Okay, so, gym wear is actually a thing now. Starting from workout pants, shorts, tank tops, sports bra to shoes – everyone likes to be gym-ready, and so, it makes sense to stock yourself with all the latest and trendy gym wear out there.
Oh! Wait. Did we forget the gym gloves? Are they a necessary part of your workout regime? Let’s find out.
Should I Wear Gym Gloves?
There are some pros to wearing gym gloves while doing heavy exercise. Here we list down a few of the advantages at below –
Pros of Wearing Gym Gloves-
- Deliver a better grip
Those with sweaty hands know what a relief it is to wear gym gloves while weightlifting. Further, when it comes to lifting heavy weights – it makes sense to do things the right way by preparing your body beforehand to handle the load.
Thus, if you sweat a lot, gym gloves can prevent the weight lifts from slipping and provide a better grip in return.
That is to say, we will not recommend wearing gloves if you are performing pulling exercises like Olympic lifts and deadlifts as gloves, in this case, will surely weaken your grip.
- Protect your hands from calluses
If callouses end up distracting you and interfere with your weight lifting performance, you must wear gym gloves. Further, they also help you in taking care of the skin. More often than not, the interior of the hand faces the bar and a slight imbalance could lead to overstretching and painful scratches. This is when gym gloves come in handy.
- Provide wrist support
As there are a variety of gym gloves available, some of them add to the convenience of lifting and exercising. Gym gloves in the form of wrist wrap improve the lifting experience and further provide needed support to your wrist. They also prevent your wrist from twisting up and from other wrist issues.
- Add to the comfort
Not to deny the fact, lifting weights from bare hands can be uncomfortable for many. It could be too cold or too rough to hold up. Especially during winters, as weight lifts are made from iron, they tend to get freezing to even touch. Gym gloves can be comforting in such situations.
Further, if you are performing certain exercises which could hurt your wrist, palm or thumb – think of hammer curls – it is highly recommended to wear gym gloves.
Cons of Wearing Gym Gloves –
- Hamper lifting experience
Thick and bulky gym gloves can be made it difficult to hold up the heavyweights as they add to the diameter of the weights/bar. These are made for protecting your hands and fingers from calluses but will act as an obstruction when it comes to lifting.
- Lifting technique can go wrong
Bench press, shoulder press, and other lifting exercises come with their set of lifting techniques. In such exercises, it’s important to keep the bar of the lift in the palm of your hands. However, wearing thick gloves will tend to shift it more toward the heel of the palm, all thanks to the undue pressure. This will add further pressure to the wrists that can impact the wrist nerves and tear them.
- Interfere with the lifting progress
Once you start wearing gym gloves while lifting weights, you get accustomed to them.
Balancing weights and handling loads require you to coordinate properly between mind and muscles. Wearing gloves may make it easy for you to lift weights, but holding them for a while could be challenging.
This will hamper your capacity of handling weights, thus making you less flexible to work out without gloves.
Yayy or Nayy?
To conclude, you must use gym gloves for the convenience that they offer but don’t get dependent on them. Focus on the right method and technique of lifting weights to avoid your skin and wrists from getting hurt.
Taking about the hygiene aspect, always wash your hands before and after using gym equipment. For treating calluses, moisturize your skin well and use callus remover to smoothen your skin back.
