The Gear You Need: Gloves

           If you follow Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on any of the countless social media outlets that he dominates, you will often find him complaining about his “damned calloused hands.” The repetitive gripping of textured barbells, dumbbells and v-bars, it is going to develop callouses on your hands pretty darn quick. (I will let you all insert your own self-pleasure jokes here.) So my recommendation is to get you a pair of gloves as quickly as possible.

           I know that Schwarzenegger advises against gloves but the days of working out in dungeons with concrete floors and using chalk for grip has started to go by the wayside. The Pryor Recreation Center specifically has signs up that say “No Chalk.” I don’t want to come across as “unmanly” but I have developed callouses on my hands from lifting weights and I wear gloves 99% of the time.

            I picked up a pair of Gold’s Gym gloves at Walmart for $10 and they worked well to start. I later got a second pair from Amazon.com because I wanted a pair of gloves that had wrap-around straps for wrist support. I’ve since used three different pairs and I really like the set I am using now. (Reviews will be forthcoming in later articles.)

            If this is you and me talking, when you are sitting in the movies with your girlfriend and she is holding your hand, I don’t think she wants to feel those rough callouses. This is one area where it is okay to be metrosexual. Because – and let me state again – I wear gloves and still get callouses. I cannot imagine what it would be like without wearing them. So, yeah, get you a pair.

 

Bonus Entry: The Gear You Need

            I have mentioned on several occasions that I am incredibly motivated by music. There are certain tracks that you can listen to and just get pumped up. I am aware that some tracks are going to have personal significance that put them up higher on my radar than might be on yours. But I hope that some of these tracks are slightly more obscure and might have been missed but need to be in the MP3. This week’s entry is Champion Sound by Ill Factor.

            Many may know this song from the Assassin’s Creed franchise but for me it is the entrance theme for a local professional wrestler named Jon Cross that is very “wrestler entryish.” Lots of industrial slams, big bass, hard rock, and great lyrics. This is an awesome track for the gym.