Should Weight Lifting Gloves be a Part of Your Workout?
Bring up weight lifting gloves in the gym and you’re bound to bring on the muscle-equivalent of the East Coast versus West Coast hip hop rivalry. Instead of getting yourself caught up in a losing battle, read my guide to the pros and cons of wearing weight lifting gloves.
Some gym-goers swear by gloves, and there’s some merit to what they say. If you’d rather not get calluses on your hands, gloves will provide protection. Also, wearing gloves increases the poundage I use when doing lat pull-downs and seated cable rows because the bar’s knurled grip areas don’t dig into my hands.
For most exercises, though, my preference is to ditch the weight lifting gloves. Sometimes wearing gloves put a damper on my workout, like I’m not getting a true grip on the bar. I’ve talked to other bodybuilders about this and it’s pretty much a common sentiment. Some even go as far to say that donning gloves decreased their forearm strength. And, considering that gloves reduce pressure on the wrists, there may be some truth to that. (Of course, the counter-argument is that wearing gloves increases grip, thereby allowing for maximum poundage, which in turn paves the way for bigger forearms.)
Additionally, if you don’t like weight lifting gloves but don’t want to train barehanded, you can also wear hand pads. It has a Velcro strap for around your wrist and a hand-shaped cover for your palm. The cover is held in place by a strap around your fingers. It reminds me of a pot-holder with straps.
Some weight lifters prefer hand pads because they offer more ventilation than gloves. While that’s true, I still like using gloves. Personally, I found the hand pads to be awkward. My problem was that the pad would bend away from my palm and the barbell would end up between my hand and the pad. I’ll take sweaty palms over pads that interfere with my training any day.
What’s your preference?
Tags: hand pads, Weight Lifting, weight lifting equipment, Weight Lifting Gloves, Weight Training
