Liquid Grip product review: The end of chalk?

I love a product that solves a legit problem. Liquid Grip is such a product.

Chalk is one of those things that seems to be a point of contention for many athletes. While I personally do not care about the associated mess of chalk, I know other people do. Many commercial facilities do not allow lifters to use chalk primarily to potential for spill. I get it, they are worried about the minor clean up issues from a bucket tip or white hand prints. They don’t like having to vacuum and wipe down equipment.

Liquid Grip is a fantastic solution to this problem.

Some brands of chalk are sticky. Some are slick. Some are quite rough. Others very fine. Depending on what you are doing this can affect your poundage and performance. For some sports chalk is an essential component such as Grip, Rock Climbing, and Kettlebell Lifting (GS). In these situations hand sweat turns your chalk in to a hot mess, particularly in the humid summer.

Liquid Grip shines when stacked against chalk.

What is it?

“Liquid Grip is a water based hydrocellulose thickener that allows for rosin and chalk to mix in a suspension formula. This new innovative product contains an exceptional drying agent that gives the user a dry and rosin feeling when applied. The product dries within seconds of applying and once dry binds with the fatty acids and does not transfer to any object. Rosin powder and chalk both leave a residue of dust that slightly transfers and ultimately can be inhaled by the user causing discomfort. Liquid Grip outperforms both rosin and chalk while leaving no mess or transfer and giving the user a longer, more effective grip.”

– From the LiquidGrip.com website

This stuff is awesome. A small application about the size of a US dime will last for well over an hour and will not rub off on equipment, flooring, clothing, or other surfaces. If you look at the picture here from the Arnold you will notice there is no chalk residue on my clothing at all, the stuff would not rub off. It smells pleasant with a mild coconut scent, very much like sun block.

LG works far better than chalk for grip specific movements. I get much better friction on pinch and vertical bar lifts. It lasts much longer for long duration sets with kettlebells. It can be applied to directly to equipment and after it dries it works much better than chalking the metal. It doesn’t irritate the skin or excessively dry the skin. I personally get very dry spots on my knuckles in the winter which tends to split and I have found liquid grip doesn’t make this worse. LG is also much cleaner than using a chalk bucket as foreign dust and dirt particles are not collecting in the mix.

Liquid Grip will stay on your skin until washed off with warm soapy water. It takes about 1 minute to dry on the hand once applied. Once LG has been spread across the skin it feels very dry with a slight bit of stick. It is a very different feel than standard rosin or chalk. I have not yet been able to use it at a very high temperature with snow fall still occurring in MN here in April so I will put a follow up review in the summer. I have had a few workouts now with it where I was a dripping sweat and the LG worked very well under those conditions.

I only review stuff I use and I only recommend things that I believe are worth your time. This is one of those little things which can add up to much better results when introduced to your training. Check it out

ATG