[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Boss
Question - what is ‘heavy hammering’ and ‘hammer juggling’ ???
I take it you dont take your hammer to the gym!
bushboy[/quote]
For heavy hammering we use the Ironmind hammer.
Hammer juggling is similar to how professional jugglers juggle bowling pins, except we use only 1 or 2 hammers.
[quote]vroom wrote:
Yeah, if you don’t alternate the grip you have to fight the bar “rolling” out towards your fingertips.
With the alternate grip this tendency is greatly reduced and you can lift a lot more weight. I got this advice not too long ago from people here and it really helped.
Personally, I’m planning to avoid grip assistance as much as possible.[/quote]
Yep, you are correct. Just try it, promise it will work better than the overhand grip. That is a much better option than straps or hooks.
Overhand grip < Hook < Mixed
Thats the way I see it at least. I can OH 160kg, Hook 180kg and Mixed 200kg. So I start of OH, when that gets hard I switch to hook and then after that to mixed.
[quote]flabtoslab wrote:
If your training your grip by deadlifting, then don’t use straps or any other assistance. If your training your deadlift and your grip fails before your back, use straps.
You can say what you want, but if your weak link keeps you from training your main bodypart to it’s limit, why bother training at all.
If you doubt this, remember Chuck Vogepohl at Westside uses straps and deadlifts more than YOU and ME.
[/quote]
I will preface this with saying that many people are able to dead more than I can.
But if you can’t hold on to it, can you really lift it?
[quote]mattwray wrote:
use the mixed grip. Why wouldn’t you?[/quote]
Isn’t that how people rip their biceps? The bicep of the hand that is facing away can get torn off. Although I guess you have to be lifting extremely heavy before that might a problem???
Also there is a little bit of torque going on when you use a mixed grip and couldn’t that increase the chance of getting back problems? I don’t know the answer.
Anyway personally I’d like to avoid the mixed grip for those reasons if possible but my grip gives out around 400 or so. The hook grip hurts like hell but I’m trying to get used to it.
Here are a few ways I’ve increased my grip for deadlifts:
Grippers. When the bar starts to roll out of your hands, the first fingers it slips away from are the pinky and ring because they are the smallest and weakest, so doing the grippers will strengthen them. A less expensive alternative to the Ironmind grippers are the Heavy Grips available at www.heavygrips.com.
Plate pinching. Take 2-45lb plates and put them together so the smooth sides are out. Run a 2" pipe through the hole and load weight evenly on each side. Then chalk up real good, pinch the top of the 45’s and lift. Plate pinching, IMO is the #1 test of overall hand strength because it involves the fingers, thumbs, and to some degree the wrists.
Heavy rack pulls. Just doing as much as you can handle with a pronated grip until it falls out of your hands, then doing it again.
One hand deadlifts. These are a personal favorite of mine. A farmer’s walk bar works great, but if you lift in a commercial gym you can just use one of those short tricep bars to lift with one hand. Or heavy dumbbells. The shorter ROM you use, the more weight your body can lift, and more it taxes the grip.
When doing the mixed grip, I always make sure I chalk up good and curl my hands under the bar. Then I grip it and the bar “locks” into place. The only deadlift I ever lost was the one I pulled on my first day of training!
Wow, I’m surprised no one has posted the westside solution. Hex dumbell holds. Chalk your hands up and go pick up some hex dumbells by the ends (don’t let your fingers touch the numbers, that’s cheating). Hold onto them for 10-20 seconds for each set.
As for the grippers, that’s crushing strength which is not the same thing as holding onto something.
I used to have the same problem.
I took care of it in about two months by using a safety rack and doing static holds with as heavy as I could. You only need to lift the bar an inch up, then hold as long as you can. Rinse and repeat. Deadlifting grip is never an issue anymore.
This may begin to introduce you to the wonderful world of grip training, which seems to be often neglected. Ironmind sells tons of fun stuff, but it is pricey and you can usually just make versions of their goods for yourself. Go for it.
Regards,
Sensless