Review : Grasp Liquid Chalk

Despite defining myself as a runner, it's not the only thing I do. I try to attain a balance of activities, adding in HIIT and boxing classes for variety, yoga for flexibility and relaxation and weight training for strength and injury prevention.

When it comes to weights I'll most often reach for a kettlebell. Box Bell Fit, where I work, specialises in kettlebell training so there a lot of them around and they're pretty versatile. Unless I'm simply holding the weight in, say, a sumo squat or lunge then I use chalk to improve my grip and reduce sweating. If I'm moving the weight around then I want to reduce the risk of it slipping out of my grip as I get hotter and sweatier (nice!).

You'll see in the photos below, some of our bells are heavily chalked for competition training, others less so. In classes people tend just to chalk their hands. It definitely makes a difference. We usually use powdered chalk but I heard about this liquid chalk from GRASP so thought I'd give it a try to see how it compares.

Liquid chalk, as the name suggests, comes in a liquid form but dries to a powdered finish. GRASP make three different colours of chalk, pink, green and blue, but they all dry to white, so it's just a matter of preference. I wear a lot of blue and it's in my business logo so I chose the electric blue chalk.

I wasn't sure how much to use so started with just a little and built up the layers until I got the coverage I wanted. Three seemed to be the magic number for me that day. It is fairly runny and takes a little while to dry but once applied it didn't budge. It stayed on my hands rather than rubbing off on my clothes or the bell and I didn't need to reapply during my workout. With powdered chalk I normally have to reapply a few times as it wears off, and end up with chalk marks all over my clothes!

I was happy with the grip it gave me and the wicking properties. No sweaty hands! And despite it's staying power on skin, it washed off easily with soap and water. For general weight training, be that with kettle, bar or dumbbells, I'd say this is a good option. It's clean, neat and has staying power. However I wouldn't recommend this for competition. It takes too long to dry and you can't apply it to a kettlebell as you can a powdered chalk. But definitely a good, fun addition to your kit bag.

Do you use chalk when you lift? What's your preferred type?