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When performing heavy lifts that require a strong grip around the bar or weight plates, it makes sense to build strength in your wrist. However, nothing can match the strength that comes from your back and trunk muscles.
If you've been strength training for a while, you may have noticed that no matter how much you tighten your group around the barbell, it's not enough. Instead of letting your grip become a limiting factor, you can add something for wrist support. This is where accessories like weight lifting straps and weightlifting belts come in. With the right support, you can lift heavy sets without wrist fatigue.
Join us as we dive into how to use weightlifting straps and their many benefits!
What are Lifting Straps?
Also known as wrist straps or a lifting strap, these training accessories add extra support to your wrist while lifting weights. Using lifting straps makes your grip strong and helps you focus on the correct posture and movement. At Cerberus Strength, we offer high-quality weightlifting straps in a variety of options.
Why Should You Use Lifting Straps?
There are many benefits of adding lifting straps to your training. Whether you're doing a deadlift workout or rack pulls, you can handle more weight with lifting straps. Here's what they offer:
Secure Grip
Lifting straps help you focus on the right muscles rather than worry about your grip. You can perform more reps with these straps wrapped around your wrist and maintain the correct form.
Heavier Weights
Since wearing lifting straps helps enhance grip strength, you can lift heavier weights and reduce grip fatigue. So if you want to scale up from lighter weights, invest in a good pair of straps for your wrists.
High-Rep Workouts
Advanced lifters need to rep it out during training, which means they can't risk any injury to the wrists or forearm. Wearing lifting straps provides ample support to grab weights correctly, which in turn increases your reps.
Big-Volume Workouts
High-volume training requires your grip strength to be impeccable and to avoid roughing up your palms. When you have to do AMRAPs or a high number of reps with heavy weights, use lifting straps. This will both protect and enhance your grip.
Palm Protection
When you wear lifting straps during workouts, they also protect your palms against calluses and wear and tear. This is crucial to ensure that you can wrap your palms around bars without any discomfort.
How to Use Lifting Straps for Various Exercises
Now that you know how using lifting straps can help you level up at the gym, let's talk about exercises. Listed below are the movements (including warm-ups) that you can enhance with wrist wraps. But first, here are the general steps to follow to wear them correctly:
- Start by inserting the long strap end through the loop opening and slide your wrist through.
- The strap should sit snugly between your thumb and index finger. Important note: It should not go between your hand and pinky finger.
- Tighten the strap by pulling the long end with the other hand.
- Guide the strap around the bar till it runs out. Repeat these steps for the other hand.
Deadlifts
Once you've worn your lifting straps following the steps above, secure your grip around the strap-covered portion of the barbell. Perform your deadlifts as usual.
Dumbbell or Barbell Rows
Place your hand over the dumbbells and wrap the straps around the bar a couple of times. Once done, hold the portion on which the straps are wrapped and perform the exercise as usual. The same steps apply when you're doing a barbell row.
Snatches
When you perform snatches with dumbbells or barbells, you must add wrist support to lift in a quick motion and avoid injury. Follow the same steps to wrap the lifting straps around the barbell or dumbbell and adjust your grip tightly before beginning to lift.
Lat Pulldowns
Using lifting straps during lat pulldowns can be extremely helpful. The straps help you grow muscle size better by allowing focus on the correct muscle that needs to be engaged.
Pull-Ups and Chin-Ups
Whether you're doing pull-ups or chin-ups, wearing lifting straps helps prevent fatigue and discomfort to the palms as you hang. They can significantly help you build muscle and add less strain to your upper back.
When to Use Lifting Straps?
You can use lifting straps to enhance your performance and increase endurance during the following exercises:
- Deadlifts
- Pull-ups
- Lat Pulldowns
- Dumbbell snatches
- Shrugs
- Rack pulls
- Using lifting straps during these workouts will help you lift heavier and for more reps.
How are Lifting Straps Different from Wrist Wraps?
The main difference between a lifting strap and weightlifting wrist wraps lies in their function. The former secures your grip by fastening around the equipment, such as a barbell, dumbbell, or other weights. This enhances your ability to hold onto them. The latter, on the other hand, provides support to the wrist joints, ensuring stability and reducing the risk of injury during workouts with heavy weights.
At Cerberus Strength, we offer high-quality and durable wraps for your wrist as well as lifting straps. We also offer weight plates for sale, check them out here!
Final Thoughts
If you've been lifting for some time, you may have felt that even with your best effort, your grip on the barbell can still fall short. Don't allow grip strength to hold you back! Add support from lifting straps and feel the difference for yourself. These straps help you to pick heavier weights without straining your wrists and palms. With the right pair in your arsenal, you will be pushing through intense sets without as much fatigue.
Lifting straps are a valuable tool for enhancing your grip strength when training with heavy weights. They help you tighten your grip, giving your palms a break from the wear and tear. As a result, you can lift heavier and perform high-rep sets without fatigue or discomfort.
Whether you're tackling deadlifts, rows, pull-ups, or other weight lifting equipment, investing in lifting straps from Cerberus Strength will encourage better muscle engagement and form.
Incorporating lifting straps into your training can truly elevate performance, prevent injuries, and ensure you get the most out of every session. Explore weightlifting lifting straps and other gear and accessories at Cerberus Strength to get started!
