Pamper Your Hands
You are only as strong as your weakest link. If you develop blisters on your hands or perform a lift where the skin on your palms tears off, the resulting discomfort will affect your ability to pump heavy iron.
Lifting chalk (magnesium carbonate) is an essential tool in lifting free weights, as sweat and moisture on a bar can make it difficult to hold. Why can weightlifters and powerlifters lift more with straps? Because their grip is stronger. Thus, with heavy lifts, applying chalk to their hands and even the bar may enable them to lift heavier weights. Because chalk is messy, many gyms do not allow it but will permit the use of liquid chalk.
The problem with chalk is that it can dry out your hands, increasing the risk of tearing your skin. For this reason, use chalk sparingly, use hand lotion during the day, and trim down your calluses, such as with a nail file or pumice stone.
Lifting gloves may seem like an obvious solution to prevent calluses and blisters, but they reduce a lifter’s proprioception (i.e., awareness of position and movement). A lifter performing a max bench press or snatch, for example, may need to make small, rapid corrections as they lift, and gloves reduce this proprioception. And as hardcore Iron Game athletes often say, “Real lifters don’t wear weightlifting gloves!”
BOTTOM LINE: Take care of your hands and don’t look like a wimp by wearing weightlifting gloves. (TSS)
