Chalk for Weight Lifting

The subject of accessories such as gloves, straps, and chalk is important albeit sounding like a frivolous issue. The reason all three of those things comes up is because of grip strength and how conditioned your hands are to lifting. Gloves may sound like a good idea to prevent damage to your hands and to prevent the weight from slipping, but instead it acts as a handicap. No glove will fit correctly, and most limit finger and hand movement. Like doing yoga with bare feet for better friction, it is better to handle weights with your bare hands.

Upon the starting of Deadlifting, I ran into grip strength issues around 315lb. I started using straps on every set for about two years. My back got very strong as did my shoulders and lats, but my grip strength although stronger wasn't as strong as I wanted it to be. I plateaued at a 465lb Deadlift using prone grip with straps, and I realized that using a prone grip changes how your back is set compared to a mixed grip. I had heard it to be silly to use a mixed grip with straps since you are using the straps, and that the bar won't slip regardless, but what I've learned is that mixed grip is indeed significantly different than prone grip.

I taught this lesson to myself by forcing myself to not use the straps in Deadlifting to prove I had good grip strength. I was able to pull 405lb, and pulled a bit heavier than that, and the more I pulled without straps, the more I realized my technique was improving, and I ditched the straps entirely. I tried mixed grip with straps, but didn't like the feeling, and knew bare hands were better. Now I'm pulling PRs with no straps bare hands and better technique.

The chalk is something that I didn't think would be necessary for myself. I figured I would stick with straps as to not limit my total weight lifted, but as I switched to bare hands, I noticed my hands ached from both volume and heavy weight. The answer was chalk. When applied before a set, you feel ten times stronger and more confident. Your grip is so snug that it feels like your flesh would be ripped off or your fingers broken before you would drop the bar by means of it slipping. This tightness in the grip along with its high friction forces you to keep your hands still, and so you don't mess around with your grip after you take it, and I feel you can set your back and entire frame in the lift better because of this.

I really recommend using chalk, and even if you're a beginner (if you are serious). It'll improve pull-ups, deadlifts, bench press, military press, curls, rows, muscle-ups, and dips. There is actually quite a large safety element in the use of chalk as well. In a pull-up, you could slip off the bar or in bench press you could drop the bar for example.