My thumb only hurt for like a 5 sessions of hook grip. I also only use hook for prolly 5-15 reps total a week. Not abused that much.
K…
I think I am going to give this one more month before I baby out of it.
That’s 8 more deadlift sessions.
If my thumbs don’t toughen up by then, then EFF IT !
I’ve made the switch to hookgrip recently as well. Used to pull conventional with a mixed grip. Then sumo with a mixed grip. Which I will still do for reps (3-5). But as far as heavy singles-max go, hook grip is what I prefer. I agree with what was said here about being in ‘line’ with a double overhand grip. There is definitely a SLIGHT twist that the body wants to do towards the supinated side.
I switched because I was having some issues with mixed grip due to my gym I train at the bars being very lightly knurled. If I had to say what helps hookgrip the most is doing your lighter warm ups and as much rowing movements as you can with no hookgrip or straps. Developing a stronger grip withOUT the hookgrip will only help it when you do use hook. I had a bit of thumb mobility to work on when I first started if that makes any sense?
So I would do crazy things like when I’m driving in my car I will hookgrip the steering wheel. Even when I went out with my GF for this past Valentine’s day and I was holding her hand I was hookgripping her hand-anything I can to get better at it. That’s a but nuts I know but oh well.
The pain tolerance is another thing, but I think that’s all mental.
Don’t listen to anyone who says hook grip gets better. The pain doesn’t stop, you just learn to not care about it. I dove right in and started doing sets of 8-10 on my DL’s, and it only took a week or two before I could do it easily. But that shit still hurts every time lol.
What I’ve noticed is that the pain is still there, but the discomfort of pulling heavy is just greater than that from my thumbs.
Like the old joke of smashing your toes so that you can ignore the pain from a minor cut.
My hands don’t hurt much more with the hook grip vs over/under, it’s just that I’m so much weaker with it. I really want to be able to pull this off and push my pulls with it, but I always find my grip will give out with it. My strength level with it is somewhere inbetween a regular over-hand grip and my over/under.
I want to do this to prevent that twisting thing people have mentioned to spare my low back and hips.
Is it a skill thing or do I just need to get my grip stronger?
Could be skill, could be strength. Here’s an article from EliteFTS that I always direct people towards:
elitefts.com/education/motivation/monster-garage-gym-hook-grip-101-its-a-love-hate-relationship/
Main thing on the skill side is to make sure that you get your thumb set so it literally can’t move. If it’s a bit loose then the bar will try to pull your thumb down and dislocate it, and things will go bad from there.
[quote]238 wrote:
What I’ve noticed is that the pain is still there, but the discomfort of pulling heavy is just greater than that from my thumbs.
Like the old joke of smashing your toes so that you can ignore the pain from a minor cut.[/quote]
Yeah often times I wear wrist wraps during my DL’s extra tight, just to kind of distract myself from the thumb pain lol
[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
My hands don’t hurt much more with the hook grip vs over/under, it’s just that I’m so much weaker with it. I really want to be able to pull this off and push my pulls with it, but I always find my grip will give out with it. My strength level with it is somewhere inbetween a regular over-hand grip and my over/under.
I want to do this to prevent that twisting thing people have mentioned to spare my low back and hips.
Is it a skill thing or do I just need to get my grip stronger?[/quote]
It may depend on the person, but for me anything that I can lift, I can hold onto hookgrip until I just basically give up. However, I have very very large hands, and as a result a really long thumb, which may make a differnce