Posted By: TIM SWORDS (host250.bayer.com) Date: Wednesday, January 3, 2007, @ 6:05 a.m.
I have coached over 60 kids that have gone on the play at the college level in different sports! I also coached at East Carolina University for several years as a strength coach.. Why is it that when the athletes come back home during breaks they say that their strength coaches won't like them use straps??? There answer is because they think that the grip will become weaker or that it is cheating! I say if your concentrating on your grip you'll never get the most out of your body and you won't develop max power. If your more powerful then who cares about a strong grip is when you can develop hand strength while doing other exercises!! Common sense tells me that it is better to move 400 lbs in .5 seconds as opposed to doing it in 1.5 seconds. If the straps enable my body to move explosively (to jump higher or hit your competitor harder) then who cares if it works your grip during these power exercises..
Before I sign off, I want to make a point that I am not talking about the Clean and Jerk where you have to have the flexibilty to keep the elbows up!! Most colleges don't do the full lifts anyway.
