Just gripping onto a bar and performing an exercise doesn't guarantee you get good muscle activation.
This is especially true in an exercise such as the barbell bench press. In fact, that exercise is the most common one where people have a bad habit of focusing just on moving the weight up and down rather than actually feeling the chest working.
What if there was a tool you could use that could AUTOMATICALLY force your chest to activate while doing the barbell bench press.
There is...
They're called Optimo Grips...and here's my video review of them...
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Learn More About Optimo Grips here
Buy Optimo Grips on Amazon here
There's more to Optimo Grips than just bench press...
I found these to be very useful for pretty much any and all pressing exercises as well as curl variations. They're highly effective for overhead presses and incline presses.
The wider/open hand position tends to shift the loading inwards on your body, i.e. to the chest.
I wouldn't recommend using them for pulling exercises as they stay on the bar well enough for those. If you want a "fat" handle for pulling exercises, I would recommend Fat Gripz.
How to Use Optimo Grips
First and foremost, reduce the amount of weight you're using...these grips are targeted for muscle activation, not maximum weight.
To get the most out of them, you want to pull back on the weight and focus on strict form.
Do a practice set with just the empty bar, to get an idea of how they attach, where your hands sit and where on the bar you need to put them.
As you do sets with the grips, make sure you keep an eye on their position on the bar. I did notice a bit of sliding when using them for higher-rep sets, so make sure they're evenly placed on the bar on every set.
Conclusion:
Overall, Optimo Grips are a fantastic training tool, especially if you have a hard time feeling your chest working when you do bench presses or your delts working when you do shoulder presses.
You can use them on barbells or dumbbells and they fit easily into your gym bag.
Definitely highly recommended.
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