Have you ever had lifting straps cut into your wrists when lifting heavy weight? Or no matter how tightly you wrap the bar, the straps always seem to lose their grip? Many lifters have experienced both of these scenarios when using lifting straps. Neither is ideal; each make your lifts less effective and less comfortable.

Harbinger sought to solve these problems with Padded Real Leather Lifting Straps. And after testing them in my training, I can safely say they succeeded.

Harbinger Padded Real Leather Lifting Straps consist of 21 inches of tanned leather constructed in three layers to maximize grip on the bar and reduce the chance of tearing. The Neotek wrist pad, which feels similar to wetsuit material (neoprene), protects your wrists during heavy lifts when the straps are most likely to dig into your skin.

The red leather is soft, supple and comfortable to hold. As you wrap the bar, it feels like the material locks onto the bar without your having to hold it with your hands. When I did sets of heavy Deadlifts, the straps performed perfectly. The bar was locked into my hands throughout, and at no point did I feel like I was losing my grip. This helped me focus on the lift, rather than struggling to hold a weight that was beyond my grip strength.

My favorite feature was the Neotek padding. Even on my heaviest sets, the padding felt comfortable on my wrists and never cut into my skin the way nylon straps had done in the past.

If you’re in the market for a set of straps, look no further. Harbinger Padded Real Leather Lifting Straps are available at humanxgear.com for $25.