Weight lifting gloves

Kn00b said:
Most of us are leaving plenty on the table in terms of progress in our gym, time, workouts, or nutrition (almost across the board). Most importantly, most of us aren't professional powerlifters, strongmen, or Olympic bound athletes. So not wanting callouses, or to be uncomfortable, or not having a fully maximized grip strength doesn't really matter.



Kudos on putting in the gym time to wear out those gloves you've used in the past!
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Not sure about the "plenty on the table" content; surely you wouldn't try to make a statement in a public forum about the training of people you've never met before, would you? As far as "being uncomfortable" goes, you should be prepared to be uncomfortable when you walk into the gym, if you plan to make any progress. Working out takes lots of hard work, sweat, and energy expenditure, which can be quite uncomfortable at times.
 
Jedi_Knife said:
Not sure about the "plenty on the table" content; surely you wouldn't try to make a statement in a public forum about the training of people you've never met before, would you?
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Yep, I sure would. I truly doubt that there are that many poor souls out there eating nothing but the perfect quantities of chicken breasts, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and steamed veggies day in day out for years on end. With no refined sugars, limited simple carbs and a generally perfect customized nutritional program followed on a truly longterm basis.

The whole... "you don't know me and my training thing' gets a bit old. I'm sure some on here have better or worse training than others. My point remains though... everyone leaves something on the table in some form from nutrition to training. We're all human, not 'the Syms' running a programmed training regime checked back on every couple of years.

Most importantly, not everyone wants to be 'kill it' every time every day. Some people lift or work out for fun and fitness... or even rehab. Using gloves or straps isn't going to be that big of a deal.

Jedi_Knife said:
As far as "being uncomfortable" goes, you should be prepared to be uncomfortable when you walk into the gym, if you plan to make any progress. Working out takes lots of hard work, sweat, and energy expenditure, which can be quite uncomfortable at times.
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You're reading too much into my post to arrive at this conclusion. I know the value of hardwork. I've worked out hard my whole life. I do realize though that not everyone is in the gym with the same intentions though. And that most people with those same high level competition goals are doing plenty wrong (especially on the nutrition side) that would reap more benefits by fixing than by agonizing over the minutae of whether to equip or not.

You are certainly entitled to your own opinion but over the years I've seen too many people treating their workout programs like a sprint trying to do every last thing right in every area at the expense of longevity (all or nothing mentality). Rather than treating their workout programs as a marathon to be run over a period of years.
 
You're making critical judgments of the training of people in a discussion forum, whom you've never met and whose training you have little information about. Amazing.
 
Jedi_Knife said:
You're making critical judgments of the training of people in a discussion forum, whom you've never met and whose training you have little information about. Amazing.
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It's an open forum. Saying my judgements are 'critical' implies I'm making statements like 'they are all terribly'. If you read my posts in their entirety you'll find that the conclusions I draw are actually more open and accepting than those of the majority of the thread posters.

Most importantly, the 'critical judgements' you are so focused on are less a judgement of the forum posters and more a comment on human nature. Again, re-read my last post. In sort of a Catch22 of being right I point to the very nutrition scenario where there is a lot left on the table by just about everyone out there. The Catch22 part comes in where if it isn't left on the table, said individual lives a pretty rough existence in which their life is governed for years by similair rulesets of pre-contest bodybuilders.
 
Jedi_Knife said:
Not sure about the "plenty on the table" content; surely you wouldn't try to make a statement in a public forum about the training of people you've never met before, would you? As far as "being uncomfortable" goes, you should be prepared to be uncomfortable when you walk into the gym, if you plan to make any progress. Working out takes lots of hard work, sweat, and energy expenditure, which can be quite uncomfortable at times.
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i've been in the gym scene pretty regular for 20 yrs nowe and the % of folks who are serious and leave little on the table is INCREDIBLY small, very few folks have the motivation, will, time, money, knowledge & enthusiasim to train at a high professional level, in all my yrs i have met around a dozen or so out of thousands.

doing that isnt easy, usually involves steroids (if a poerlifter or bodybuilder) and most folks just arent gonna put in the time/effort involved.

you know in your heart if ya are putting 100% in (as far as workout, diet, supplements, etc) and i know i never did lol, maybe 90%, but not 100%, i had a life other than in in the gym.
 
The thing about nutrition and training is there is no set guideline to follow. Each individual's genetics are unique, and as a result, so too should be their training and nutrition schedule.

I've found that if I ever do two of the same workouts in the same week, or workout less than five times per week, my performance suffers. Just the same, if I don't follow a balance of roughly 30/30/40 fat/carb/protein diet, my performance suffers and I lose weight regardless of how much I eat (outside of gorging myself all day).

The key is to find what works for yourself, but you need to have an idea of what has worked for others before you can find out what works for yourself. That is the point of this discussion, giving the OP information on gloves, but also what has worked for others, and may work better than gloves for the OP.
 
From my experience lifting with gloves doesn't develop that much more grip strength than lifting without gloves. Lifting without gloves shouldn't be the extent of your gripping exercise anyway. Just do some lifts dedicated purely for strengthening the forearm flexors. Having said that, I like the open hole mesh gloves from Harbinger. They breathe very nicely.

Take that with a grain of salt (from a kinesiology major... <---google it!).

EDIT:
I'll throw in some more food for thought.
1) Lifting to "cut" does not work if you look at it scientifically. If you want to tone up, then you need to lose the body fat. There is no other way around it.
2) Lifting for higher reps using less weight does not make your body cut and defined. For optimal strength gain, lift with at 85% or more of your 1 rep maximum, which for most people falls around 3-5 reps. Strength gain does not always equal muscle gain. For optimal muscle growth, lift in the 10-12 rep range (keeping in mind that you will not achieve the strength gains that you would if you lifted in the sub 3-5 rep range). There are two muscle fibers, each one further divided into two separate fibers. It just so happens that the fibers you utilize during different rep ranges are different...hence the above information.

This information comes from the NSCA's book Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning: 2nd Edition. It is this book that I need to know the ins and outs of to get one of a handful of certifications in my field. The National Strength and Conditioning Association was founded a few decades ago to dispell myths and make available to the public the truths about all things health and fitness related. They are now an international organization having members from countries across the glove.
 
Oh, and my first post brought issue with straps, not gloves themselves. In the end, I think chalk is the only thing you need, but then again I mostly use Kbells, and rarely do other lifts.
 
yeah straps are a "iffy" thing, the only time i ever used them was on dead lifts and not much then, i can see were they would effect the grip,
 
triton, check out the valeo ocelot gloves. not a ton of padding, durable, and inexpensive. I have a pair w/ and w/o wraps, both are great, I think I picked up the ones with wraps for about ten bucks on amazon, because I guess XXL isn't a popular size.
 
jedi knife, your spine would more be sheared than compressed, which isn't a good thing, but with proper form DLing is really safe.

to the orig poster, I would second everyone who says to use chalk. I chalk up and just feel it really helps more than gloves. Gloves make my grip slip, though I haven't used them at all since I started lifting heavy so I'm not really sure what the effect would be.

The chalk really helps prevent your hands from slipping AND ripping. The only time I ever use straps is when I am doing half-deadlifts, aka rack pulls, with 400+ pounds for reps. In that case it's useful.
 
Jedi_Knife said:
Not sure about the "plenty on the table" content; surely you wouldn't try to make a statement in a public forum about the training of people you've never met before, would you? As far as "being uncomfortable" goes, you should be prepared to be uncomfortable when you walk into the gym, if you plan to make any progress. Working out takes lots of hard work, sweat, and energy expenditure, which can be quite uncomfortable at times.
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Exactly.

Also, what's wrong with learning from the best? If I didn't try to learn from powerlifters, O-lifters, and strongmen, my training would currently suck.

You aren't a SWAT or SEAL or spec ops (if you are, ignore this) but that doesn't mean you should ignore their tactical expertise.
 
harkamus: 1) Lifting to "cut" does not work if you look at it scientifically. If you want to tone up, then you need to lose the body fat. There is no other way around it.

But lifting is the best way to lose fat.

Also, your stuff about rep ranges is outdated dogma. 10 sets of 3 works great for hypertrophy (muscle gain). Not to say sets of 10-12 don't work, but sets of 3 actually work better for most provided you get enough volume. 3x3 may not be great for growth, but 8-10x3 sure as hell is.

I agree with you that high rep sets don't do anything for fat loss or "cutting."
 
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