Okay, these have nothing to do with books, but I just got a couple pairs of Lynx Grips and have been trying them in my workouts. Here’s my product review:
First of all, Lynx Grips, put out by Lynx Technologies, are small (10.5cm long; 9.5cm wide; 0.25cm thick) rubber pads that you put in your palm while lifting weights. As the manufacturer claims, they do definitely make some exercises more comfortable. A set of heavy bench presses, for example, feels much better on the palm than it does with your bare hands. (I don’t wear gloves during my workouts, so I can’t compare the grips to gloves.) While the grips are easy to use and do pretty much exactly what the company claims (adhere to your hands, wrap easily around the bar), they do take a little getting used to. It can take a bit of extra time to get them into the precise position where they feel natural.
Using one pair will change the diameter of the bar slightly, but my idea was to use two pair at once and really change it. The idea worked reasonably well, giving me a cheap and easy way of approximating a “fat bar” like strongman competitors use in some of their training. Of course it’s not really a fully-fledged fat bar; even using two of the grips in each hand only increases the diameter of the bar about a centimeter, but considering that a true fat bar will run well over a hundred dollars, a couple pairs of grips at fifteen bucks per pair is an economical alternative. However, unlike the website’s claim, you will NOT get more reps at a given weight by using the grips. Quite the opposite; a fatter grip usually means that you get fewer reps (because of the added difficulty in holding on to the bar), so you will need to log the fact that you’re using the grips for a given workout in your workout book in order to keep accurate records.
One other advantage of changing the bar width (even with one pair) is that it makes the forearm muscles work slightly differently, thus helping to head off pattern-overload injuries. And, of course, the grips will allow you to avoid developing calluses if you use them often enough. I’m ambivalent about this last point, though. I guess women would want to avoid the calluses, but a lot of men probably wouldn’t. On the other hand, I also do a little rock climbing at my gym, which really tears my hands up, and any savings to the skin is a good thing in my case.
One minor gripe is that, because of the sticky rubber used, the grips do tend to accumulate dust in the gym bag, but on the other hand they are easily cleaned with soap and water. And on the plus side, a handy non-gym use is for opening jars that are sealed too tightly. Put one of the grips on the lid and it becomes impossible for your hand to slip.
All in all, the grips are cheap, easy to use and would probably be of some benefit to most people. Having a couple pair means that you can more or less double the number of upper-body exercises you can do because of the “fat bar” variations. And they will definitely make some exercises more comfortable. At $15/pair it’s probably worth it for most people to get a pair or two and check them out.
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