When CaCO3 not CaCO3?
The chemical name for chalk is calcium carbonate or in true layman terms Limestone. Everyone in the iron game has used chalk to some degree to maximize their grip. Gymnasts, baseball players amongst other sporting endeavors have used the magic white mineral to increase their potential for hanging on to what ever they are hanging on to.
I remember my first experience with chalk. My high school powerlifting coach never let us use it in the gym to train with. My first powerlifting meet circa 1983, my coach showed us the proper application and to ensure that we didn't get in our eyes. My max deadlift at that point had been 415lbs in my high school gym. I opened with that number and remember smoking it. We jumped to 455lbs and made that. I didn't lack for technique or strength, my grip had been my Achilles heal in the gym with miserable old worn out equipment. We decided to go right to 500lbs even. Nailed it with some pretty lousy form, but my grip was not an issue.
Moving along in my career, my gym bag always had that white hue to it. Chalk was one of the most important pieces of equipment in that bag. As times and technology changed, I used a liquid version with no real success. I tried a non compressed version that simply didn’t get into the nook and crannies that strongmen need for long term static grip. Then I was contacted by Primo Chalk out of Austin, Texas to try their product.
Primo Chalk was formulated with... “the idea for Primo Chalk occurred to me on the way home from a workout. I had forgotten to wash my 
hands after Olympic lifting and pull-ups and I had a couple of rips. Driving home I thought about all the bugs that were, possibly, on the bars and bumper plates at my gym ...and now on my hands ...and the steering wheel ..and the gearshift. The first formula was a reality a few months later and we (some CrossFit coaches and I) tested it. The test was several workouts that included weight lifting We started using it in classes and nearly everyone seemed to like it better than the regular stuff. It was even better after adding an additional natural drying agent.”
Initially what I liked about the Primo Chalk product was the odor. No dry or foul dust particles. Instead it smells pleasant. Not like potpourri or your mothers car pleasant, but like a pretty girl who walks past you at the coffee shop... pleasant. Using the product is convenient as well. The product I was sent comes in a resealable plastic bag with a porous bag filled with the powered chalk inside and a seperate bag for refilling the porous one.
The product can be messy, but isn't all chalk as a rule anyway? However, this product seems to bind tighter to the skin and stays put when applied. In regard to it's functionality, that's where the product really shines. The adage Grip and Rip are very obtainable here. No challenges with slippage what so ever even under loads of more than 800lbs on a Texas Power Bar.
I was also later sent a beta version of the Primo Chalk “Chunks” to try. In the beta version, it clearly is a compressed version of the first product. It lacked enough compression however and seemed to fall apart quickly. I know that when I use chalk pieces, I use them to get into the nooks and crannies of fingers and callouses that powder can't quite build up a solid enough layer of. It will be interesting to see if the product can be compressed more to keep it bound longer or if the oils that provide anti-bacterial and skin softening protection maybe wont allow it to bind more than what I was sent?
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