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Good weight lifting straps????


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If I deadlift over 400 my grip gives out before my back. If I shrug over 300, same thing. Heavy dumbell rows, my grip will also give out before my back. I might pick up a Captain of Crush Grip strength tool to help me.

 

Which are the ones to get, they have a lot.

http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Main/straps.html

Edited by boardn10
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If I deadlift over 400 my grip gives out before my back. If I shrug over 300, same thing. Heavy dumbell rows, my grip will also give out before my back. I might pick up a Caprain of Crush Grip strength tool to help me.

 

Which are the ones to get, they have a lot.

http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Main/straps.html

 

Grippers don't really translate well to strength to hold a heavy barbell/dumbbell, oddly enough. For that, I've always had three main suggestions -

 

1. Fat bar training, easiest way is to get some Fat Gripz handles (should be easy to locate online) that snap over a BB/DB and turn it to a thick 2" diameter to work the grip harder. Thick bar work hits the entire hand structure big-time and to most, has the greatest carry-over to all other grip-related work.

 

2. Pinch grip training, while seeming like it wouldn't do much for holding a bar, really builds the finger strength and the musclulature between the thumb and forefinger to help you keep your hands closed tighter against force that's trying to open it (in a way that's definitely different from using grippers). Start with three 10 lb. plates (pinching with smooth sides out), try for 4, then move to 25 lb. plates and shoot for 35s or more as you get stronger (45s are for top-level grip strength masters, I came close with 85 lbs. but never quite could get a pair of 45s off the ground).

 

3. Practice static holds with a barbell at the end of your workout. Load up a set weight, say, 315 lbs. on a in the power rack with just an inch or two of movement to where you'd be standing fully erect with the bar in front of your body (basically, you want to stand up an inch or two and be in the position of a deadlift lockout or the start of a shrug position). Just hold for time, start with a goal such as 3 sets of holds for 30 seconds, when you reach it, either add time (such as, 5 seconds per session) or add weight. Nothing helps you hold on to weight like.....well....holding on to weight!

 

Those three things will be the biggest factors to increasing grip strength for traditional lifts. Most of the other "toys" are fun to test against and work to improve on, but won't do a lot to help with everyday training. Grippers are a prime example, fun to play with (I've got about a dozen various ones stockpiled from my days of doing tons of grip work), but don't really do a whole lot for general hand strength to hold on to something heavy.

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Top advice as usual...if I may also add dead lifts for reps will help. So after working sets strip off the weight & do 3-5 sets of 10 reps.

 

Also krock rows have helped my grip no end. 1-2 sets of 10 reps to warm up (light) then a ball out last set where you want a minimum of 20 reps & a max of say 40. Don't be a hero, start with a comfy weight. These will also hammer the forearms, biceps & the usual back areas.

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VeganEssentials. thanks for the insight brother. Do you compete in any way? Have you?

 

My competition history hasn't been huge, as far as what I've done....

 

3 strongman competitions (won novice division in one, placed 11th of 20 and 13th of 27 in the others)

 

1 powerlifting comp, 3rd of 4 in my weight class (missed making the mark, bumped up to heavyweights, got creamed except for one guy who bombed out)

 

1 comp that had clean & jerk for one event, deadlift max for the other, got 3rd of 6 for my weight class in that one if I remember correctly

 

Wanted to enter some grip contests when they were more common, but they were always too far away to attend and enter

 

Nothing bodybuilding related, never been able to get lean enough to consider stepping on stage, but who knows what could happen one day if I actually figure out how to get below 12% bodyfat!

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Just the basic "Strong Enough" straps should do well enough, here's the link

 

http://ironmind-store.com/Strong-Enough-Lifting-Straps153/productinfo/1239/

 

Don't go for the "short & sweet" straps, they're really tough to work with (only ideal if you're needing to bail out of olympic lifts where you risk crushing yourself), the Sew Easy straps are a bit awkward as well. The others are designed more for if you need LOTS of length on straps for doing axle deadlifts or other things where a big strap is better. Just one pair of the Strong Enough straps should last you for years, they're tough as hell, and pretty much impossible to destroy. Best thing to do when you get them is, scrape them up a bit on concrete or the sharp knurling on a bar at the gym (they're a bit slick at first, need a bit of scuffing to break in), rub in some chalk, and they're great from day one!

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Thanks man! I used straps years ago and went back to my parent's basement looking for them with my old weight set but they are long gone. I will order these. What about chaulk? I sometimes just have issues with sweaty hands.

 

If your gym allows it, definitely get some chalk. You can either get a box from IronMind, or, you'll be able to find it at any climbing supply store like REI or something similar. If your gym won't allow it, you can look for liquid chalk, it's usually a combination of alcohol and some chalk mixed in, will dry your hands out without the powdery mess.

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Never heard of a gym not allowing chaulk. Yep, we can have it.

 

You'd be surprised how many gyms won't allow chalk these days - chains are especially particular about it (Bally's, 24 Hour Fitness, Cardinal Fitness, etc.) but independent gyms usually are more lenient on it. I had to smuggle mine in for years and hide it in my gym bag to use in secret whenever nobody was looking, and when they eventually found out I was using it (I never made a mess, only used as little as was necessary), by their reaction you'd swear I'd just set off a small explosive device in the middle of the training area. I even made sure to explain how, by using chalk I was less likely to drop weight and make a racket, not to mention that I was safer with my grip and was less likely to tear a callus, but no matter, they simply said "use it here again, you lose your membership", after which I changed gyms to one that didn't care about my chalk use

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So they had oly bars but you couldn't chalk up? wtf! Ive heard of a chain in america actually having some type of system which sets an alarm off if you load to much weight....?

 

Ah, the "Lunk Alarm" of Planet Fitness! Yes, it's a wonderful chain her. In their quest to be a "Judgement-Free Zone" as they claim to be, they instead judge anyone who they deem to be 'intimidating' to new trainees (which can be by what type of lifting you're doing [don't even THINK about deadlifting or doing overhead pressing!], by any grunts or noise you may make while lifting, or by not setting down weight as if you were putting down an infant for naptime) as "lunks", to where they may sound an ACTUAL alarm, and then either kick you out, or, warn you to stop whatever you've been doing. The only appeal it has is for two groups in particular:

 

1. They've been said to be REALLY low-cost compared to most gyms, something like $9.95/month, which in the USA is pretty well unheard of for a franchise gym. So, those who have a tight budget or are just concerned with lowest price over quality, that's one group, and...

 

2. Those who are genuinely afraid of the gym and think that EVERYONE is scrutinizing them by their appearance, exercises they're doing, weight they're using, etc. Seriously, you'd have to be one paranoid person to feel that you need the sort of protection from the reality of what a gym is like, but I guess that there are some out there who would prefer to train around timid people who most likely are different every month (either because they quit training after such a crappy experience, or, they wisen up and move to another facility).

 

OK, so what do they have against chaulk? Making a mess?

 

That's pretty much it. Messy "someone else will clean it up!" kooks pretty well ruined it for most of us who would have otherwise contained our chalk in an effective manner. Saw it a few times when one gym I went to was still lenient, a guy seriously had a cloud of it surrounding him during deadlifts and it looked like a kilo of coke had exploded underneath him. No cleanup afteward, he must have been too "hardcore" to worry about such a thing. Right after that, guess what happened to the policy at that location regarding being coo about chalk use....

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  • 2 weeks later...
Just the basic "Strong Enough" straps should do well enough, here's the link

 

http://ironmind-store.com/Strong-Enough-Lifting-Straps153/productinfo/1239/

 

Don't go for the "short & sweet" straps, they're really tough to work with (only ideal if you're needing to bail out of olympic lifts where you risk crushing yourself), the Sew Easy straps are a bit awkward as well. The others are designed more for if you need LOTS of length on straps for doing axle deadlifts or other things where a big strap is better. Just one pair of the Strong Enough straps should last you for years, they're tough as hell, and pretty much impossible to destroy. Best thing to do when you get them is, scrape them up a bit on concrete or the sharp knurling on a bar at the gym (they're a bit slick at first, need a bit of scuffing to break in), rub in some chalk, and they're great from day one!

 

And only $11!

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  • 3 weeks later...

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