Innovations to the five-toed shoe and kettle bell, among other items, may improve your workout.

By Roy Wallack
Gear
February 14, 2014, 1:30 p.m.

Better-balance gloves
e3 Core Activation fingerless gloves: These gloves are designed to help improve your balance — and therefore, strength and speed. The design, from Sacramento biomechanist/Shiatsu massage artist Stephen Tamaribuchi, claims to straighten your posture by reducing the arm’s internal rotation, which causes shoulders to slump forward and inward. Utilizing the same principles used in the inventor’s e3 Biogrips, well-known among runners (and reviewed favorably in this column) for reducing side-to-side body sway, the gloves include a pad that rounds the thumb position and dense material that restricts the closure of the index and middle finger, thereby increasing the grasping responsibilities of the pinky and ring finger. Operating from a more-stable base, the arms have more leverage to fully use their power.
Likes: It actually works. During a barbell exercise, your body position is more stable and balanced. I could actually do more reps of most strength exercises that involved a hand grip.
Dislikes: None, if you already wear gloves while weight lifting.

This pair of gloves includes a pad that rounds the thumb position and restricts the closure of the index and middle finger. The improvements are meant to increase the grasping abilities of the hand and reduce the arm’s internal rotation.

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