Wrist Straps vs Wrist Wraps: Differences, Pros, Cons

1. Wrist Straps vs Wrist Wraps: Differences, Pros, Cons

3. If you’ve been lifting for any amount of time you’ll have come across two important pieces of equipment that people wear in the gym: wrist straps and wrist wraps.  Both straps and wraps aid in your performance and protect you from potential injury.  However, they are not used for the same purpose. 

4. So, what are the differences between wrist straps vs wrist wraps? Wrist wraps are used to create rigid support around your wrist while lifting. Wraps keep the wrist neutral and prevent it from flexing or bending. Wrist straps do not protect your wrist, but rather increase the amount of weight you can grip. Straps are used when your grip fails.

5. There are several other benefits to using straps and wraps, but depending on the outcome you want to achieve in the gym one piece of equipment may be better suited over the other.  In this article, I’ll cover the differences in greater detail and discuss the pros and cons.  

6. What Are The Best Wrist Straps? Wrist straps will help you lift more weight if your grip is the limiting factor.  This could be the case in exercises like the deadlift, barbell row, or chin-up.  At some point, your grip will not be as strong as your other major muscle groups (back, shoulder, biceps), and you’ll need assistance from wrist straps to continue getting stronger.

7. While Gymreapers is a relatively new company, they have definitely raised the bar. Every piece of the lifting strap has been carefully manufactured, from the thickness and durability of the material, which prevents fraying, to the neoprene padding around the wrist that creates an incredibly comfortable lifting experience (even under heavy loads you won’t feel a lot of pressure on the wrist). The best part: it’s one of the cheaper options for lifting straps. The only cheaper strap would be made from 100% cotton, which will fray within a few months, and will likely slip on the barbell.

8. What Are The Best Wrist Wraps? Wrist wraps will help stabilize your wrist while lifting.  If you struggle with keeping your wrist neutral while performing exercises like the bench press or overhead press, wrist wraps are your go-to solution to keeping your wrist neutral and healthy.  

9. What Are Wrist Straps? Wrist straps are used by every type of strength athlete, from bodybuilders, powerlifters, Strongmen, and Olympic weightlifters.   Their primary function is to allow a lifter to grip more weight.  This is achieved by attaching the strap around your wrist and then looping the extra material around the barbell creating a hook-like system between your hand the barbell.  

10. As you progress through your lifting career, you’ll get to a point where your muscular strength has developed beyond the capacity of your grip.  At this point, lifting straps can be a helpful tool to continue to build your strength in the gym.  Most commonly, the grip will fail during pulling exercises, such as the deadlift.  

11. You’ll find yourself being able to lift the weight with your back, legs, and glutes; however, as you reach the top of your lift the barbell begins to slip from your hand and you fail to lock the weight out.  At this point, you have a grip issue, and lifting straps can be a great solution to be able to continue lifting beyond your natural grip capacity.   For example, here’s Thor Bjornsson who deadlift 501kg with wrist straps.  It’s highly unlikely he could have done this feat of strength without straps. 

12. You may also find wrist straps to benefit other exercises where grip is heavily involved, such as barbell rows, chin-ups, and latpulldowns. It’s important to note that if you’ve diagnosed yourself as someone who has a grip issue, that you should seek to improve your gripping capabilities by getting your hands and forearms stronger.  I wrote an entire article onhow to improve your grip. 

13. Some of my suggestions to improve your grip are:  • Ensuring you know how to place your hands on the barbell or dumbbell correctly • Practicing heavy barbell holds (30-seconds at a time)  • Using the Captain of Crush Grip Strengthening Tool (I recommend starting with the “Sport Version”)

14. In addition to these tips, you should ALSO be using lifting straps.  This is because it will take some time for your grip to get stronger naturally, and at the same time you’ll want to continue to maximize your overall strength gains by not having your grip as the limiting factor.   

15. Lifting Strap Pros  Here are the pros of using lifting straps: • They’re easy to use • You can quickly increase your gripping ability • They allow you to lift heavier in most pulling exercises  • You can push yourself to lift a few more reps than normal

16. Lifting Strap Cons  Here are the cons of using lifting straps: • If used too much you can develop an over-reliance on them causing a weaker overall grip • Leather straps don’t absorb sweat well causing them to deteriorate faster (this is why I recommend nylon lifting straps)