousin's uncle's roommate's chiro may have said about it.

This. The tendonitis was unrelated to using or not using gloves.

Back to the handwraps, I think that's a great idea, and you should do that. I used to work out at a boxing gym, so we're talking strong guys, good grips, and lots of handwraps. We always loved kettlebell days, because handwraps are so deleterious to grip that those kettlebells would often get launched.

Also this, but to be less sarcastic and make the point less confusing:

Hand wraps will keep you from getting callouses, but will also weaken your grip, making it harder to lift heavy. Think about why boxers wrap their hands -- it has nothing to do with grip. Then think about why lifters wear gloves -- it's ALL about grip. Then you'll have all the answers you need.

Also, it takes all of 2 seconds to put on gloves. A good wrap takes several minutes, and an extra person. Pointless.

I would disagree with the analysis of hand wraps given here.

- All good wraps definitely do not require an extra person. Some do, but many styles can be done individually. Once a person is proficient at it, wrapping both hands takes about 5 minutes (yes, I've timed it, and I wrap my hands myself). I would not consider that a huge amount of time considering the benefits that wrapping my hands gives me.

- There are different styles to hand wrapping. Yes, the traditional boxer's wrap would not be effective for lifting weights, however a modified muay-thai wrap style is golden as it doesn't detract from the grip and allows a person to very precisely control the tension around all joints in the hand and wrist for protection and additional support if needed.

I can only speak for myself and for my SO who transitions often from heavy lifting to MA afterwards. He's been lifting heavy for years.... I lift heavy for a female, but only have a year under my belt. Even so, I am earning respect from the heavy lifters (both men and women) in my gym.

To each there own. I would definitely recommend that the OP try the wraps. If anything, they're usually cheaper than lifting gloves and will last much longer as well. As I said in my first post, I would strongly suggest that the OP find someone who is proficient at wrapping hands so that she can learn how to do so *effectively* (ie: for lifting).

I don't know that liquid chalk is the answer for preventing calluses though. It's low mess, it's nice for grip... but it also dries your hands out pretty badly. At the end of the day though, your hands are never going to be perfectly smooth if you're into barbell training.

I think chalk helps with calluses because it prevents the bar from moving around in my hand and rubbing. Hand washing and moisturizing prevents the dryness.

I've never had bad problems with my hands and they don't look torn up or anything. Might be that you skin just needs to toughen up a bit.

I would experiment with different methods and see which you like. You can always change. I used gloves for a while but as the weight I was pulling increased, they stopped helping me. They inhibited my grip and didn't protect my hands anyway.