February 10, 2011 by Lori Braun – FemaleMuscle.com
There is more to lifting weights than just lifting weights, obviously. Besides finding the right gym and the right routine for you, you should also consider the tools of the trade. It shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg to workout, beyond the expense of paying for a gym because once you are a member of a gym everything in the way of training equipment is supplied for you. Still, there are a few basic items you might want to invest in, in terms of training gear.
You can train wearing athletic shoes or barefoot. Either way is actually okay for some exercises, but there are exercises where wearing shoes is a must. For instance heavy squats or very heavy calf raises and power lifting routines. For these you will need the extra support that shoes provide. As a matter of fact, high shoes give your ankles extra support and can really protect you from serious ankle injury.
When you are doing chin-ups or curls, obviously shoes really don’t matter. But be aware that not all shoes are made for the same purpose. Most running shoes are designed to be soft and light weight, which is great if you are a runner. Unfortunately, however, these shoes do not provide much support. You can find athletic shoes that are thick soled and solid with good arch support, keeping in mind how much pressure is put on the feet when doing exercises such as heavy squats which can be hard on your arches.
Always choose the right shoe for whatever kind of workout you have in mind.
Many excellent bodybuilders wear gloves to protect their hands while training. Some others use pieces of cut up inner tubing to better their grip on the bar, which again is okay, but not absolutely necessary. You can train barehanded and simply use chalk when you feel your grip becoming slippery. Power lifters lift enormous amounts of weight barehanded. On the other hand, if you have particularly sensitive skin or in an occupation requiring you to take very special care of your hands, by all means do use gloves! Simply gripping the weight with bare hands and letting the palms toughen up into calluses has been recommended for those who simply would rather do without fussing over annoying inner tubes or gloves.
Straps that are fastened around the wrists and then tied around the bar can effectively strengthen your grip, although using aids such as this stops your hands’ strength from developing fully and naturally. Straps are often used when lifting barehanded because with bare hands it can sometimes be hard to hold onto a weight that really challenges your back during a heavy workout. As with gloves, champion power lifters do not use straps either, while lifting enormous weight. Lifting without straps will gradually strengthen your grip, but if you use straps continually your hands’ strength will never develop to its fullest.
The purpose of a heavy weight belt is for support of the lower back when lifting heavy. Originally used by weight lifters doing heavy overhead presses, weight belts are often considered essential for doing heavy squats, pressing heavy weights or doing heavy standing calf raises, but too many bodybuilders wear their weight belt the whole time they are in the gym. What this does is bind the lower back muscles and prevents them from developing the strength they ought to have. Use a weight belt only when you really need to. Otherwise you are only giving yourself the illusion of security and strength.
Wraps are for supporting weak or injured muscles and joints and you will occasionally see that a bodybuilder has one or both elbows due to a physical problem. Most often, wraps are used around the knees while doing heavy squats-or the elbows during heavy bench presses. If you do not have an injury or joint problem (which should be treated by a doctor anyway), you do not need to wrap your knees until you have reached the point where you are lifting very heavy weight. Ace bandages are the most frequently used type of wrap, wrapped firm but not too tightly. Remember, though, if you wrap an area tight enough to provide added support you are also limiting that area’s flexibility and range of motion.
Some bodybuilders use a type of harness that fits around the head and to which can be attached a dumbbell or weight plate to do progressive-resistance exercises for the neck, but there are companies that now make machines to suit this function. A total workout will tend to build up the neck muscles anyway, along with every other muscle group so there is no real reason to waste your time with this type of exercise unless you feel that it is essential.
Gravity boots will enable you to hang upside down, thus stretching out your spine. The reason given for their use is that our bodies are constantly being compressed by gravity; that is, the spine and internal organs are constantly being pulled towards the earth. The effect of this over a lifetime is demonstrated by the fact that most people are an inch or two shorter in old age than they were in their youth. Stretching the spine and taking strain off internal organs by hanging upside down is supposed to reverse this process and it can be very relaxing (remember the serene look that used to be on Grandpa Munster’s face whenever he was found hanging upside down like a vampire bat). Hanging upside down, however, has no immediate impact on your weight training and no direct impact on the building up your body and so remains merely adjunct to your training rather than a crucial part of it. If you do decide to try gravity boots, start by hanging for only short periods of time, no more than a minute or so, until you get used to the feeling of hanging upside down. You can then gradually increase the time you spend hanging upside down in your gravity boots, as you feel necessary.
Rubber suits and some bodybuilders use rubber belts in many varieties in order to accelerate perspiration and water loss, but if you are training really hard you already sweat like a pig anyway. Therefore you should allow your pores to breathe naturally. The primary use for these suits for a bodybuilder would be to lose water weight right before a contest. Wearing a suit like this on a hot day while you are training will probably lead to hypothermia, which is a dangerous increase in the body’s temperature. Wearing a rubber suit during training is not recommended keeping in mind as well that any water lost this way is purely temporary.
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“TIME TO GET BIG”
Lori Victoria Braun – About the Author:
Lori Victoria Braun is the owner and founder of Femalemuscle, the largest website devoted to female bodybuilding, fitness, and female athletes. Femalemuscle features thousands of videos, galleries articles, and blogs, updated daily by Braun and other regular contributors. Braun is also an accredited press representative with the IFBB, which is the governing body for all major international bodybuilding
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