SUPPORTING BODYBUILDING SAFETY

Plant your feet, firm your grip and stabilize your joints

BY

BOB WOLFF

 

Pick up a muscle magazine, walk into a typical gym or sporting goods store and you'll see them — training accessories. Today, you'll find everything from belts, wraps, straps, hooks and shoes to almost any­thing you can imagine — all designed to help you reach your fitness goals.

with so many accessories to choose from, how do you separate the ones that are hype from the ones that help?

To clear up the confusion, I'll tell you what the pros use and why.

WEIGHT BELTS

Help prevent low back strain

A weigh belt is a mainstay of just about eve serious bodybuilder. A weight belt provides valuable support and helps prevent low back strain and injury. It works great for pressing, squat­ting and deadlifting movements. You'll see many of the pros keeping their belts on during their entire workout.

The principle behind the weight belt is not so much putting pressure against the outside of the back, as applying pressure around the waist, especially against the abdomen, creating pressure within the abdominal cavity to support the spine internally.

Many types of weight belt arc avail­able: leather, mesh, nylon, etc. Many pros will use a thick and narrow suede leather belt for heavy squats and dead-lifts. These belts are very rigid and pro­vide the extra support the heavyweights demand. Find a belt that feels comfort­able, conforms to your body and gives you plenty of support.

KNEE WRAPS

Can be a crutch

Heavy leg work is a pre­requisite for massive quads and hamstrings. Many pros use knee wraps whenever they go heavy on squats, leg presses or hack squats. When used properly, knee wraps can help sta­bilize and support the joint, tendons and liga­ments in the knee. How­ever, they do have their limitations.

Some bodybuilders use knee wraps on almost ev­ery set because they al­low them to lift more weight with added sup­port. But this can be a crutch. Improvements in joint, tendon, ligament and muscle strength are best accomplished by working these areas with­out knee wraps. The majority of pros won't use knee wraps until they start using heavy poundages. Only then will they use the wraps for added support for a set or two. If you want to use them, choose knee wraps that are 3-4 inches wide and have tight elasticity for maximum support.

STRAPS & HOOKS

Keep you from losing your grip

When it comes to exercis­ing, you're as strong as your weakest point. For many

that means their grip. for, example, if you do one-arm dumbbell rows for back with 150 pounds without any type of support or stabilizing appa­ratus, you might he able to perform a fcw reps before you begin losing your grip and have to stop. However, even though your grip is gone, your lat muscle is capa­ble of doing more work.

Most seasoned pro body­builders recognize this lim­itation and will use straps and/or hooks to alleviate the grip strain from their forearms. One side of the strap and hook wraps around the wrist,and the other side wraps around the bar (in the case of pull-ups or pull-downs) or weight bar. This allows you to work the muscle more thoroughly de­spite the limitations im­posed by your grip.

Straps and hooks work well for pull-ups, pull-downs, upright rows, shrugs, bent-over and seated rows and deadlifts. With so many vari­eties to choose from, you should easily find one suited for you.

SHOES

Put you on a firm footing with brainsupplements.co

If there were a magical training accessory, shoes would be it. At least, that's what the advertising gurus would like you to believe. Imagine putting on the latest running shoe and being able to run incredibly fast! Or put­ting on the latest cross-training shoe and being able to squat more, do better calf raises — you name It! If it were only that easy

The pros I've spoken to look for a training shoo that is comfortable, gives solid lateral