Top 5 Best Women’s Workout Gloves

Women are crazy about weight loss and the best way to do it is through gym work and weightlifting. However, lifting heavy weights can damage your hands. You can easily protect them by wearing workout gloves.

All the pros are using them and highly recommend them as they offer much better grip and protect your hands from calluses and cuts.

Here’s a list of top of the line women workout gloves:

• Meister Women’s Fit Grip Weight Lifting Gloves

These gloves are made from Amara leather and made solely for weightlifting and various workout exercises. You can easily wash them without any risk of wear and tear. The material is breathable and allows the sweat to escape. For palm protection it has synthetic leather padding and provides maximum protection for grip when working out with free weights and machine.

• The Gripper Glove

This glove is specially made to provide protection against calluses and protect your palms against all such issues. It works best for kettlebells, rope climbing, hanging bar work, machines, and free weights. The hexagonal shaped silicone pads are integrated into the Gripper glove and offers extra grip.

• Flowermall Hot GYM Weightlifting Gloves

This glove is quite opposite to the Gripper glove as they offer much more protection for hands. The gloves are made from extremely lightweight material to help ease hand fatigue. There is a thin coating of dense gel pads in the palm region for resistive wear relief. Women are often worried about the germs at the gym, this glove is ideal for them.

• Nordic Living Weight Lifting Gloves

This weight lifting gloves offer extra wrist support to lifters, which means if you are worried about the wrist pain while lifting heavy weight, you should seriously consider using this one. In addition, it has extra padding in the hand region of the gloves, which will protect your hand from painful calluses.

• Authentic RDX Ladies Gel Gloves

Last but not the least, the Authentic RDX Ladies Gel Gloves has it all. It is manufactured from supreme leather and contain anatomical pad system to promote natural movement of the hand. With great grip strength and air circulation you will be able to lift weights for hours. All gloves need a wash after every use due to excess sweeting, and this weight lifting glove is completely machine washable. You will find them in vibrant colour range.

Don’t hesitate, try out these women gym gloves and forget all your lifting worries.

Top 5 Weight Lifting Belts For Back Support

When you are doing powerlifting or Olympic lifts in CrossFit, your back is put under constant pressure. If you are not careful it can cause serious injuries to your back and spine. You can avoid them by adding extra support in the form of weight lifting belts. These belts are great for stabilizing your back muscles. Let’s check out these top five lifting belts which can be easily found online.

• MDUSA Leather Weightlifting Belt

This is a genuine sole-leather 4-inch belt designed never to tear or break. It is withstand any test it’s put through. These are perfect for deadlift or squat. The only drawback it has is the high price of $55.

• Harbinger 23207-P Women's Foam Core Lifting Belt

This is one colorful 5-inch women’s belt. It provides adequate support during overhead weight lifting. The belt is inexpensive as it is priced at just $20 but if you into serious lifting then don’t go for belts made from genuine leather material.

• Ader Sporting Goods Power Weight Lifting

This is a really good belt for heavy lifting. Made from genuine leather which will keep your back straight and protect you from injuries. You can get this belt at $42 which is slightly higher as compared to its competitors.

• Rogue 5-Inch Nylon Weightlifting Belt

This is a nylon belt that is 3-inches think from the front and 5-inches on the back for greater support. It is built with a hook and loop closure with steel bucket for reinforcement, available at an amazingly low price of $20.

• RDX Leather 6-Inch Weight Lifting Belt

This is one of the best genuine leather weightlifting belt around. The 6-inch belt with suede lining comes with a carbon-fibre lumber pad, which provides necessary upper body support. Available at just $29, it will be hard for you to find a better quality lifting belt at such a low price.

7 Foolish Mistakes Made During Weight Training

There are some mistakes you commonly see weightlifters and bodybuilders make during their gym training. It is important that you avoid such mistakes, as they will hamper both your health and performance.

1.  Waiting for Equipment

If you get to the gym at rush hours, then don’t waste time waiting for the gym equipment to get free. You can start your training without any equipment and can still achieve same level of results. Always have a plan B, there are tons of exercises that you can perform for every muscle group. You can ask trainers for advice, they will be happy to help.

2.  Skipping Warm-up

Always start your gym session with a dedicated warm-up exercises like squats, lunges, jumping jacks, push ups and skipping rope. This will elevate your heart rate prior to lifting weights. No matter if you have short time, you should make a habit of warming up before doing strenuous workout.

3.  Going without a Set Plan

Starting a gym without a plan will waste your time so in order to avoid that always plan ahead. You should know in advance which muscle groups you will be targeting and how many sets and reps you be doing.

4.  Perform Cardio before lifting

A 30 minutes jog before lifting session will wear you out and may cause an injury. If you want to do it then it is better to perform them after you are done with your weightlifting.

5. Using Same Exercises, Sets and Reps

If you keep performing same set of exercises each day, your body get used to it and the benefits will stop. Best thing is to keep changing your exercises, their reps and sets so that your body keeps guessing.

6.  Not using Lifting Straps

Always use lifting straps when you are working with extremely heavy weights. This will give you much needed wrist support and grip.

7.  Not Hydrate Properly

It is extremely important for weightlifters to properly hydrate themselves. Among many advantages it help lifters gain muscle and strength. Do not hydrate when you reach the gym, the best time is six hours before you starting the gym. 

How To Wrap Your Hands The Right Way

Hand wraps are more than just cool accessories to make you look like belong in a Street Fighter game (namely Sagat). It’s sexier than that. Hand wraps are good for your health. Seriously, you don’t want to break your wrists, or knuckles, or fingers, basically your whole damn hand. No. If you’ve been going at the heavy bag or punch pads, you need them hands wrapped and you know how to do it.

Hand wraps have variety. 4 meters or 180” semi-elastic hand wraps are great, meaning there’s more than enough to wrap and the elasticity lets you tighten to your comfort.

You can wrap your hands in a variety of ways. But I’m here to tell the best way to wrap em’ up:

Step 1:

First. Hold your hand downwards, knuckle-side up, spread your fingers, and keep your hand relaxed but with separation. Put your thumb through the thumb loop and pull the wrap across behind the back of your hand and wrap your wrist at least 3 times, keeping the edge of the wrap at the end of your wrist and not spilling toward the hand. Wrap three times, to form a comfy layers as to support the wrist but not to cut blood circulation. You want to be comfortable at the wrist end. Step 2: Do not change hand position. After the third wrap, bring it across toward the palm (pinky side) and bring it under the hand, across palm and around over the knuckles three times. Step 3: Keeping hand in same position, bring the wrap across knuckle-side, at the back of your hand toward the wrist, going around the wrist toward the pinky knuckle, across palm and repeat this ex- formation at least three times. Step 4: Remember to keep a slight tug on the wrap, to keep the hand snug and compact. Bring around the palm side of your hand toward thumb, and wrap it once, and pull wrap toward and over the wrist.  Do not twist around thumb as that may cause discomfort. Step 5: Continue wrapping behind your hand (knuckle side) to the thumb and once again around the thumb, now to the opposite direction. Step 6: Wrap from the thumb over the back of your hand and around your wrist, ONCE. Now continue around your wrist and toward the back of your hand through the spread space between your pinky and ring fingers. Pull wrap around and over palm back to wrist, and repeat the same motion for each finger. Insure that the wrap doesn’t furl or overlap within the fingers. This causes discomfort. Step 7: When the last finger has been wrapped. Take it across the palm and toward the wrist. Step 8: Continue wrapping across the back of your hand toward your knuckles. Step 9: One more wrap around the knuckle and across the back of your hand to the wrist. Step 10: By now you’ll have enough spare wrap to go around you can just use that for whichever part you’d like to focus more on. Step 11: Wrap around knuckles for more padding and knuckle support. Or around the wrist to keep it secure and in place. Step 12: Place velcrow strap and voila. You’re looking sexy like Sagat with a safe, comfy, tightly wrapped hand ready to kick ass and throw some ‘Tiger Uppercuts’.

The Benefits of Shadowboxing

Let’s just put it like this. You are your biggest enemy. You are also your own biggest threat. The only hurdle that’s keeping you from being the best you, is YOU.

Analyze yourself.

Challenge yourself.

Best yourself.

While you might need things like a punching bag, boxing equipment, a coach and training partners to get better – there is one dynamic that only requires the bare minimum, YOU. Shadowboxing is boxing an imaginary foe or better yet, it’s YOU vs YOU. Apart from it being a great work out as well, Shadowboxing is the only way to perfect your boxing technique without the peripheral need of sa gym or equipment – if anything, all you need is a mirror.

The point is to know how well sharpened your tools are. In other words ‘know thyself’. Some might say Shadowboxing it is the KEY to bettering your technique and movement. Fighters will shadow box daily, going through 3 – 5 or 12 rounds, imagining the set and setting in which he/she will be fighting. If you don’t own a punching bag or just DON’T feel like boxing something ‘solid’, then practice your boxing technique by way of mirror reflection or by just standing in the middle of your space and whacking away the demons of competition.

Shadowboxing holistically helps with a range of things in the fight game:

 Footwork and balance

The most underrated and probably the most important part of training. While throwing your strikes, it is easy to fall off balance; upsetting your game plan and leaving you open for counters. Shadowboxing allows you to throw combinations, coordinating foot speed to hand speed, incorporating twitch or drastic movements without losing balance or ruining your stance.

Hand-speed and coordination

Increase hand-speed and the rate of punches while coordinating your eye, feet and hips to throw with precision.

Rhythm and movement

Rhythm and movement allows you to dodge, slip and evade your opponents attack while creating angles of your own. Rhythm is an extremely important part of boxing that creates flow and allows you to determine a response to your opponents attack or defense.

  Defense and stance

How to block the offensive without losing balance or putting yourself in danger while maintaining your stance and a calm demeanor

Attack and form

Throw your fists (or kicks) with flow and precision without leaving too many openings for counters while you’re on the offensive. Correct your form and eradicate bad punching habits that could affect form and damage one’s own body.

Fitness and gives you warm-up

Great pre-workout to warm the body up and get the blood flowing as it trains your entire body – not just for the muscles but for cardio and bone strength too.

Angles and correct punching/kicking technique

Angles are what matter in a fight. Even more than power. Throwing proper technique ensure a good offense while maintaining a good defense. Meaning; angles will help create opening to put your shots in or it’ll create space for you to evade an attack.

  Precision and flow

Precision allows you to throw punches and kicks with minimum power maintaining strength and stamina levels which allows for better movement and ‘flow’.

The list goes on. When you’re Shadowboxing, your only opponent is yourself. Shadowboxing would be the equivalent to how a writer writes in his/her spare time to better their skills. Just like how one opens their personal diary or commences an inner dialogue with the self – such is Shadowboxing; the fighter’s inner-fight to be the best.

Weight Lifting Exercises

Want to continue with strength training or weight lifting program? Want to know which exercises can help you? In this article, we will share some beneficial and really helpful weight lifting exercises with you. These exercises are cardio exercises that will help you build muscles and make your body strong. Read on to know.

  1. Cardio respiratory warm-up

Warm-up is the best cardio exercise and it is essential to do before starting any vigorous workout. You can warm up by performing moderate intensity cardio work on any machine, elliptical or treadmill, for 5 to 10 minutes. Walking and jumping or skipping are also beneficial warm-up exercises. These exercises work the large muscles of the body and increase the blood flow.

  2. Dumbbell exercises

This is a weight training exercise in which dumbbells are used. Dumbbell exercises are perhaps ideal weight lifting exercise. Dumbbell presses can help you build biceps, triceps and chest muscles.

3. Barbell exercises

Barbell exercises are more beneficial than dumbbell exercises. Dumbbell is queen while barbell is king. Forget all other equipment and use barbell in your strength training exercises. Barbells can help you lift more weight and lifting heavy is the first step towards getting stronger. After barbell exercise, you can move to dumbbell exercise.

  4. Squat

Squat is another beneficial weight training exercise. This exercise is done by squatting down with your weight held across your upper back and then standing up straight again. Squat is a compound exercise that involves glutes, hamstrings, calves and lower back as well. Weight lifting belts are sometimes used in this exercise to support lower back.

5. Dead lift

This weight training exercise is similar to normal squat but weight are lifted off the floor with hands while standing up. You can keep your palms facing down or one hand down and the other up to prevent dropping. Palms facing up puts excess on the inner arms. It is also a compound exercise that involves lower back, glutes, lats, neck, hamstrings and  calves.Like Squats, weight lifting belts can also be used in dead lifts.

6. Leg extension

This exercise is performed by raising a weight in front of your body with feet while sitting. This exercise works on quadriceps. Leg extension makes the muscles around the knees stronger and are also recommended by physical therapists. However, overtraining is not advisable.

  7. Wall sit

Wall sit, aka static squat, is performed by placing back against the wall with feet apart equal to shoulder width. Hips are lowered until knees and hips both are at right angles. This position is held as long as one can. This exercise strengthens quadriceps. Wall sit is not recommended for those who have knee problems because knees bear most weight during exercise

  8. Hamstring curl

Hamstring curl is another effective weight training exercise. The lying hamstring curl is the exercise that is done using weight machine and strengthens the hamstring muscles. During the exercise, person lies face down on weight bench, positions pad just above the ankles and then knees are slowly bended pulling feet towards buttocks. While doing lying hamstring curls, use hand grip only for support. This exercise works on leg muscles.

Bottom line

There are many weight training exercises. It’s up to you to choose the best suitable routine for you or see a professional.