Whether you wear gloves to lift weights really comes down to personal preference and what your aims are with your training. If you are unsure about the effect that wearing gloves will have on your training, then this article should help to answer some of your questions!
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Why do Calluses Form?
We’re assuming that you want to wear gloves to lift weights to protect your hands and prevent them from becoming rough and gnarled. Before we move on to talking about the gloves themselves, let’s take a quick look at why weight training might cause your hands to become rough in the first place.
Calluses are your body’s way of adapting to gripping the rough bars and dumbbells in the gym, over time they will become strong enough to protect your hands completely but it may be a little painful in the meantime. Calluses are not harmful, and if you stop the activity which caused them to form, your skin should return to the way it was!
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Pros and Cons of Wearing Gloves
You may find that gloves limit the amount of weight that you can grip onto for heavy pulling exercises such as the deadlift. For this reason, we personally choose to lift with bare hands. As long as you don’t mind developing calluses, there is no reason to wear gloves in the gym – if on the other hand, you would rather have soft hands then wearing gloves might be a good idea!
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Alternatives to Gloves
To help with the pain of developing calluses, try using chalk (if your gym allows it). This will reduce callus formation as well as making it easier to grip. Alternatively you can try something like GymPaws, which is not a full glove but will protect your palm from the bar!
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Conclusion
If maintaining nice soft hands is a priority of yours then you should definitely consider wearing gloves to lift weights. If you choose not to wear gloves, then be aware that your hands will adapt to regular resistance training by forming protective calluses.