Personal 'Trainer' told me...

[peanuts-nuts]

...that I need straps because my legs do more work than my hands when deadlifting..

Didn't know how to reply to this absurdity. I was just thinking to myself, when you're out there lifting a sofa off the groud, will you have straps on you? Probably not..

[Les Hahn]

The strap usage at some gyms is getting out of hand. When I was at the local YMCA I saw guys curling with straps. Yesterday I saw a guy rip a 810 DL with HOOK grip... between that and mixed, one probably would never need to use straps.

To get the trainer off your back, just say you are training for a PLing competition and straps aren't allowed... that should shut him up! :-)

[FatButWeak]

Why are you even talking to a "personal trainer." Don't.

[peanuts-nuts]

He just came up to me..

I agree, I'm pulling in the mid 400s for 1RM and I haven't touched straps in my life for anything.

Only thing that bothers me is that if I didn't know better, like some unfortunate gym goers, I would have fallen for his BS.

[ihatemoney123]

Straps are for multiple reps......no? When grip gives out. Especially in olympic lifting, you can't train without straps when sessions last 3 hours.

[OCG]

Eh, I recently started using straps for my worksets and I'm liking it. On the other hand, I have small unfortunately proportioned hands and deadlift 160kg/350lbs x3 overhand as part of my warmup, so somehow I think I still have a decent grip.

[WildPegasus]

Bill Starr recommends using straps for deadlifts in his "Deadlifts Aren't Just for Powerlifters" article.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

He just came up to me..

I agree, I'm pulling in the mid 400s for 1RM and I haven't touched straps in my life for anything.

Only thing that bothers me is that if I didn't know better, like some unfortunate gym goers, I would have fallen for his BS.

It’s not BS if you can pull more weight with straps.

Straps have their place. Novices shouldn’t rely on them, unless there is some issue with injury or temporary and unusual hand fatigue. But once the weights start getting heavy, there’s nothing wrong with using them sometimes.

There’s no point in being “hardcore” for its own sake. How does your couch-lifting ability suffer if, through judicious strap use, you add more weight to your DL than you would have without using straps?

[Tamara Reynolds]

I was just thinking to myself, when you're out there lifting a sofa off the groud, will you have straps on you? Probably not..

I was just thinking to myself, this sounds very CrossFitty, hahaha...

[ihatemoney123]

It’s not BS if you can pull more weight with straps.

Straps have their place. Novices shouldn’t rely on them, unless there is some issue with injury or temporary and unusual hand fatigue. But once the weights start getting heavy, there’s nothing wrong with using them sometimes.

There’s no point in being “hardcore” for its own sake. How does your couch-lifting ability suffer if, through judicious stray add more weight to your DL than you would have without using straps?

True...but again I would say it's sports specific. If you use straps all the time....a discrepancy between straps and no straps starts to build up. I think straps should be used lightly if you are training for fun. If you are training several hours or more per day everyday. There is no way you train without straps with that method. I only have exposure to oly lifting and strongman. Strongman, from what I have seen, use straps all the time. I guess my point: if you are using straps all the time, you probably should not. If you are never using straps, you should use them sometimes.