Alright folks… I’m about to go in, so bear with me!
Question 1) Do you wear any of the following during workouts?
Wrist Wraps
Weightlifting Belt
Knee Sleeves
Weightlifting Shoes
Question 2) If you answered “yes” to any of the above, do you know WHY you wear them?
Yes
No
Question 3) If you answered “no” to the above question, you’re going to learn a ton in this blog! If you answered “yes” to the question, I’m excited for you to explore this blog and see if you’re using them for the right reasons!
Alright, so…crutches. Not the crutches you use when you break an ankle. I’m talking about fitness crutches. Fitness crutches are things that we use or sometimes we rely on to accomplish workout tasks, usually at our local CrossFit affiliate (but let’s be honest, this happens everywhere).
Going back to my questions I asked above, the most important thing I hope you take from this piece is to better understand when and how these crutches should be used appropriately, and when they are being misused.
I will go on record and say that 99/100 times, you are using a crutch to cover up a weakness that you are either unaware of or are too lazy to address.
Let me explain.
*DISCLAIMER: I understand that there are competitive athletes out there that benefit TREMENDOUSLY in competition with the use of these “tools.” Notice, I called them tools and not crutches there, which I will get to later.
99% of you reading this blog go to the gym to look better, feel better and overall have some fun/blow off some steam. It blows my mind that people can’t wrap their heads around this simple fact…YOU ARE NOT A COMPETITIVE ATHLETE! If you want to be a competitive athlete, that’s a totally different conversation that you and your coach need to have. But for the sake of this article, I will assume you have no real aspirations of being an elite level athlete. If you are not aspiring to be a competitive athlete, then health should be the priority. Health includes a fully functional body absent of pain/weaknesses.
Every CrossFit gym says something along the lines of “leave your ego at the door” but in reality, allow egos to leak in all over the place through fitness crutches.
WRIST WRAPS
Wrist wraps are cloth/material that wraps tightly around the wrist, giving it support.
A lot of CrossFitter’s wear wrist wraps. Why is that? Well, ask anyone in class and they’ll probably say “Oh if I don’t use them, the barbell just kills my wrists!” This brings up my first point.
If you are masking your weakness with a crutch, your weakness will never get stronger.
So you have wrist pain when you take a barbell overhead? It might sound crazy, but that might just mean you need to spend more time with a barbell overhead with lighter loads WITHOUT wrist wraps to help strengthen your wrists.
This brings up my second point of this blog, which may come off slightly harsh…If you would rather mask your weaknesses with crutches for the remainder of your life vs take a step back and work to strengthen your weaknesses without crutches, you have a major ego problem my friend.
If you need wrist wraps to take a barbell overhead or in the front rack, you don’t need wrist wraps. You need stronger, more mobile wrists.
WEIGHTLIFTING BELTS
Weight Belts are used as a brace to the core. When properly used, you actually are supposed to push your belly pressure outward into the belt, creating a pressure in the core that doesn’t buckle under pressure.
This crutch is one of my favorites, and yes. I am SUPER critical of this one. Why you ask? Well, because your logic is illogical.
Example: Fred comes in on a Wednesday morning and has his weight belt with him in hand coming into class. On the board reads “5 Sets of 5 Back Squats at a 31X1 Tempo.” Coach asks Fred “Hey Fred, why do you have your weight belt out?” To which Fred replies “Oh coach, I got a bad back and every time I squat without it my back hurts.”
2nd Example: Jackie comes in for the 5:30pm class and has her weight belt in hand, ready to crush some heavy deadlifts. The board reads “7 sets of 1 Deadlift, building in weight.” Coach doesn’t ask any questions, and Jackie completes all 7 sets with her weight belt on.
In the first example, Fred is using his belt to mask his back pain. In the second example, Jackie is using her weight belt to mask her weak core.
WHAT BLOWS MY MIND is that if you asked 100 people right now “Would you like to have a better core?” 100% of the answers would be an immediate “Yes!” Yet, when presented the opportunity to build a better core and see back pain diminish, we fail to see the opportunity.
In the first example, Fred is letting FEAR dictate his workouts. In the second example, Jackie is letting EGO dictate her workout decisions. Neither are taking their bodies, their weaknesses into account. They are both letting the pressure of needing to squat/deadlift heavy dictate their decisions.
In example 1, a better solution for Fred would be to have Coach watch his form without load, assess and address any restrictions/faults/flaws, and progress Fred accordingly. Maybe Fred isn’t even ready for Back Squats due to his mobility restrictions. Maybe Fred has sat at a desk for 20+ years and should be more focused on reversing the adverse effects of sitting vs filling his ego with “squatting a certain weight.”
In example 2, a better solution for Jackie would be to complete all lifts without a belt, and worrying more about core bracing vs weight lifted. Maybe Jackie can deadlift 300lbs with a belt, but without her belt can only deadlift 135lbs with a neutral, flat back. If Jackie really wants to improve her lifts and her physique, she would benefit tremendously from spending time focusing on any lift with proper core recruitment.
If you need a belt to do heavy lifts, you don’t need a belt. You need to check your ego and build a stronger core, or work with a coach to eliminate your pain.
KNEE SLEEVES
Another crutch that MANY people are guilty of is wearing knee sleeves. Knee sleeves add compression to the knee area and provide more heat than normal to the region.
Ask anyone why they wear them and the response will likely be “my knees hurt when I squat” or “if I don’t wear them, my knees take forever to warm up!”
Here’s the thing…squatting is one of the most functional movements that we do in life. We squat to poop, we squat to get in the car, we squat to get to the bottom shelf of the fridge, etc. So if we are having trouble squatting in the gym pain free, it means that issues are present outside of the gym.
Now there are multiple things that this could be from…an imbalance in anterior/posterior leg strength, mobility restriction from the quadriceps region, lack of ankle mobility, etc.
If you are having knee pain, talk to your coach about doing a quick assessment on your ankle and knee mobility. If they don’t know how to do that, get a new coach.
If you need Knee Sleeves to squat, you don’t need knee sleeves, you need a coaches help to address your pain.
WEIGHTLIFTING SHOES
Weightlifting shoes are designed with a raise in the heel to provide a more stable foundation, along with allowing the knees to travel farther forward in a squat.
This is probably my favorite one. Here’s my question for you…are you a competitive olympic weightlifter? No? Awesome, you should not be wearing lifters.
Like I said above, lifters allow the knee to travel more forward than it would be able to in flat shoes. If you do the math, what that is doing is making up for a lack of ankle dorsiflexion (how far your knee can travel forward before your heel lifts off of the ground).
If you need lifters to squat well, you don’t need lifters, you need better ankle mobility.
SO WHEN DO I USE THESE TOOLS?
Great question!
You are free to do whatever the heck you want, this is just my two cents on these things. The difference for me is when one is being used as a “crutch” vs a “tool.”
When you have a weakness/restriction that hasn’t been addressed and are masking that with a crutch, you are relying on the crutch to do the work. You’re taking the easy route by bypassing the route that involves you actually addressing the issue and doing something about it.
When you have addressed these weaknesses/restrictions and are looking to gain a competitive edge, you’re free to use a tool in my book to help you perform.
However, I would caution you to not use these tools, as they quickly become crutches that you will likely not perform without.
I used to love hearing Greg Glassman say something along the lines of “changing shoes in a workout is stupid, you wouldn’t change your shoes out in the real world so why do it in the gym?”
If you can’t do something without a crutch, what good is it to do?
There are plenty of other things I could go on and on about, but I think you get my point. And if you didn’t, here’s my summary:
You are probably using a crutch to cover up a weakness that you are either unaware of or are too lazy to address.
There’s a difference between a tool and a crutch. Know the difference and what that means for you.
Ditch the crutch in order to have a fully functional body.
Don’t be lazy, work on your weaknesses. Or don’t, but if you’ve read this whole thing and still don’t want to, I can’t help you.
Any questions? Ask away!
Coach Mitch