Wrist straps used as a muscle building aid? Sure, but don’t become dependant! There are a number of muscle building aids which serve to enhance the lifters ability to weight lift. Most commonly is the weight belt, which users cinch around their waist to stabilize their back. Another muscle building aid are wrist straps. Wrist straps are used on exercises such as pull ups, lat pull downs, and rows. The straps are generally looped around the trainees wrist, and then wrapped around the lifting apparatus being used.

For instance the straps would be wrapped around the lat pull down bar, so the trainee is now gripping the wrapped around straps, as opposed to having direct skin contact with the bar itself. The wrist straps allow the trainee to lift a higher amount of weight than usual, as their now exists two points of pulling; the hand grip, and additional assistance is now given with the wrist as the straps are wrapped around tightly. Trainees also experience a certain degree of added muscle isolation, which targets the specific muscle more directly, more isolated, during the exercise being performed than without the straps.

The downside to straps tends to fall on the trainees misuse, or abuse of the straps. Using too heavy a weight, rationalizing the straps will assist him to do so, thus leading to horrible form and increased chance of injury. One can also become too dependent on the straps. And a workout without the straps turns into a failed muscle building attempt in the trainees mind.

I add this point because there is not a gym in America where you won’t find a pair of wrist straps in the lost and found box.

Everyone, at one point or another, loses their wrist straps. It is a very common sight to come up to a lat pull down machine, and see an abandoned pair of ragged tattered wrist straps lying lost on the ground. For the veteran lifter this is a sullen moment. There is a pause, a deep breath is taken, and the veteran lifter softly sighs at the sight of the abandoned straps. For it is the history of the raggedness that brings pause to the vet. He realizes how many balls to the wall workouts those straps have gone through.

It is a bit of a symbol to have your straps resemble the worn out yellowish stained rags that are the result of a lot of sweat and hard work. So when one loses their straps, and it will happen, they must quickly regroup and be forced to do battle without them (there tends to be a lag time of about 2 weeks where the trainee will think his straps will turn up, so he refrains from buying new ones right away). During this time the lifter is strapless and must use his experience from past purposely inserted strapless workouts to ensure his muscle building efforts will be productive.

So it becomes imperative that the trainee does not become too “strap dependant”.

Article Source