Lifting Straps can be of fantastic benefit for both Powerlifting and Hypertrophy training. It is an important tool for athlete’s to keep on hand, especially when their priority is strength and muscular growth.
Let’s start with the purpose of this tool and what its function is.
Lifting straps primary function is to assist the lifter’s grip on a given piece of equipment such as a barbell, a dumbbell or machine. They ensure that the hand, forearm or biceps are not over engaged when performing any kind of pulling movement, thus making way for the primary muscle during pulling movements (the back) to take over and develop.
Now that we know why Lifting Straps are used, let’s look at where they can be beneficial in Powerlifting and Hypertrophy Training.
Benefits In Powerlifting:
As most powerlifters know, power bars are quite unforgiving on the hands, especially when deadlifting hook grip, or double overhand, for repeat sets and repetitions. Lifting straps not only decrease the pain on the hands when performing reps but can ensure that position and technique remain unchanged even when grip gives out, thus prioritising motor pattern and still allowing for the lifter to get the necessary volume in to progress. Though this is a huge benefit, the athlete must ensure that the straps are set correctly to mimic the movement perfectly.
Check out the videos below on how to set your straps correctly when deadlifting to ensure that you are mimicking your start position as best you can.
Benefits In Hypertrophy:
For hypertrophy style training, straps can be fantastic when undergoing pulling movements. Often lifters don’t reach near true muscular failure simply because their grip starts to give out. This limits the amount of stimulus they are exposed to and thus limits their potential to grow muscle. Straps can help with this. Straps eliminate the grip element when undergoing a pulling exercise, such as a seated row, and reduce the tension placed upon the forearm and biceps, thus allowing the lifter to continue repetitions until they reach the actual stimulus required for muscular growth and development.
What are the best straps to buy?
As we have seen, lifting straps can be of fantastic benefit for both powerlifting and hypertrophy training, however, ensuring that your straps are of good quality is also important. Lifting Straps, such as the ones here at City Strength, should be heavy duty to ensure that they remain intact when used for lifting heavy weights. The straps should also have some type of padding that protects the wrist joint when the strap is tightened
So to cap it off, straps have many benefits, if set correctly, and can be used for an abundance of exercises in both powerlifting and hypertrophy training. Keep them on hand as a tool to aid in your training!
How do you use Lifting Straps?
There are a few ways to wrap lifting straps for optimal grip. Check out the two videos below on how to achieve the best grip for your preference.
This article was written by Raman Wadhwa originally for Fundamental Strength.
Follow Raman on Instagram @raman_fs