Deadlift grip VS straps

cgvet37
cgvet37 Posts: 1,189 Member
edited October 2017 in Fitness and Exercise
I pulled 265 today, and my left hand about gave out on me on the last pull (5). I'm not a fan of an over under grip. As the bar tends to rotate toward my right leg. There is the hook grip, but I have small hands, so I don't know if I'll be able to lock my thumb. My other thought is using straps on my working set. My warm-up sets are not an issue in terms of grip. Some say straps will handicap you in the long run. I also do heavy barbell rows, so I know my grip will get stronger overtime. In my experience, straps don't completely negate grip strength. Just looking for others thoughts from personal experience.
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Replies

  • Okiludy
    Okiludy Posts: 558 Member
    I’d rather never lift with straps but it doesn’t work that way. I have pulled calluses and grip gets weak. So I have to work in straps to pull enough without tearing hands open.

    You can work in other items for grip strength. I am getting some Fat Gripps to work in. I may also get some finger bands to do something while at my desk.

    By the way the normal straps dig into my wrist pretty bad when doing heavy weights. Not bad up to 315 but 405 deadlifts or 500+ rack pulls and I look like I got my kink on. I ordered some Cobra Grips to see if it helps stop the nasty wrists and hands.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,971 Member
    I use straps to DL and have no concerns about it.

    My previous high was a set of 6x340 for a calculated 1RM of 406. Couldn't have done it w/o straps.
  • cgvet37
    cgvet37 Posts: 1,189 Member
    edited October 2017
    Okiludy wrote: »
    I’d rather never lift with straps but it doesn’t work that way. I have pulled calluses and grip gets weak. So I have to work in straps to pull enough without tearing hands open.

    You can work in other items for grip strength. I am getting some Fat Gripps to work in. I may also get some finger bands to do something while at my desk.

    By the way the normal straps dig into my wrist pretty bad when doing heavy weights. Not bad up to 315 but 405 deadlifts or 500+ rack pulls and I look like I got my kink on. I ordered some Cobra Grips to see if it helps stop the nasty wrists and hands.

    I was doing Farmer's walks, but as my rows and deadlift weight starting increasing, I did not want to over fatigue my grip. I do have an adjustable gripper that I could use at work, as I sit at a desk.
  • GymTennis
    GymTennis Posts: 133 Member
    I seriously doubt your hands are too small for the hook grip. One's hands would have to be really, really small in order not to be able to use it. Maybe you haven't tried it the proper way.
  • cgvet37
    cgvet37 Posts: 1,189 Member
    GymTennis wrote: »
    I seriously doubt your hands are too small for the hook grip. One's hands would have to be really, really small in order not to be able to use it. Maybe you haven't tried it the proper way.

    I haven't really tried using it yet. I have rows on Wednesday, so I'm going to try then. I'm just going off what I have gathered from watching YouTube videos.
  • MilesAddie
    MilesAddie Posts: 166 Member
    Im still working my way up but have a PR of 330 and haven’t used straps yet (weigh 162). Grip hasn’t been an issue yet, but I do a ton of pull-ups and heavy KB swings in my workouts. I also use a ton of chalk, maybe get liquid chalk if they don’t allow regular chalk in your gym.

    I’m curious, not criticizing at all, about hook grip for Deadlifts? That sounds extremely painful. I though hook grips were traditionally for control during Oly lifts?
  • GymTennis
    GymTennis Posts: 133 Member
    Basically covering your thumb with your index finger and your middle finger is sufficient. I was in the same boat as you, I became stronger and stronger on my DL but my grip would give out. The mixed grip makes my very unstable for some reason, so the hook grip was the way to go. This is the best video on the hook grip that you could find out there. Good luck

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTi_8KpDDIo
  • ijsantos2005
    ijsantos2005 Posts: 306 Member
    I’d work on your grip instead of straps for deadlifts. You could try holding the last rep of the last set for ~20 seconds. For rows I would strap because you don’t want to limit the weight used in the row due to grip.
  • cgvet37
    cgvet37 Posts: 1,189 Member
    edited October 2017
    MilesAddie wrote: »
    Im still working my way up but have a PR of 330 and haven’t used straps yet (weigh 162). Grip hasn’t been an issue yet, but I do a ton of pull-ups and heavy KB swings in my workouts. I also use a ton of chalk, maybe get liquid chalk if they don’t allow regular chalk in your gym.

    I’m curious, not criticizing at all, about hook grip for Deadlifts? That sounds extremely painful. I though hook grips were traditionally for control during Oly lifts?

    I use liquid chalk. My left hand just does not have the grip strength like my right does. It's always the first to give out. I used to do pull ups, but I'm currently doing Stronglifts, so I don't do anything outside of the program. The hook grip is a replacement for straps for those that don't want to use an over under grip.
  • cgvet37
    cgvet37 Posts: 1,189 Member
    edited October 2017
    cgvet37 wrote: »
    MilesAddie wrote: »
    Im still working my way up but have a PR of 330 and haven’t used straps yet (weigh 162). Grip hasn’t been an issue yet, but I do a ton of pull-ups and heavy KB swings in my workouts. I also use a ton of chalk, maybe get liquid chalk if they don’t allow regular chalk in your gym.

    I’m curious, not criticizing at all, about hook grip for Deadlifts? That sounds extremely painful. I though hook grips were traditionally for control during Oly lifts?

    I use liquid chalk. My left hand just does not have the grip strength like my right does. It's always the first to give out. I used to do pull ups, but I'm currently doing Stronglifts, so I don't do anything outside of the program.

    I’d work on your grip instead of straps for deadlifts. You could try holding the last rep of the last set for ~20 seconds. For rows I would strap because you don’t want to limit the weight used in the row due to grip.

    My grip does not fail during rows.
  • MilesAddie
    MilesAddie Posts: 166 Member
    Yeah, I use a hook grip for Snatches and for pulls on Cleans but I’m not moving anywhere near the same amount of weight, and my thumb is only under pressure until the bar gets to my thighs (or hips for the Snatch). Still, my thumb hurts like hell after a few sets, which is why I’m wondering.
  • kelly_e_montana
    kelly_e_montana Posts: 1,999 Member
    I would try to lift as much as possible without straps. I use straps when I am doing working sets that are closer to my one rep max and my group tends to be the first thing that fails. I don't use them for heavy singles or anything like that just sets where I want to overload my legs and back but my group will fail first. For my first couple years of deadlifting I didn't use straps at all and when I did move to using them sparingly, I did see some jumps because of the overload that I was able to achieve periodically.

    Regarding hookgrip, if you can max deadlift with hook grip, which a few can, you are a beast. I wish I had the tenacity to work on that!
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited October 2017
    Using straps for working sets is perfectly fine. It allows you to work with heavier weights which in turn makes you body stonger.

    Unless you compete there isn't a huge reason not to use lifting straps if you choose and even then there are ways to increase your grip strength without interrupting proper stress and adaptation of training such as timed holds on last rep & pull/chin ups.

    Governing your possible strength gains just because of grip is not optimal.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    Using straps for working sets is perfectly fine. It allows you to work with heavier weights which in turn makes you body stonger.

    Unless you compete there isn't a huge reason not to use lifting straps if you choose and even then there are ways to increase your grip strength without interrupting proper stress and adaptation of training such as timed holds on last rep & pull/chin ups.

    Governing your possible strength gains just because of grip is not optimal.

    Agreed. Much better said than whatever I would have typed, so...

    Ditto.
  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
    Have you tried switching which hand is over/under in the mixed grip? Sounds like maybe the weakness in your left hand could be causing the bar to rotate towards the right leg?

    Anything at about 70% of 1RM and up I'll switch to mixed grip. Not a huge of fan of straps for Deadlifts but just because I don't like them doesn't mean I push my agenda on others. If you feel more comfortable with straps, use them on your work sets.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    Using straps for working sets is perfectly fine. It allows you to work with heavier weights which in turn makes you body stonger.

    Unless you compete there isn't a huge reason not to use lifting straps if you choose and even then there are ways to increase your grip strength without interrupting proper stress and adaptation of training such as timed holds on last rep & pull/chin ups.

    Governing your possible strength gains just because of grip is not optimal.

    All of this. I used to be militant about NOT using straps but once I started pulling 500+ for reps my hands just couldn't take it. They get torn up and painful for days after a big deadlift session. I just double-overhand until about 400 and then I switch to straps. I don't compete, and it seems like you don't, so it doesn't really matter. The double overhand warmups and the rows will keep your grip PLENTY strong enough.
  • cgvet37
    cgvet37 Posts: 1,189 Member
    I tried
    Have you tried switching which hand is over/under in the mixed grip? Sounds like maybe the weakness in your left hand could be causing the bar to rotate towards the right leg?

    Anything at about 70% of 1RM and up I'll switch to mixed grip. Not a huge of fan of straps for Deadlifts but just because I don't like them doesn't mean I push my agenda on others. If you feel more comfortable with straps, use them on your work sets.

    I underhand with my left hand.
  • cgvet37
    cgvet37 Posts: 1,189 Member
    I tried using a hook grip on my rows yesterday with 200 lbs. My fingers are just too short to hook my thumb. I also noticed I was not gripping the bar tighly. So I focused on that yesterday, and I could tell a difference during my rows. I took my hand gripper to work today and did 20 reps each hand every hour. I'm just going to keep at it.
  • cgvet37
    cgvet37 Posts: 1,189 Member
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    Using straps for working sets is perfectly fine. It allows you to work with heavier weights which in turn makes you body stonger.

    Unless you compete there isn't a huge reason not to use lifting straps if you choose and even then there are ways to increase your grip strength without interrupting proper stress and adaptation of training such as timed holds on last rep & pull/chin ups.

    Governing your possible strength gains just because of grip is not optimal.

    Right now I do three warmup sets of 5x5, then one working set of 5x5. I'm doing Stronglifts, so I add 5 lbs. each time I lift, until I fail. I agree with you, that my grip failing is not worth holding me back on my strength gains. I was doing chin-ups, but it started affecting my lifts as the weight increased.
  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
    cgvet37 wrote: »

    I underhand with my left hand.

    Trying going overhand with your left hand/underhand with the right and see if that helps. Sorry if that wasn't clear in my original post.