Technique
Grip, straps and the hook grip question
Grip is the limiter on a lot of pulling work, and the argument about whether to use straps has a reasonable answer that annoys both sides.
Grip fails before the back does on a lot of heavy pulling. Which raises the question of whether to solve that with straps, and whether doing so is cheating yourself.
The grip options on a barbell
Double overhand. Both palms facing you. The weakest of the three because the bar tends to roll open your fingers, and the one that trains grip most. Fine until the loads get heavy.
Mixed grip. One palm facing you, one facing away. The opposing rotation prevents the bar rolling, and it allows considerably more weight.
The costs are real: it creates an asymmetry through the shoulders and torso, and the supinated arm has the biceps in a lengthened, loaded position, which is the mechanism behind the biceps tears that occur in deadlifting. Those tears are almost exclusively on the supinated side.
If you use mixed grip, alternate which hand is supinated across sets and sessions, keep the supinated arm straight and never allow it to bend under load, and reserve it for the heaviest work rather than using it for everything.
Hook grip. Thumb placed against the bar first, fingers wrapped over it, trapping the thumb. Standard in weightlifting.
Advantages: as secure as a mixed grip without the asymmetry or the biceps risk. Symmetrical, and it keeps both shoulders in the same position.
Disadvantage: it hurts. Genuinely, for weeks, until the thumb adapts. Most people who abandon it do so during the adaptation period. Tape on the thumbs helps considerably.
For anyone deadlifting heavy regularly, hook grip is worth the initial misery.
Straps
The argument against straps is that grip is a trainable quality and using straps prevents you from training it.
The argument for is that on back exercises, grip failing before the back is trained is a limitation on the actual goal of the exercise.
Both are correct, which points at the resolution: train grip deliberately, and use straps when grip is limiting the target of the exercise.
Practically that means: straps on heavy rows, shrugs, rack pulls and high-volume pulling where grip would cap the work. No straps on your working deadlift sets if you compete in a sport where straps are not allowed, since grip is part of the lift. Straps on the heaviest volume deadlift work where the back is the target.
And then train grip separately: heavy holds, farmer's carries, plate pinches, and thick-bar work. Fifteen minutes a week of dedicated grip work builds more grip than never using straps ever will, and it does not compromise your back training.
The types of straps
Lasso straps — a loop threaded through itself, wrapped around the bar. Easy to use, easy to bail out of, the sensible default.
Figure-eight straps — the most secure, essentially attaching you to the bar. Excellent for heavy shrugs and holds, and genuinely difficult to release quickly, which makes them a poor choice for anything you might need to drop.
Closed-loop or Olympic straps — used in weightlifting, designed to release when the bar is dropped.
Chalk
The unglamorous answer to a lot of grip problems. It absorbs moisture and dramatically improves friction between hand and bar.
Many people who think they have a grip strength problem have a sweaty hands problem. Chalk before straps.
Liquid chalk works where loose chalk is banned, which is many commercial gyms.
Training grip directly
Heavy holds. Deadlift the bar and hold it for time, or hold at the top of a set. Simple, effective, and scalable.
Farmer's carries. Heavy dumbbells or a trap bar, walking. Builds grip endurance, trunk stability and general robustness simultaneously. Probably the best single grip exercise.
Thick bar or fat grips. Increasing bar diameter substantially increases grip demand. Useful and humbling.
Pinch grips. Holding plates together by the smooth sides trains the thumb, which most other grip work does not.
Dead hangs from a bar, which train grip and are good for the shoulders.
A couple of these at the end of two sessions a week is enough. Grip recovers quickly and responds well to frequent, moderate work.
The honest summary
Grip is worth having and it is not worth capping your back training for. Use chalk, learn hook grip if you deadlift heavy, use straps where they let you train the intended muscle, and do a small amount of direct grip work so the question stops arising.
