Lifting straps are one of the most debated pieces of kit in the gym, yet the argument against them usually comes down to misunderstanding what they are actually for. This guide covers when straps genuinely help your training, how to use them correctly, and what separates a good pair from a poor one.
What Lifting Straps Actually Do
A lifting strap does one thing: it connects your wrist to the bar so that grip strength is no longer the limiting factor in a pull. When you deadlift, row, shrug, or perform any variation of a pulling movement, the muscles doing the primary work, such as the lats, traps, spinal erectors, and hamstrings, are almost always stronger than your grip. Fatigue in the forearm flexors causes the bar to roll out of your hand before those larger muscle groups have been adequately taxed. Straps remove that ceiling.
That is the full scope of what a lifting strap does. It does not train your grip, reduce it, build it, or replace it. It temporarily bypasses it so that the targeted muscles can work through a full, meaningful stimulus.
When to Use Lifting Straps (and When Not To)
The common objection to straps is that they weaken your grip over time. This claim does not hold up under scrutiny. Grip strength develops when it is trained directly or when it is the primary limiting factor in an exercise. Neither of these is true during strapped deadlifts. If you want a stronger grip, train it directly with specific work such as farmers carries, dead hangs, or barbell holds. Do not expect a set of heavy rack pulls to simultaneously build your grip and your back to the same degree.
Straps are appropriate in the following scenarios:
- Accessory pulling volume: Exercises like barbell rows, dumbbell rows, cable pull-throughs, and RDLs are intended to load the target muscle. Using straps here keeps the focus where it belongs.
- High-rep deadlifts: When performing sets of eight or more repetitions, grip is almost always the first thing to fail. Straps allow you to maintain consistent technique and range of motion throughout.
- Late in a session: Grip fatigue accumulates across a training session. If you are pulling heavy after several pressing and hinging exercises, straps keep the session productive without adding forearm fatigue on top of genuine systemic fatigue.
Where you should not use straps is on your competition movements if you compete in powerlifting without straps, or during grip-specific work where the point is to build hand strength. Olympic weightlifters face a different consideration altogether: the clean requires you to release the bar, so straps are not used in competition, though they are used in pulling derivatives during training.
How to Wrap Lifting Straps Correctly
Most people who complain that straps feel awkward or uncomfortable are wrapping them incorrectly. The standard lasso-style strap loops through itself to create a cuff around your wrist, and you then wind the free end around the bar. The direction of the wrap matters: the tail should wrap under the bar from your side and then back over the top, so that as you grip, the rotation of pulling loads the strap rather than unravels it.
Once the strap is wound around the bar, you grip through the strap rather than on top of it. Roll your wrists slightly to take up any slack before you initiate the pull. This removes any play in the strap and gives you immediate tension from the first inch of the lift. If the strap feels loose at the start of a rep, you have either wound it too loosely or not taken up enough slack before pulling.
Padding at the wrist contact point is worth paying attention to. On heavy singles or long sets, the strap creates significant pressure against the wrist bones and tendons. A strap with gel padding distributes that load over a wider area and removes the sharp edge that can bruise or abrade the skin over time. For a guide to how wrist support fits into a broader programme, the Mammal Strength Wrist Wraps page covers the distinction between wraps and straps in more detail.
Material and Construction: What Separates Good Straps from Poor Ones
Lifting straps are made from cotton, nylon, or leather, each with different characteristics. Cotton straps are soft and comfortable but lose their rigidity quickly under heavy load. Leather straps are extremely durable but require breaking in and offer little comfort against bare skin. Nylon, particularly in a double-stitched construction, sits between the two: it is rigid enough to hold tension under serious loads, resistant to fraying, and does not soften excessively over repeated use.
Length matters too. A strap that is too short forces you to over-wind, which makes it difficult to release quickly at the end of a set. A strap that is too long creates unnecessary bulk around the bar. Most lifters find a strap in the 50 to 60cm range suits the majority of pulling exercises. If you also use kinesiology tape on your hands or fingers, factor that extra layer into your sizing when wrapping.
Mammal Strength Lifting Straps: Neo-Flex Gel
The Mammal Strength Lifting Straps are built around a double-stitched nylon construction with an integrated gel padding layer at the wrist contact point. The gel distributes pressure evenly across the wrist rather than concentrating it against the wrist bones, which makes a meaningful difference on heavy pulls and high-rep sets.
- Double-stitched nylon body for durability under heavy loads
- Neo-Flex gel padding at the wrist for sustained comfort
- Additional padding layer for extended session use
- Compatible with standard barbells, hex bars, and cable attachments
- Suitable for deadlifts, rows, shrugs, RDLs, and pull-based accessories
The straps are priced at £12.59 and represent a straightforward option for lifters who need reliable grip security without sacrificing comfort across a full training session. If you are building out a complete lifting kit, the straps pair well with a Mammal Strength 4" Nylon Weightlifting Belt for heavy compound work, or with gym chalk on sessions where you want to keep your grip sharp before switching to strapped volume later in the workout. You can also browse the full training accessories range for more support options.
