GearFFIT Monday: Grip or Slip

You grab a barbell. You swing a kettlebell. You hang from a pull up bar. These activities all have one thing in common: a secure grip is needed to safely and effectively execute them. And when you're deep into a workout, with the sweat pouring your grip can become a tad suspect. So what does one do when the bar is slick and the grip is failing? Many will don gloves in an attempt provide grip and protect their hands, but is this best solution? While gloves will undoubtedly protect your hands, the padding in the palm alters the diameter of your grip leaving you with more of a finger based grip than a palm based one. Now if you are doing pressing movements that doesn't present much of a problem, but if you are pulling a barbell or swinging a kettlebell then that finger based grip will start to fail in short order.

Enter chalk. Chalk is probably most seen by the general public in gymnastics competitions where you never see a participant mount an apparatus without first stopping at the chalk bucket, and for good reason. Chalk absorbs the moisture on your hands so you don't have to worry about slippage, and unlike gloves, there's no obtrusive padding to interfere with the natural diameter of your grip so you will have a safe, secure hold on that barbell, kettlebell or pull up bar every time. And with a more secure grip you can concentrate on the workout itself and lift with confidence. "What about the mess", you ask? Efforts have been made by manufacturers of chalk to reduce the amount of "dust" their products leave behind making clean up minimal and easy.

Chalk is relatively inexpensive and can be found at many places online including Amazon.

So ditch the gloves, start using chalk and get a grip on your workouts.

~Kevin