By the healthiergang writer , personal trainer with a degree in Exercise and Sports Sciences.
Gym Accessories: A Complete Guide
By attending gyms and sports centers, it is increasingly common to find men and women of all ages and degrees of training who use supports such as lumbar belts, hooks, grip bands for the wrists, compression bands for the knees, gloves of all shapes and forms. and pads. By now there are so many training aids that you can hardly count them anymore, and sometimes it is also hard to understand what they are for, and above all “if” they are for something.
1. Leather Weight Lifting Belt
These belts are created to support the lumbar area during maximal exercises that stress the lumbar area a lot, such as squats and deadlifts, period; they are not used (or should not be used) for exercises such as the barbell curl nor in flat bench presses, where it can even be counterproductive in the execution of the correct movement.
In fact, if supporting the lower back can be useful in exercises such as squats and deadlifts. The advice is to use it only during periods of pure strength, or in those periods of the year when you decide to give your workouts a boost; in fact it is neither useful nor hygienic to abuse it even in the most usual workouts, because you risk accustoming the stabilizing muscles to work less, thus increasing the risk of injury.
2. Grip bands
These too are starting to be quite common in gyms, they are nothing more than long bands of reinforced fabric, which through a sort of bandage, have the purpose of improving grip in all those exercises that require traction, increasing the grip and redistributing part of the load on the wrists and forearms.
As for the belt, these too should be used sparingly only in periods of strength or extreme stress, also because strengthening the forearms should be one of the focuses of traction exercises, it goes without saying that always using these tools we will never put them in condition. to grow optimally, risking long-term strains and tears.
3. Hooks for weight lifting
These are seen a little less around, and represent the even easier version of the bands; they are composed of a band of reinforced fabric to be fixed to the wrist which in turn is connected to a metal hook that slides on the palm of the hand to simulate a hooked grip.
Obviously the hooks have the same function as the bands, but they make less sense, because they almost completely absorb the work of the forearms, making them almost neutral; so if on the one hand they allow us to focus better on the back, on the other hand they lead us to neglect all those muscles responsible for gripping, and leaving muscles behind is never a good idea.
4. Knee protectors
You can admire them almost always combined with people who train their legs very intensely, using free squats under the parallel and 45 ° free load presses; they are bands of reinforced elastic fabric with a very large section, which are applied as a kind of bandage around the knee joint to ensure that the patella and everything else remain in place during the intense stresses they are subjected to.
If you are really used to always loading a lot during leg days, the bands should always be used, as they do not modify the execution of the movement and do not inhibit the action of any muscle, plus playing a knee is slightly different from failing to do a pull.
5. Weightlifting gloves
In fact, due to their conformation they are perfect for making the execution of the exercise more uncomfortable, they decrease the perception of grip and, when the loads begin to become important, they tend to slip and fall apart.
6. Gym bag
Gym bags for every type of style: from the most classic to the most sporty. According to your needs, we have the right gym bag for you. From the classic and elegant black color to the more modern taupe color, to the more feminine Malbec. Both for him and for her.
Unisex
Per lei
For a chic but also casual style.
7. Backpacks
Ideal for any activity you have in store for your day. Go to the gym or just go out, take a picnic without forgetting anything at home! Choose the backpack you like best and for any need you have.
8. Protein shakers and bottles
Essential gym accessories? the water bottles! You will no longer have to die of thirst in the gym with these comfortable water bottles designed just for you. Not to mention the classic or metal shakers to shake and enjoy your protein shake wherever you want.
9. Towels
One of the essential accessories for the gym is the towel. Whether you want to jump into the pool or use it for your post workout shower, we have two versions that are perfect for you.
10. Roller
Top 10 in our list of gym accessories we have rollers, called massage rolls. The massage rolls promote muscle release for injury prevention and muscle rehabilitation after an intense workout. Useful for streaching and to relax the muscles.
Conclusion
With this little excursus we hope to have shed some light on all those tools and gadgets that you will surely have seen and that will have made you ask what they were for, and above all if they were of any use; and as most of the time the answer is that everything can be very useful or very useless, depending on the use made of it.
