Wrist straps (braces for support) i screwed up my right wrist the other day and am thinking of using them for stabilizing my wrists.
straps - typical type for pulling movements
a belt. i’m thinking that my lower back has been suspect lately, in addition to core stability stuff and hyper-extensions, i think i might just start wearing a belt upon even entering the gym.
i’m by no means a huge guy, not even big my the site standards checking in at roughly 205lbs at 5’11" but i started really light in the 140’s.
i think currently my lifts are getting ahead of my tiny joints, my ego towards growing is clouding my decision to back off from time to time.
how many of you utilize these tools, i’d rather keep training than get hurt and slow my progress. feedback please.
i just started using straps, used em twice so far. once on shrugs once on RDLs and i think theyre good.
never used a belt. i always saw on this site that you shouldnt use a belt so i dont. maybe i will when i start pulling 500+ for reps but til then, nah.
I only use a belt for personal record squats and presses. I would say it has dramatically improved my squat poundage and preserves my lower back for raw deads. I also wear squat shoes which are great.
I use straps for shrugs and whenever I try anything above 455 on DL. I like them alot. I wear wrist support because I was a dumbass and use to do close-grip bench with an exaggerated close grip and fucked my wrists up. I usually always wear a belt for heavy lifts.
I had some issues with my wrist last yr from DB pressing, so now I wear the supports on my heavy sets. I think it can be easy to sprain/strain your wrists with DBs, esp when getting them into position or putting/dropping them down. More likely also if you have small wrists imo.
Straps only for DLs or Rack Pulls if my grip is holding me back.
Used to wear a belt for squats when I first started training, never wear one now.
Just an observation, but maybe you should back off the heavy weights a month or so with higher rep range training. You don’t necessarily have to stop hitting the weights hard, just a higher rep range.
Just something that I’ve heard a big guy do and recommend to others when the joints start hurting from progressing through heavier weights, to back off for a while to let your joints and tendons “catch up” so to speak. Just mentioning something I’ve heard and seems to make sense to me.
1- Wrist wraps, godsend for me, I have real tiny wrists, nothing I can do will help fix that. I’ll use when doing any heavy pressing. I’ll leave em on sometimes when doing heavy curls to
2- Always after my grip starts to fail on all sorts of pulling movements I mean I’m trying to get big and not necessarily focus on grip.
3-belt is good, you’ll hear all kinds of shit from people, hey if Joe Defranco uses them with his athletes when they max out, good enough reason for me to help keep a lowerback safe when maxing out. Cues me up to cause I can use that as an aid to suck in as much air as possible.
i think currently my lifts are getting ahead of my tiny joints, my ego towards growing is clouding my decision to back off from time to time.
Be sure your warm-ups(general & specific) are doing the job of preparing you for the work to come. As you progress and get stronger it becomes more important.
My only concern with the wrist wrap and strap combo in using them, is that if you are going to wear the wraps, well wear them. On a different day when your pulling, using straps would put some serious stress on the wrists too, so I dont know. When i do heavy pulls, I use chalk and not straps.
But when I do use straps (forgetting my chalk) it obliterates my wrist beings as i wrench 'er up tight. But I mean if your not allowed to use chalk (which is the case a lot with mnost gyms) well then my entire statement is a waste EDIT Belt only for PR’s, meets, and holding my ipod
1- Use them for any heavy pressing movements. I’ve injured my wrists badly in the past, so that’s the only reason why.
2- Make fun of people that use them, sorry guys. I always thought that if you’re too weak to hold the weight, then it’s too heavy for the rest of you.
3- I use a belt once I reach 405 or heavier on squats, same thing with deadlifts. OR if I’m going over 300 for more than 8 reps.
Sorry about the hurt wrist man, that sucks I know it does.
As for the joints, I’ve been there too. Training for 4 years, with 2 of them being in powerlifting, my advice would be to take a week off and do bodyweight only exercises or jack up the rep range. Do some stretching and other stuff. Hope it helps.
I’m not pushing up huge numbers but my wrists are shot so I wrap up for pressing movements. I mainly helps stabilize the joint and by default the DB. Specially when you get down to the freak end of the rack. A belt I use regularly, and straps only on my heavier sets of rows or pulldowns.
I always use wrist wraps but tighten them for exercises where they are stressed. After not being able to train properly for 3 months because of forearm/wrist problems I always carry them.
Straps are of no use for me, instead I use foam as my grip is usually strong enough but will slip straps or not because of the skin.
