Are you an 'overchalker'?

We’ve all seen that one person covered in chalk before the end of their warm up sets. Hell, some of you reading this are probably that person. Chalk is proven to enhance our ability to grip, but is there such a thing as too much?

Too much of a good thing?

Apart from looking like a baker midway through preparing a loaf of bread, or a Scarface character, there is legitimate reason to maybe dial it back a notch when it comes to chalk.

‘Gripiness’ is basically measured by friction. The coefficient of friction to be precise. That is to describe how easily two surfaces slide over each other or not. Chalk in weightlifting serves two purposes however, the obvious one being to dry out our hands of sweat. Sweaty hands on a smooth metal bar would slip and slide all over the place, but our bars are knurled and not smooth so is it still required?

Well, yes. The knurling helps certainly but water or sweat would still fill all those gaps that increase the friction and make it as if the bar were smooth - lower the coefficient of friction.

So chalk helps keep our hands dry and the two (usually) rough surfaces can grip together pretty well. BUT! Use too much chalk in one go and you essentially fill up the knurling crevices and make that rough bar smooth again - thus lowering the friction. Useless!

Ok, keep doing it.

Many lifters go to the chalk bucket (when there was one allowed) simply as ritual. To start getting their mind in the right place to take a heavy set or do something particularly gruelling they’d really rather not. Whether a stalling tactic or a significant part of your routine it does have a purpose and so I’m not suggesting you stop using chalk. Just maybe not quite so much…

Get it off my bars!

Your hands, your grip, your lifts. Your call on how much chalk you want to use. The only thing I ask is that you clean up after yourself. Leaving excess chalk on a quality bar is sacrilegious - it will increase the likelihood of the bar rusting and shorten its lifespan. Bars aren’t cheap!

If I’ve not convinced you to use a bit less chalk, I won’t lose any sleep. You’re not killing anyone after all. Just be aware that it may reach a point where it’s no longer helping your lifting…