Building your arm muscles with weight lifting simply means grabbing the weights in your hands. When it comes to your legs, however, it may seem that you're stuck with leg presses, squats or working the same muscles over and over. That's not the case if you add ankle straps for weight lifting into the mix as they allow you to diversify your workout.
Description
Leather ankle straps for weight lifting are also known by the more accurate description of ankle cuffs. The cuff is a wide band of leather that secures around your ankle area so you can pull the weights with your legs. Ankle cuffs have two heavy duty rings attached, where you hook up the pulley from a weight lifting machine. Although the cuffs include the word ankle in the name, you can also attach them around the ball of your foot for some exercises.
Purpose
Ankle cuffs attach around your ankles to increase the resistance used during your leg exercise, notes Canadian Fitness Education Services in its "Weight Training Instructor Course Student Resource Manual." Increasing the resistance builds and tones target muscles. Depending on the exercises you perform, ankle straps help build up a variety of lower-body muscles, from your hamstrings to your gluteus maximus.
Features
Ankle cuffs are usually about 4 inches wide, fully adjustable and secure shut with Velcro. Some come with a soft lining, such as sheepskin, to enhance comfort and absorb shock. The ring attachments are generally large D-rings that fit most machine pulley systems.
Prices
Leather ankle cuffs are sold singly, since you only use one at a time, with prices ranging from about $28 to $33 per cuff as of December 2010. Those with additional features, like the sheepskin lining, tend to run a bit higher. The cuffs are available at a number of sports retailers that focus on weight-lifting equipment and accessories.
Considerations
If you want to pay less, you can opt for the same type of cuff in a material other than leather. Neoprene or nylon cuffs serve the same purpose yet tend to run a bit cheaper. A neoprene cuff with a single D-ring, for instance, was priced at $10 as of December 2010. Leather is durable but generally doesn't breathe and, when you sweat, also tends to absorb odors.
Member Comments