How to choose gym equipment?

Choosing the right gym equipment is a major decision one would make before embarking on a workout regimen. Naturally people start a work out plan with different prerogatives, however, so much has to do with what you wish to gain out of a working out in determining which gym equipment you need.

So looking for the right gym equipment begets the question, what do you want to use the gym equipment for? Are you a boxer who wants to work on improving your punching power, coordination and endurance? Maybe you want to work out at home and wish to buy a home gym machine. Another requirement could be just lose some weight on a treadmill or an elliptical. 

Understand which type of gym equipment you need would be the next step, be it cardio equipment or strength equipment. If you wish to lose excess fat or wish to build endurance and stamina, cardio gym equipment such as a treadmill, a stationary bike, an elliptical, or even a heavy bag, would be ideal. However, if your forte is going to improve your muscle mass and intend to carry out strength training, than you may want to focus on getting free weights, exercise machines working out specific muscle groups, benches, resistance bands, etc. Adding weights to both a cardio and strength workout would further improve results with items such as ankle and wrist weights.

Whatever the disposition may be, one of the most basic facts that is very important to understand is that it is not the gym equipment that will do the work, you will. And the amazing machines will only have an impact if you put in the work regularly. Society in general is becoming more cognizant of the benefits of working out. Doctors recommend that individuals work out at least an half an hour per workout three times a week. One of the most important decisions people can make about starting a workout is how to choose their gym equipment.

Should We Wear Weight Lifting Gloves or Not?

People who regularly do weight lifting exercises often get infections on their hands or lose grip because of sweating caused as a result of vigorous workout. Lifting weight can also cause damage or injury to your hand and wrist. Weight lifting gloves can help you get rid of all these problems. However, there are some weight lifters who are not in favor of wearing gloves. Do you also want to know whether it is good to wear gloves while lifting gloves or not? If yes, then keep reading.

Though it’s a personal decision to wear gloves during workout or not, in this article we will share some pros and cons of wearing gloves that will help you make your decision.

Pros of wearing weight lifting gloves

 Listed below are the benefits or reasons why weight lifters wear gloves during exercise.

Improved grip – while lifting heavy weight, hands often become sweaty and cause lifter lose grip. This increases the risk of slipping. It is not only annoying but dangerous as well. Wearing weight lifting gloves will help you improve your grip and work out safely.

Prevention from blisters – lifting weights over the long periods of times results in blisters and calluses on the skin. This is usually because of micro bacterial activities caused by sweating or rough material of weight. Blisters can be very painful and cause hindrance in your workout. However, wearing gloves on hands can help you prevent them as they have antimicrobial layer in them helps prevent skin infections.

Distribute pressure – another benefit of gloves is that they relieve pressure placed on hands by distributing it to wrists and forearms. Weight lifting gloves allow you move your hands beyond the limitations. 

Reasons for not wearing weight lifting gloves

There are very less people who are not in favor of wearing gym gloves. The only reason is that they may kill the grip strength by making the bars thicker. If you are unable to hold weight comfortably, you won’t be able to perform exercise properly. So, some weight lifters do not wear gloves in pulling exercises like deadlifts, pullups and rows.

Bottom line

Wearing weight lifting gloves is a personal decision and is dependent on person’s goals and requirements. It’s on you to decide whether you should wear weight lifting gloves or not. However, generally it is preferable to wear them.

Padding for boxing gloves

Boxing gloves can be a very technical item to shop for. Not all of them are alike and it is important to understand how they are different and how that determines what you buy. Which pair of boxing gloves one eventually decides to purchase has a lot to do with what that person wants boxing gloves for.  Maybe you are thinking you can lose some weight by hitting the heavy bag. Some people may specifically want to learn some fighting skills and want to spar with a partner to practice to make sure they have effectively learned proper techniques. Simply wanting to be a professional boxer requires you have several boxing gloves, one for sparring, one for the heavy bag and another still for an actual fight. Below we evaluate some of different padding available on boxing gloves for different dispositions.

Padding – Looking at the overall padding is vital as it gives sufficient protection for your knuckles. Keep in mind that if you are hitting the heavy bag, sparring, or simply shadow fighting, gloves that have heavier padding offer great shock absorption from the various strikes.

Boxing gloves used for actual fights usually have much less padding as thicker padding would increase the weight of the boxing gloves and slow down hand speed. Nonetheless, there are bare minimums for boxing gloves' weight that must be complied with based on boxer weight class.

More heavily padded boxing gloves for hitting the heavy bag are effectively not only hand protection but also can really up the effectiveness of a cardio workout. Hitting the heavy bag can be really effective in getting the heart rate up. That exercise is further pronounced when you have heavier boxing gloves on your hands.

It is important to remember what boxing gloves are intended to do. They should keep your hand, knuckles, and wrists safe as well as your sparring partner. There will be various activities a person does in learning and practicing boxing, each of which require boxing gloves built for those specific purposes in mind. Most times, padding of a gloves can great determine use and effectiveness of a boxing glove.