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- Verified Buyer
I have been lifting for over 10 years now. Traditionally I have trained completely raw and chalk has been my best friend. In fact, I used to make fun of people who use gloves and wraps, 'Does your purse match your gloves?'. Anywho, one of my buddies brought these to the gym. After making fun of him for supplementing his weak grip with hooks he convinced me to try them out. I will never go back to doing raw dumbbell rows again!If you have been lifting as long as I have, you undoubtedly have callouses on your hands just like me. Dumbbell rows are perhaps the single most brutal method to aggravate callouses (for some reason deadlift doesn't bother them). No matter how firmly I grip the dumbbell, rows always painfully pull at them; especially with the 150s!. These hooks alleviate this issue for me and actually bring the joy back to rowing. From this day forward there will not be a back day where I won't have these guys by my side.That being said don't over use them. I exclusively employ them for dumbbell row ONLY. There is no supplement for a good grip and using them throughout your suite of back exercises will only make you weaker. Also a tip: I like using the hooks offset such that the hook portion starts at my pinky and covers just below the index finger. This enables you to wrap your index finger and thumb around the dumbbell and gives you greater control through the movement.Well constructed and durable, these hooks will be part of my lifting arsenal for a long time to come.
