Why Do You Need Protective Support when working out?

In sports training, weight workouts, and physical exercises, the inexpensive protective support are as important as the exercise equipment and weights, costing thousands of dollars from Rogue Fitness.

This fitness article about protective support is for those who want to learn about the crucial role these accessories play in protecting you and furthering your goals.

So, let’s begin.

Hand Guard: Keeps Your hands Protected and Safe While Training

Why Do You Need the Hand Guard?

Attending a gym, even if you’re not familiar with the hand guard that some wear, you might have seen it in use.

A protective support hand guard isn’t just an accessory to make people look cool during the workout. While some might be still skeptical of hand guards, many athletes and fitness enthusiasts swear by them.

During workouts or training, the body is put under tremendous strain. This is especially true during weight lifting.

The tiny muscles, bones, and tendons in the hands and wrists are some of the most affected. We don’t have to remind you. These are vital parts that need to be protected to even manage our day to day chores.

With a good hand guard, you reduce the risks of short-term problems such as sprains, injuries, and fractures; and long-term problems such as arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Plus, a minor injury to the hands can keep you benched for days or weeks. For the best results, you need to follow your plan to the T and train regularly. An injury break can affect your progress.

Benefits of Using the Hand Guard

Apart from preventing injuries, there are other benefits of using the hand guard. While the list of benefits is long, let’s stick to three.

Improve Grip: Hand guards are designed to offer excellent grip to the hands. There is no training without perspiration and sweat makes the hands slippery. You’ll find it pretty hard to grip a dumbbell with sweaty hands.

Prevent Callus Formation: Sure, men and women want to train their bodies. But, none want calluses during weight handling in the gym day after day. Hand guards make weight training more comfortable by protecting the skin from the hard, cold, and rough exercise equipment.

Protect Hands and Wrists: Hand guards offer twin benefits; they protect the hands and the wrists.

What to Look for in a Hand Guard?

Adjustable: Some hand guards come in different sizes. Ensure the one you choose fits your hands perfectly. We recommend adjustable hand guards; the ones which are elastic or with straps. While buying hand guards, be certain that all parts of the guard fit your hands very well.

Comfortable: The guards should not only protect the hands and wrists, but they must be comfortable as well. Make sure the material used to make the product is flexible, breathable, and comfortable. The way the hands feel during the workout can make a big difference to the outcome.

Purpose: Are you looking for a hand guard just to protect the skin from calluses or want protection from injuries? Your preference and purpose can determine the ideal hand guard to choose.  

Wrist Wrap: Protects the Tiny Wrist Muscles, Bones, and Tendons

Why Do You Need the Wrist Wrap?

If not the hand guard, you’ll see people wearing wrist wrap in the gym. The wrist support will give you the confidence to lift weights such as kettlebell, barbell, etc.

The extra confidence that you gain will push you to try harder and train harder, thereby making your workout more productive.

Moreover, the primary use of wrist straps is to prevent muscle strains and injuries.

Those just starting with the heavy weights might find it difficult to hold on to the bar long enough for the target muscles to tire.

Hence, before entering the power rack to start your weight training put on the wrist wrap for additional support.

The protective support wrist wrap will help you hit the weight level that can trigger muscle tiring. Plus, there will be no collateral impact on the tiny wrist muscles.

Sometimes, wrist wraps can be overused. Using it all the time can only reduce its impact.

We would encourage you to start the workout without the wrist wrap. Only when the grip and wrist can’t handle more weight or strain should you consider using the wrist support.

Reasons to Use Wrist Support

Prevent Pain and Injury: Those who train with weights will agree that continued use of heavy equipment will result in minor fractures in the wrist. The constant pull, push, and lift will have a disastrous effect on the tiny elements in the wrist if they aren’t protected. Support and protection is a must for exercises that are intense on the wrists. For example, bench presses and bicep curls.

Rehabilitation: Although the wrist is quite resilient and can withstand the intense strain, minor wrist injuries are common during weight training. People who want to continue training despite the injury should use the wrist wrap. It’ll stabilize the wrist and reduce excess strain, thus preventing further damage to the muscles and bones. Wrist wraps can also make the injury swelling go away.

Add Variety: With wrist support, you can add to your plan exercises that were previously out of bounds due to lack of adequate grip and wrist strength. Now, you can take up more challenging exercises.

What to Look for in a Wrist Support?

Earlier, wrist wraps were made of thin cotton that preserved the range of motion. These are of little use to athletes and weight lifters nowadays.

Wrist support must be thick yet comfortable, stable without being too tight, easily adjustable yet secure, and supportive without hampering your technique.

Elbow Support: Why Is It so Popular?

Why Are We Seeing So Much of Elbow Sleeves?

We see elbow sleeves everywhere, from gym, rings, to sports grounds. Doctors even recommend some patients to use elbow support. We’ll restrict our discussion only to training and sports.

Experts recommend protective support elbow sleeve during training and post-workout. The use of elbow support is recommended as the sleeves increase blood flow.

Furthermore, the sleeves also increase the responsiveness of the muscles in the arms. Also, most sports persons use elbow support to minimize strain, pain, and injury.

Elbow sleeves are also used as a post-workout and post-injury tool. Those suffering from golf elbow, tennis elbow, joint inflammation, and arthritis are often advised to wear elbow support.

Experts believe the warming action of the sleeves decreases pain, eases swelling, speed up the healing process, and reduce recovery time.

Given the importance of proper blood flow and muscle support in sports and training, it’s no wonder elbow support is popular among the masses. Almost all sports people use it; power lifters, tennis professionals, basketball players, golf pros, and cricketers to name a few. Elbow sleeves will also be quite useful for casual fitness enthusiasts.

Reasons to Use Elbow Support

Protection: The bones and muscles are vulnerable to injury caused by continuous training and weight lifting. Similar to hand and wrist protection products, the elbow support protects the arm muscles and bones. Pain in the arms can be annoying and debilitating. The warm sensation that elbow support generates can ease pain and reduce discomfort for those suffering from arthritis, tennis elbow, etc.

Speedy Recovery: Not just the increased blood flow, the compression effect of the sleeves can reduce swelling. So, these two effects combine to promote healing, resulting in a shorter recovery time.

Temperature Regulation: Winters can be a tough time to train. The warm fiber covering the arms and the warming effect they create due to increased blood flow will help you maximize performance.

What to Look for in an Elbow Support?

The many benefits of elbow support, serve many needs and helps different people.

You’ll find quite a few varieties of elbow sleeves in the market. So, the first point to consider before buying is the purpose for which the product will be used.

Weight lifters require maximum support and protection. Hence, they would opt for thicker sleeves.

Sportspeople, runners, and home workout enthusiasts (for example, Arnold Schwarzenegger home workout practitioners) choose thinner sleeves because they need less support, but prefer the blood flow, compression, and temperature regulation benefits of the sleeves.

Knee Brace: To Ease Pain and Prevent Injuries

Why Is Knee Brace a Must-Have for Everyone?

Knee injuries can put the best of athletes out of commission for months. That said the knee can sustain an injury even during normal use.

Well, if you’re a fitness enthusiast, then you should know that our knee is susceptible to injury from a wide range of workouts. From cycling, weightlifting to even resistance band workouts, injury to the knee joint and muscles in that region can happen any time.

Knee braces are used to support, protect, and stabilize the knee region. The knee brace can also be put to daily use.

The majority of the population understands the importance of fitness and good health. But, not many go to the gym or train under a fitness expert.

A large chunk of the health-conscious community prefers home workouts. They search for a suitable home workout program like the Pamela Reif home workout plan and continue the same at home.

What the creators of the fitness programs don’t tell you is the risk of injury. It isn’t their fault.

Joint and muscle injuries can happen any time to anyone, even during our normal day to day activities. But, workout injuries to the knee can be prevented with the help of the protective support knee brace.

Reasons to Use a Knee Brace

Correct Alignment: Weather it is stretching exercises or endurance workout; the chances of picking up an injury due to poor knee alignment are quite high. A knee brace ensures the joints and muscles are in the proper position for each workout.

Reduce Load on Joints and Muscles: Knee braces prevent minor fractures from getting worse. They support the joints and muscles in the region and ensure too much pressure and strain isn’t aggravating the injury.

Provide Compression and Support: The warmth created due to increased blood flow provides support to the muscles and increases your performance.  

What to Look for in a Knee Brace?

The fitness accessories used during workout and training must aid the process, instead of hampering it.

Hence, the knee brace you choose must fulfill three criteria: (a) It should suit the purpose for which it’s selected, (b) It should be comfortable and made of breathable material, and (c) It should be well-designed.

Ankle Brace: Stabilizes the Ankle Joint to Reduce the Risk of Injury

The Importance of an Ankle Brace

The bone, muscles, and various other elements in the leg support the ankle internally during physical activity. The ankle brace acts as external support during sports activity or workout.

The ankle brace performs the same role as the other fitness accessories in the preceding sections.

The ankles seem to be particularly vulnerable during the workout and sports activity.

That’s because, in many sports, sudden stops and changes in direction are mandatory. In addition, the ankles bear the brunt of workout be it weight training in the gym or at home back workout no weights used.

The use of protective support ankle brace has become very common because of growing awareness. But, what exactly are its benefits and why should you use the ankle brace?

Reasons to Use an Ankle Brace

Prevent Injury: Ankle injury can happen at any time and anywhere. You can twist an ankle during hiking or while doing the Orange theory home workout. The ankle brace doesn’t guarantee a 100% injury-free workout, but you can reduce the risk of injury. According to a 2012 study, the use of ankle brace by football players reduced the risk of injury by over 50%.

Reduce Pain and Swelling: Sometimes sportspeople and fitness enthusiasts have to continue workout to stay in shape. But intense workout can exacerbate their ankle injury. Plus, the pain and swelling can make even moderate training impossible. The compression effect of the ankle brace will keep pain and swelling down to permit moderate workouts.

Expedite Healing: The increased blood flow in the ankles due to the brace creates a warm feeling. The support and warmth are the ideal conditions required for fast recovery from muscle and ligament injury. 

What to Look for in an Ankle Brace?

The ankle brace you choose shouldn’t restrict movement. A brace that’s too tight or uncomfortable will only increase the risk of injury.

There are many types of ankle brace on the market. The one you pick must be comfortable and breathable.

Final Thoughts 

Protective support for hand, wrist, elbow, knee, and ankles are as important as any exercise equipment.

We have already presented you with enough reasons to use these fitness accessories. But here are two more that you can’t ignore.

The world is going through a pandemic. So, here are two coronavirus tips you must follow.

First, use protective supports during the workout to reduce injury, thus reducing the need to visit doctors and healthcare workers.

Second, use protective support to enhance workout performance, thereby strengthening your immunity system!