What Is That Weird Thing At The Gym?

There are a lot of weird things at the gym. If you’re new, everything is mysterious: Is this a 20kg bar? Why is there a little wheel in the corner with handles on it? As you get more advanced, or move to more interesting gyms, you’ll start to see more things. Chalk. Bars with oddly shaped handles. Straps, wraps, ropes.

We want to clear up some of your questions, so start us off by pointing out the weird stuff you see at your gym. It can be a piece of equipment the gym owns, or something people bring. It can be a total mystery, or something where you know what it is, just not whether it’s worth using.

For example: My gym has a bucket of miscellaneous items in between the dumbbell area and the place where you can do pull-ups. There’s a belt in there with a chain attached; it’s so you can hang a weight from your hips while you do pull-ups. I futzed with it and managed to correctly guess how to get the weight attached. If you dig deep enough, there’s a regular weightlifting belt in that bucket too. But for the longest time, this item perplexed me: a curved piece of metal with a strap dangling from it in a way that just didn’t make sense.

Finally, one day I saw a guy using it: turns out it holds your elbows in position while you do bicep curls.

So, what’s puzzling you at your gym? Or is there something you see other people using, but can’t figure out whether you should try it too?