Many of us use lifting gloves to ”aid” us in the workouts. Well, they don’t really aid, in fact they even can disturb your training process. I used lifting gloves for about two years and my conclusions about them are way so negative … In this article I will explain why I say so.
1)Gloves make the exercises even harder. The thicker the bar, the harder to grip it. Try to train with a ”fat” bar and you will understand what I’m talking about. Those lifting gloves adds a lot of thickness to bar. To illustrate everything more – try gluing your hands to bar and do some exercises where you need to pull weight bar downwards.
2)They are not even safe! In some exercises where weight is above your head (bench or military press, for example) you need to grip the bar very hard, but thicker bar is harder to grip, gloves adds some more thickness to bar – do we need that? No. Give those gloves to your grandma – surely she will need them for some garden work!
3)Lifting gloves prevent proper technique. The bar must be as close to your wrist as possible, and guess what – gloves prevent that! Then closer the bar to your wrist then more force is applied to it! What do we really want? Sweaty hands in gloves or power and technique?
4)Lifting gloves can cause eczema. Heavy sweating can cause eczema in your fingers.
5) Lifting gloves are not allowed on competitions. Don’t say to yourself ”I’m not a powerlifter anyway…” If you aren’t a cook that doesn’t mean that you can’t make food for yourself! Build proper habits from the beginning and you won’t have to worry about anything after.
Ask yourself one question ”Why am I using lifting gloves?” Be patient, you will grow stronger every workout! Your hands are sweaty? Use chalk… have you seen any lifter in Olympics using gloves? They use chalk. Think of it. PLUS lifting gloves cost money – better invest that money in some food or supplements.
What is your opinion about lifting gloves?