During a lift, injury only comes from 1 thing. Improper form or execution of movement.

There are tons of schools of thought on weight lifting. I can get into them if someone would like. One thing I would like to say is there is nothing wrong with lifting heavy, as long as you do it properly.

Every sunday I move 10,000 lbs as quickly and safely as I can utilizing 3 exercises. Bench Press. Deadlift. Squat.

These three movements are great full body workouts and multi-function movements. They stress almost every muscle in the body resulting in a increased resting metabolic rate for up to 2 days. When your RMR is increased you get better fat burning and muscle building hormone response from the training. Benefit of this is, provided your diet is in order, you're leaning out quicker.

The key to heavy lifting is in the execution and not listening to your body. The moment your form starts to change, you need to go lighter on the lift. There is nothing wrong with going light either.

As long as you have some type of consistency in your lift regiment, you can continue to lift your body weight, x2 your body weight, or whatever your cup of tea is without risk of injury. That's building muscle memory.

Or too much weight..

I used to, when I had a standard bar. I needed the gloves to keep from jacking up the nerves in my fingers/hands.

Now that I've moved to an olympic bar I use chalk, and lots of it.

I have considered using gloves again for farmer's carries with my hex bar. Gloves make the grip slightly more difficult, and protect from cutting off circulation so bad.


FWIW...the wife loves my calluses.



And she doesn't use gloves either.

Agreed with @THEDK , chalk, chalk and some more chalk. If they dont allow chalk in the gym, its not a gym, its a spa disguised as a gym. Maybe some lifting straps....

Chances are if someone is lifting "too much" weight they don't really know what they're doing or don't have very much experience in the weight room. There's a difference in lifting too much weight and pushing toward your max. Inexperienced lifters tend to use too much and and/or improper form, resulting in injury.

If we really want to examine and define the amount of "too much" we'd have to do it on an individual basis. For someone like yourself, 375lbs on deadlift might be an easy lift, whereas for myself, 325lbs is upwards of my max. For me, 375lbs would be too much weight, especially on deadlift where a spotter isn't effective.

Now for bench press, 315lbs might be too much weight for you. But with a spotter helping you and proper execution, if your upward max is 285lbs, then you should be able to safely lift 315lbs for a max rep with a spotter.

Granted I'm not disagreeing with the overall point you're making, lifting heavy can result in an injury, but in a setting where no pre-existing injury exists and a lift is executed corrected, with proper spotting there is an extremely low rate of injury occurring.

My only purpose for is I don't want people who read this thread to develop the idea that lifting heavy will result in injury.

See, you guys are looking at it the wrong way! From an engineering perspective, short armed people will bench more weight than long armed people. It is all about simple dynamics. Short torso'd people will clean more than long torso'd people. Short legged people will squat more than long legged people. So, before you think that you are really strong take a look at your body type and know that goofy guy in the corner could be stronger than you yet lift less lol. For the record, I never wore gloves when I used to lift. I quit during my college years when it became apparent that body type meant more than actual strength. so look at yourself in the mirror:
Do your arms stop at your waist? Come down mid thigh? To your knees?
Can you not find t shirts that are long enough in the waist or do regular shirts hang past your butt?
Are pants always too long off the rack or are they too short?

If your arms stop at your waist, your shirts are way too long and your pants are rolled up then you are perfect for lifting weight. If you are like me and the opposite then just leave the gym quietly lol.

That's my excuse! All about physics. I'm 5'10" but I have a 6'4" wingspan.

I didn't say it will result in injury, only that even when using good form, it can result in injury. I saw it with my own eyes, on more than one occasion.

I'm not talking about the fools that -for example- bounce the bar off their chest, in an attempt to bench more than they really can. Or those using bench shirts as a crutch. I'm referring to using good form and technique, and still suffering a muscle detaching from the bone. Or ruptured discs in their back. Or any number of other injuries resulting from lifting more than the various parts of the body can reliably handle.


I have no interest in arguing about it. I saw it multiple times. I made the choice that made the most sense for me.

I won't go into a detailed description of one of those guys who remains a good friend, that abused his body for years in his late teens and into his 20's, and what he looks like now, 20+ years later. Suffice it to say he walks and moves like he's in his late 80's. But hey, 20+ years ago he could brag about how much weight he could lift. He'd trade it all for simply being pain free today.

Good luck.

tough hands crew checking in

to an extend @1engineer is right. While understanding your body type is extremely important, mesomorphic, endomorphic, or ectomorphic... everyone has the potential to grow. Granted it'll take time, the tall lanky kid in the corner, standing at 6'2 has an incredible opportunity to pack on some serious mass while retaining a lean look. It's just going to take a while, and a lot of calories to do so. The simple science behind it is more calories taken in than burned off = weight gain. more calories burned than consumed = weight loss. Period.

@1engineer is correct though in saying the goofy guy in the corner could be stronger than you, even if he's lifting less weight.

To throw it out there... everyone should know that work(W) = force(F) multiplied by distance(d). W=FxD

The importance of understanding this formula pertains to increasing your resting metabolic rate which directly correlates with creating an anabolic environment within the body, promoting fat loss and muscle building.

To understand the importance of this formula, take an example of someone who is doing a 5 exercise routine. We'll use 1 exercise for an example in 2 scenarios so i'm not going on longer than I already am.

Lets say he is performing calf raises at 305lbs for 4 sets of 12 reps, and the distance the weight is travelling is approximately 3 inches or 0.25ft. And for S&G's lets say it takes him 5 minutes. When applying these numbers to our formula we can see that...

work = 305 x 4 x 12 x 0.25 = 3,660 lbs per ft

Now lets say that instead, he performs a barbell clean and press at 105lbs for 4 sets of 12 reps with the weight travelling about 8 feet (the bar is travelling from the ground to overhead). We'll say this also takes 5 minutes

work = 105 x 4 x 12 x 8 = 40,320 lbs per ft

So essentially, even though someone is lifting less weight, it doesn't mean they aren't performing more work. More work means more muscle use, more muscle use means more muscle fatigue, and more muscle fatigue means more muscle breakdown.

This is why crossfit is so successful. The multi-joint movements result in more work done in a shorter period of time, or maybe the same amount of time as a standard routine. And with full body exercises, you get well rounded benefits. You engage your core for stability during these movements, which is passively training your abs and lower back, you're using secondary or accessory muscles more to facilitate the movement, and you're generating more work, resulting in better bang for your buck time wise.

Touching on resting metabolic rate really quick... performing a multi-joint movement, such as a barbell clean and press, and throwing in a few other multi-joint movements, like burpees, snatches, deadlights, bench press, etc... increases your resting metabolic rate for approximately 2 days. This means that your body is more receptive to burning fat and producing hormones that promote muscle growth. This exercise can be performed in roughly 30 minutes, at a moderate to high intensity.

A cardio routine, say riding a bike or jogging on a treadmill, will increase your resting metabolic rate for roughly 2 hours.

Just some food for thought.

Totally unrelated but I feel I have such better control when riding my motorcycle with good gloves on, even if i'm not fully geared up, than without. I'd think that'd carry over but I don't even lift bro.

It sounds like there is not a real benefit to using gloves.

I've always found that gloves inhibit my grip. I just use chalk. Chalk is also cheaper (in the long run) and lasts longer than gloves do.

when i ride i always wear gloves for the same reason, but it actually (for me at least) doesn't carry over to lifting, doesnt have the same feel of control

Being 6'7 tall.. well.. I like to lift in the privacy of my own garage. Anything outside of the press is just bad.