Currently I’m doing 531 BBB, on my squats days I do 531 squat, BBB deficit deads then shrugs. I dropped my deficit dead numbers to use fat grips during those sets. And for shrugs I do two sets of 135x10 with the fat grips, then lose the fat grips and do two sets of 185x10(very easy, going to up the weight this week). What I am wonder is what would be better for the shrugs: light with fat grips, then heavy with just the bar? Or, heavy with the bar first then light with the fat grips?
Currently I’m 5’5" 155
Squat 260
Bench 195
Dead 340
Press 125
I would recommend doing extra grip work separately, i.e., don’t use fat grips for deficits and shrugs. Do extra grip work after that if you really need it with heavy holds for time with or without fat grips.
Do you feel your grip is weak? Firstly id say check that out do a grip test of some sort. I have never had grip problems, and for some reason when I get a deadlift increase my grip increase. Went from barely being able to grip 405 then when I dead lift 425 couple months ago I also was able to hold 500 for a 5 count. If you are in the same case I am why add work in when you don’t need it. If you do need grip work I’d say hold your deadlifts at the top for 10 seconds at the end of every set, and farmer’s carries. I wouldn’t take away assistant work. Also Farmers carries are good conditioning work. my 0.02.
I have short fingers and have frequently had grip issues. Over the summer I could pull 400 without losing my grip, but I probably would have lost my grip if I had gone for a second rep. I haven’t done grip work since then, only DB Rows, and the other day I had no problem pulling 500–I’m confident my grip would have still been fine with 550 or even higher.
DB Rows in the 10-15 range for just 1-2 sets a week has done amazing things for my grip in a short time, so they would by far be my #1 recommendation. Other stuff I’ve tried (Fat Gripz, Farmer’s walks, etc.) have been marginally effective in comparison.
[quote]OmniStyx wrote:
I have short fingers and have frequently had grip issues.[/quote]
I feel ya on that one. Stubby fingers suck.
I took a little different approach. I found deadlift holds SS with hanging leg raises really burned out my grip good. Did Captains of Crush a few times a week too. Grip’s not amazing now, but it’s remotely near affecting my dead.
I actually like divorcing my grip work from the rest of my regular training and using straps for my deads (especially higher rep) and lat stuff. Gives me the freedom to go a little harder if I want to on both grip and back because I don’t have to worry about fatiguing one too much to the detriment of the other. Also has the nice bonus of not tearing my hands up faster than the skin can heal from 2-3x a week grip training, a heavy deadlifting sesh, and a few lat training sessions.
I will vouch for grip training and only using straps on heaviest DL sets for reps (I still only use chalk and belt for singles and 1RM testing). You can crush a gripper when you’re stuck in traffic, right before a lunch break, when you’re bored at a bus stop, etc, so if you have the extra cash it’s worth the investment.
P.S. Not sure if you’re doing shrugs for aesthetic reasons, but rack deads, heavy pressing, push pressing, and jerking have my traps looking the same as people “power” shrugging 545, for whatever that’s worth. And all of those carry over much better to a main lift.