Personal Equipment, by Mark Rippetoe - Oct 06 CFJ

There is actually very little personal equipment that is absolutely necessary to take to the gym. But it is surprising how much stuff some people carry with them. As a general rule, some equipment is useful, some equipment is most definitely not useful—and in fact is a bad idea—and some is just absurd. In order of most useful to most silly in the gym bag we have squat shoes, chalk, a lifting belt, lifting straps, knee wraps or knee sleeves, wrist wraps, elbow wraps or sleeves, gloves, devices such as a “Manta Ray” or a “Sting Ray” that hold the bar for you, and anything you intend to use to shave anything but your face.

I had a member named Lonnie a while back. Nice guy, lovely wife (whom he met there in the gym), and strong under the bar, but with a few annoying habits. One day I walked out of the office and saw him doing incline leg raises on the incline sit-up board, holding on to the bar behind his head with his hands strapped to the bar. I, of course, approached him to question this behavior. He said that he was using straps so he could concentrate on his abs better, which is, of course, very important in an ab exercise. I made fun of him for several weeks...

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