How to Use Lifting Straps: Basics of the Weightlifting Accessory

Lifting straps are a weightlifting accessory made of nylon, leather, or canvas that wraps around your wrist and around the barbell. Weightlifters use lifting straps to protect their wrists when lifting heavy weights, particularly in pulling exercises that target back and arm muscle groups. They are particularly helpful when powerlifting, a form of weightlifting in which powerlifters perform heavy lifts such as squatting, deadlifting, and bench pressing with maximum weight.

You should use lifting straps when performing lifting exercises with a barbell with very heavy weight. Some exercises that can require a lifting strap are:

• Deadlifts: Holding a weighted barbell, fold at the hips and lower the bar down to the floor, keeping your back straight. Then push through your legs to lift the bar back up, pushing your hips forward against the bar. Use straps to help take the strain out of your wrists, focusing the exercise on your hamstrings and lower back.
• Dumbbell or barbell rows: Holding dumbbells or a barbell in a bent-over position, draw your elbows back, pulling the weight up to your sides, then return to the starting position. The weightlifting straps support your wrists so you can focus on your arms and upper back.
• Snatches: Holding a kettlebell or dumbbell in one hand, swing the weight in front of you until it’s above your head, then swing the weight back down. The lifting strap will help stabilize your wrist from the force of the swinging weight.
• Lat pulldowns: Using a lat pulldown machine, grip the bar with an overhand grip and pull down to the top of your chest, then return to the starting position. The lifting grips stabilize your wrist in the pull-down action.
• Pull-ups and chin-ups: Hanging from a horizontal bar, pull yourself up until your hands are level with your shoulders, then lower yourself back to the starting position. Wrist straps support your wrists as you hang from the bar.

If you’re a weightlifting enthusiast, you’ll eventually rely on lifting straps for additional support to tackle heavier weights.

1. 1. Provide wrist support: Lifting straps support your wrists and help to reduce the risk of injury by keeping your wrist properly aligned with the bar and preventing you from dropping the bar.
2. 2. Reduce grip fatigue: Using a lifting strap can help relieve the strain on your grip strength when lifting, meaning you will be able to lift a heavier weight for longer.
3. 3. Make strength training harder: Lifting straps support your wrists to lift heavier weights than you might be able to without using a strap. Bodybuilders and Olympic lifting athletes use lifting straps to push their limits and increase their weights.
4. 4. Reach true muscle fatigue: Bodybuilding requires total muscle fatigue in order to work the muscle to the point of exhaustion where it can repair larger. Without lifting straps, a lifter’s grip will give out before they can reach true muscle fatigue.

Loop straps are the most common form of lifting strap. Follow these simple steps to correctly put on the loop strap.

1. 1. Make a loop. Feed one end of the strap through the loop at the other end to make a larger loop.
2. 2. Wrap your hand. Place one hand through the loop you made in the strap so that the band lays flat against the back of your hand and wrist. Pull the strap tight and allow the excess strap to hang down from your palm between your thumb and forefinger.
3. 3. Wrap around the weight. Take your barbell or dumbbell in the wrapped hand and loop the excess strap around the bar in a double overhand loop. Pull it tight to secure it and grip the bar.

Lifting straps are often confused with wrist wraps, but they are different kinds of straps and are used differently. Wrist wraps go around the wrist but do not have any excess strap to wrap around the weighted bar. Wrist wraps are typically made of neoprene and provide compression to the wrist for support in exercises that involve pushing, such as bench presses or pec decks.

If you have a previous or pre-existing health condition, consult your physician before beginning an exercise program. Proper exercise technique is essential to ensure the safety and effectiveness of an exercise program, but you may need to modify each exercise to attain optimal results based on your individual needs. Always select a weight that allows you to have full control of your body throughout the movement. When performing any exercise, pay close attention to your body, and stop immediately if you note pain or discomfort.

In order to see continual progress and build body strength, incorporate proper warm-ups, rest, and nutrition into your exercise program. Your results will ultimately be based on your ability to adequately recover from your workouts. Rest for twenty-four to forty-eight hours before training the same muscle groups to allow sufficient recovery.

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