I recently made a post about 10 ways to improve grip strength, in this post I mentioned one of the most important ways to improve your grip strength by chalking the hands. If you have been lifting weights for some time you should understand the importance of good grip strength, it’s paramount when it comes to heavy compound exercises such as deadlift, pull ups, rows, chins etc, which is why weight lifting chalk (sometimes referred to as gym chalk) is so important.

When you lift weights even the slightest amount of sweat in the palm of your hands can negatively affect your grip, causing you to finish a set early because of poor grip and not because of muscular fatigue. This is especially true on hotter or more humid days, or if you are like me you may sweat more than most people, making chalk an essential accessory to your gym bag.

Using chalk on your hands keeps the palms dry, which means you won’t build up sweat in the palm of your hands and affect your grip strength thus allowing you to successfully perform a set to momentary muscular failure.

Chalking the hands is more important when it comes to pulling movements (such as deadlift, pullups, cleans, barbell rows etc) where grip strength is crucial to perform the movement correctly.

Chalk should also be used for pushing movements such as barbell bench press, upright dips, lat pull downs etc, because sweat buildup in the palm of your hands will cause your hand position to move as you progress through the set, this can ultimately put you off balance and even cause an injury.

I experienced this myself just last week performing a set of bench press, like an idiot I forgot my chalk, mid way through my second set of bench press my grip started to slip around the 7th repetition, causing me to fail on the 10th repetition rather than the 12th like I normally do. Had I of remembered my chalk my hands wouldn’t have slipped and I sure would have made 12 reps.

Chalk allows you to lift heavier weights, if you are going for a personal best 1 rep max then using chalk allows you to lift or push the weight keeping your grip steady. To give you an example, I can lift about 5% more on my deadlift 1RM when I use chalk, it could all be in the mind but hey it works!

Now you have an understanding about how important it is to use chalk when you lift weights, I will now explain the different types of chalk and their pros and cons.

Powdered Chalk

The most commonly available chalk is powdered chalk, which is made from magnesium carbonate. Powdered chalk is most commonly used by rock climbers, gymnasts and weight lifters. Powdered chalk is sold in a few different forms: loose chalk powder, chalk balls, chalk blocks, eco balls, chalk in socks or bags (used primarily by rock climbers).

Powdered chalk is the fastest way to coat your hands but unfortunately it does make a mess of the equipment you use and the surrounding area, making more cleaning work for the staff at your gym. It is also not good for air conditioning units, which is why most health clubs do not allow powdered chalk.

Amazon sell different types of powdered chalks ranging from single packs for under $10 to multi-packs to around $25, see their range of gym chalks here

Powdered chalk should definitely be your first choice, but If your gym does not allow the use of powdered chalk there is an alternative solution that provides similar benefits without making the same mess, its called “liquid chalk”.

Liquid Chalk

Liquid chalk is made from aluminum chlorohydrate, the same stuff that’s used in deodorants and antiperspirants. Liquid chalk comes in a plastic bottle, its white in color and is quite thick, almost like a paste. Once applied to your skin liquid chalk dries between 10-20 seconds.

Usually a pea sized amount on each hand is just the right amount to provide a decent grip without covering your hands in a tick layer of chalk.

Liquid chalk is a good substitute if your gym does not allow powdered chalk, but the properties of liquid chalk means its not as effective as powdered chalk, so only use liquid chalk if your gym does not allow powdered chalk.

My own experience of using powdered chalk is that it does help when lifting to improve grip strength, but it has to be regularly applied, because it soon rubs off the barbells or dumbbells, I find powdered chalk stays on your hands longer than liquid. Also liquid chalk costs a little more than powdered chalk.

Liquid chalk isn’t commonly sold by sporting good stores so its probably best to buy it from Amazon.com, I own liquid grip 1.5oz which Amazon sell for under $10.

Chalk Etiquette

It should be obvious that when using chalk you apply an average amount to the palms of your hands, I find the best way to apply chalk is by rubbing it into your hands and then patting your hands together, which frees any lose pieces.

Removing excessive chalk from your palms is essential because too much chalk is worse than an average amount, especially if you do a lot of barbel lifting. If you have too much chalk on your hands and regularly perform barbell exercises chalk can get stuck in the knurl (grip) of the barbell, severely reducing your grip on the bar. So always make sure you apply an adequate amount of chalk to the palms.

Chalk is also useful for certain exercises, such as heavy squats or cleans. Often when performing these exercises it can be beneficial to place chalk on your upper back (for back squat) and the front of your shoulders (for cleans) this prevents the barbell from slipping during the exercise.

One of the most debated topics between weight training enthusiasts is the discussion about which method is better to build muscle and increase strength: free weights or machines.

Some people are in favor of machines whilst others are in favor of free weights, because of this I have decided to list the pros and cons of both methods. But before I go into the pros and cons I would like to explain my definition of a free weights and machines.

 

Free Weights: A free weight is a device that moves in a three dimensional pattern, which basically means the user has complete control over the movement of the weight. Examples of this would be a barbell, a pair of dumbbells, or a machine where the handle is connected via a cable, such as a lat pull-down machine or a cable machine. Some people would class a cable gym as a machine but I don’t, simply because it allows 3 dimensional movement, even though its not the same range of movement as a dumbbell or barbell its still three dimensional movement.

Machines: A machine is a device that moves in a two dimensional pattern, whereby it is fixed in a position that does not allow the user to control the direction of the movement. A perfect example of this would be a leg extension machine, where the user simply lifts the weight up and down on a fixed point.

Free Weight Pros & Cons

I may seem a little biased towards free weights because I use them in my every day training for the past 10+ years. However as you can clearly see the pros of free weight training far outweigh the pros of using machines.

Pros

• Compound Exercises: The key to building muscle mass and strength is by performing compound exercises, to get the true benefits from a compound exercise you need to use stabilizing muscles, which can only be achieved by using free weights.
• Learn Good Technique: To learn how to perform exercises properly you need to use free weights to understand how to correctly move a weight through its range of motion, you cant learn technique if the machine is doing part of the movement for you.
• Burn More Calories: With free weights you use stabilizing muscles to control the weight, because more muscles are involved more energy will be expended, which means you will burn more calories using free weights, especially if you perform exercises that cannot be done on a machine, such as the deadlift.
• Makes You Stronger: Because stabilizing muscles are used to perform free weight exercises they become stronger, because the stabilizing muscles become stronger the muscle you are targeting also becomes stronger, which means you will will make faster progressions using free weights.
• Increase Weight In Smaller Increments: The key to successful progression in weight training is by gradually increasing the weight or number of reps for a given exercise, this is basically how we get stronger and bigger. Free weights allow you to increase the barbell by small increments (sometimes by 2.5lbs), so that you can increase the weight whilst still maintaining a good rep range. Machines usually go up in 10lb increments, which is generally too high a jump for most people.
• Use Your Natural Position: When you perform a free weight exercise you have complete control the movement, this movement allows your body to stay in its natural position for the given exercise. Whereas machines force you into a guided pattern that might not be your natural movement pattern, which can often make the exercise feel uncomfortable.
• Improves Balance & Coordination: You have to stay balanced and coordinated when moving a free weight, the heavier the weight gets the more stable balanced and coordinated you naturally become. With machines you do not need to concern yourself with balance and coordination, whilst this may sound like a bonus it is not, especially if you lift weights to improve for a sport.
• Cheaper alternative: If you train at home or looking to purchase free weights then you are in luck, free weights are more cost effective in comparison to complex weight machines. A set of barbells, dumbbells and a power rack would cost around $1,000 $1,500 and would allow you to perform hundreds of exercises. Whereas the average machine will cost around $2,000 and limit you to the number of exercises that can be performed, you would be lucky to get more than ten exercises out of a mutli-gym

Cons

Machines Pros & Cons

I’m not knocking machines, there are  times when a machine comes in handy. I have in the past used a machine when I sustained a minor shoulder injury and could not use free weights without being in pain, the machine helped me to carry on working through an injury until I was ready to use free weights again.

Pros

• Safer Than Free Weights: Machines are much safer than free weights, because firstly if you fail to lift the weight you wont be crushed by a heavy barbell, the machine simply drops back to the starting position, secondly you can’t drop any weight plates on your feet.
• Good For Novices: If you are a complete novice and have not lifted weights before, than weight machine will help you get use to lifting weights, whilst you learn the basic exercises as safely as possible. If you are a novice I recommend training on machines for no longer than 3-4 weeks, this should be plenty of time to start learning free weight exercises.
• Can Train Without a Spotter: Free weight exercises, such as barbell bench press, dumbbell bench press etc generally require a spotter to help when you begin to fatigue. With weight machines you don’t need a spotter, because if you fail with a weight the machine just drops back to the start position.
• Good If You are Injured or Recovering From Surgery: If you are injured or recovering from surgery then chances are you won’t be able to perform exercises with free weights. The good news is you will be able to perform exercises with a machine and this is because a lot less stress is placed on the muscles using a weight machine.

Cons

• Puts Pressure on Joints: Using machines such as a chest press machine or smith machine place a lot more pressure on your joints, this is because the alignment of these machines keeps your joints in a fixed position, which for most people is unnatural. If you think of a bench press for example, your elbows do not stay in a straight line, the bar path moves slightly because this is the natural movement of the shoulders.
• Takes Longer to Build Muscle & Increase Strength: Because you are not working the stabilizer muscles it takes a lot longer to gain strength and size when using machines.

Conclusion

From the above pros and cons it should be obvious when it’s appropriate to use machine weights and when to use free weights. I strongly recommend that free weights should be used primarily throughout your workout routine and only use a machine if you are a complete novice or suffering from an injury or recovering from surgery.