Wrapping a weight bar with lifting straps involves creating a tight connection between your hand, the strap, and the bar, primarily by wrapping the strap around the bar in a specific direction and twisting it securely.
Understanding the Wrapping Motion
When preparing to lift, especially with heavy weights, using lifting straps helps reinforce your grip. The process involves more than just looping the strap; the key is how you wrap the excess strap around the bar itself. The goal is to make the strap a solid extension of your hand, essentially tying your hand to the bar.
Key Steps from the Reference
Based on the provided reference, the critical actions for wrapping the strap around the bar (after threading it through the loop and positioning it over the bar) are:
- Direction of Wrap: The strap should be wrapping around towards your hand. This means the excess strap moves around the bar in a direction that brings it back under or over the bar towards where your fingers are gripping.
- Strap Position: The strap, as it wraps, should be coming in towards your hand. This reinforces the action of wrapping it around the bar under or over your grip, depending on your chosen method, so that pulling on the strap tightens it against your palm and the bar.
- Tightening Action: You then wrap and twist until we're nice and tight. After the initial wrap, you continue to wrap the strap tightly around the bar while often twisting it to remove slack and create a secure, non-slip bind between the strap and the bar.
By following these steps – ensuring the strap wraps towards your hand and comes in towards your hand as you wrap and twist – you build a firm connection that reduces grip fatigue and allows you to focus on the lift. The final tightening by twisting locks the strap in place.
