Comments on: Why You Shouldn’t Use Lifting Gloves

By: Mehdi

Mehdi — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 16:21:39 +0000

Where do you feel pain in your wrist? Does it hurt during the Bench Press or other lifts too?

By: snapcracklepop

snapcracklepop — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 16:06:28 +0000

guys,
I am a 51 year old male with advanced arthritis in my hands and wrists. I have done weight training for several years without gloves but recently the pain in the wrist area has limited my ability to bench press. I began using gloves with a wrist wrap which has really reduced the pain, but if gloves are not recommended, is there an alternative for this issue?

By: Mehdi

Mehdi — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:40:28 +0000

Everything is dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s certainly a great idea to alternate normal bar with fat bar.

By: Flying Fox

Flying Fox — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:05:23 +0000

No, I mean deadlifting with a fat bar is harder, wich makes fat bar a good idea when training grip. So training with gloves would also be good when training your grip.

Also, I’m wondering: is benching/overhead pressing with a fat bar dangerous as well?

You’re right, I don’t use gloves, and if you don’t want me to turn this into an argument, I won’t.

By: Mehdi

Mehdi — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:58:46 +0000

Flying Fox, you mean you can deadlift more weight with a fat bar than with a normal bar? I don’t think so, that’s why you shouldn’t use lifting gloves.

Btw, I suspect you’re not using lifting gloves yourself. Don’t turn this into an argument once again.

By: Flying Fox

Flying Fox — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:49:06 +0000

Exactly, so if an fat bar is a good idea because of the harder grip, then so are gloves.

By: Mehdi

Mehdi — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:04:58 +0000

This is probably the biggest reason not to use gloves. If your hands can’t grip it, your back can’t lift it. Check how switching from a pronated to an alternate grip on the deadlifts makes a big difference. Good advice galapagos, as always.

By: galapogos

galapogos — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 08:06:16 +0000

Fat bars are great for training grip strength. If you’ve ever used a women’s olympic bar before, you’ll know that they feel lighter than they actually are(15kg), because you can grip them tighter. Fat bars are harder to grip, but because of that they also force you to train your grip…which is great!

By: galapogos

galapogos — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 08:04:39 +0000

Chalk and pumice stones are you friends

By: IrishJay

IrishJay — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 00:47:51 +0000

lynne…
work on softening and removing callouses yourself. Look it up online, it isn’t hard to do and is recommended. When callouses rip while working out, it does suck. Use lifting chalk. With every pulling exercise that I do with a bar I use chalk.

Fox, using a fat bar for some lifts to strengthen your grip is good. Using gloves with a fat bar is bad.

I think what he means by making the exercise harder is that when you are going heavy and you use gloves you are taking away from your grip; therefore, not only making the exercise harder but more unsafe.

Gloves are great if you plan to train on machines for the rest of your lift and your sole purpose is to stagnate along with your exercise routine, but if you plan on having any serious progress, lose the gloves and use chalk.