STOP Making These MISTAKES With Your Lifting Gear | Part 1: Straps, Wraps, Plates, and more…
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There are all sorts of errors people make with their lifting gear, so let’s get some things straightened out in this multi-part series. In today’s article, we’re covering errors 1 - 7.
Error #1: Lifting Straps
Don’t wear your lifting straps up on your wrists. Whether you use the style of strap we make or if you use the strap-and-loop style, lifting straps are designed to be worn down on the hand.
correct position for straps - whether strap-and-loop-style (left) or quick-release (right)
Error #2: Lifting Belt
Don’t wear your lifting belt loosely.
A lifting belt should be snug – it should feel tight. If you’re new to using a lifting belt, and if you’re wearing it correctly, it probably needs to feel uncomfortably tight at first.
A properly worn belt helps you brace harder – a loosely worn belt is just a fashion accessory.
Error #3: Straps . . . Again
Don’t use cloth straps.
Cloth straps wear poorly over time and will eventually tear at an inopportune moment.
We use climbing webbing to make ours, and as a result, they’re nearly indestructible. IronMind makes some excellent, durable straps out of a similar type of webbing (as do some other manufacturers), and seat belt straps are a great choice of material as well.
Error #4: Wrist Wraps
Don’t wear your wrist wraps too low on the arm.
If your wrap is low enough that you can easily flex and extend your wrist (I.e., bend it forward and backward), you’ve defeated the entire purpose of the wrist wrap.
A wrist wrap should help stabilize your wrist – its job is to prevent movement. With this in mind, make sure it actually covers the wrist. This means it will cover some of the hand and some of the arm.
When in doubt, wrap it a bit higher than you think you should and see if that helps stabilize the wrist. It should be difficult to bend the wrist forward and backward.
Watch the short video below to see this error (and others) as well as the solution.
Error #5: Loading Metal Plates
Don’t load your metal plates onto the barbell with the numbers facing outward.
The numbers face inward - always. This allows you to have a solid purchase on the lip of the plate, which makes it easier to lift and handle the plates. This also makes it less likely that you will suffer lifting’s most common injury – a broken toe (i.e., from dropping a plate on your foot).
nate loades the plates incorrectly (left photo with numbers facing outward) and correctly (right photo with numbers facing inward)
There are a few reasons plates might be loaded with the numbers facing outward. First, it is usually a requirement at powerlifting meets – specifically, the first plate is loaded “numbers in” and all subsequent plates are loaded “numbers out.” This rule was probably created by equipment manufacturers who also sponsored meets and wanted to make sure their company name was as visible as possible.
Second, fitness influencers love to do this. Perhaps it looks better for the viewing public – I’m not sure, but it’s still silly.
Third, it’s possible that a lifter is sponsored by a plate manufacturer, and in this case, he might endeavor to have the company name visible whenever possible.
Last, a lifter simply might not know any better. He might not know how easy it is to grab the lip of every plate with your fingers. This is the only sensible reason, and after reading this article, you know better.
“Numbers in” is far superior to “numbers out,” and it’s common sense once you’ve done it.
Error #6: Lifting Straps . . . Seriously?
Don’t wear your strap-and-loop-style straps with the tail pointing the wrong way.
With this style of straps, you feed the tail through the loop so that the straps are mirror images of each other, and thus they are right- and left-hand specific. Wear them so that the tail of the strap points toward your thumb (i.e., toward the middle of the bar) and not toward your pinky.
Incorrect: tail pointing toward pinky (left photo) vs correct: tail pointing toward thumb (right photo)
Error #7: Lifting Straps . . . Last Time
Don’t wrap your straps toward the outside of the bar.
This should be a difficult mistake to make if you’ve taken care of error #6. Nonetheless, it’s worth remembering that you wrap the strap toward the center of the bar – not toward the collar of the bar.
Watch the short video below to see this error (and others) as well as the solution.
Straps wrap inward – never outward.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
-Phil
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