The correct way to use lifting straps

Using lifting straps the wrong way may cause serious injuries which is why it is very important to know how to use them in a correct manner. I have seen half decent videos on youtube and such but they miss out on important details in almost every tutorial.

I want to start with talking more about why and when rather than how. Using lifting straps at the correct occasions can in some cases enable you to add up to 20% weight to the exercise. This will obviously result in much higher muscle tear and longer recovery time but also faster strength increase.

I recommend using lifting straps only at the occasions when you are going for weight increase on your “5×5” and want to add a bit more weight to maximize completely. The purpose of using the straps is to lower the effort on your hands and fingers allowing you to increase the weight. However even though you increase the weight you will work your hands and forearms less while using straps and therefor gain less strength in your hands and forearms. This is the reason why I recommend not using straps for your normal baseline weight training because even your hands and lower arms need to build strength.

The straps should preferably be made of strong nylon with a slightly rough surface. This kind is the best since they don’t stretch or wrinkle over time like cotton ones do. They also grip onto the bar in a more secure manner. The first thing we need to do is to prepare the straps with sticking the strap end into the loop creating a snare. When doing this you need to stick the strap through the loop from the left on one strap and from the right on the other strap, creating a mirrored pair like in the picture below.

When successfully created the mirrored pair you need to select the correct one for each hand. Easiest way to do this is to stick your hand through the loop with the long strap on the palm side of you hand pointing away from you. The long strap should be parallel with your thumb like in the picture below. If it is not parallel you need to switch to the other mirrored strap.

Pull the end strap slightly and make it tight and secure around your wrist but make sure to allow for proper blood flow. Place your hand on the bar with the strap end on the opposite side of the bar. It is important that the strap is not in your palm or you will either hurt yourself or drop the weights.

While you make sure the distance between your wrist and the bar is close you now wrap the strap around the bar in cork screw style. Make sure it does not overlap! You do not need to hold onto the bar with your hand while doing this but rather just let your wrist rest onto the bar. This allows you more space to wrap the strap around the bar.

When the strap is completely wrapped around the bar you place your grip on the wrapped area of the bar securing it in a locked position. Practice doing this with one hand as you usually have to do this yourself one-handed on at least one of your hands unless you have a training partner helping you.

The strap should now be working as an extra thumb. The strap should feel tight and secure and not really leave much distance for you to lift your hand away from the bar. Make sure not to make it too tight though, you need to ensure that blood and oxygen flow in your hands are good.

I’d like to finish off with once again recommening to use straps only when really nessesary. Avoid using them as far as possible to keep up training a strong grip and solid lower arms.