I hope you enjoy reading this article.

If you have questions or would like a certain topic to be discussed, feel free to reach out to me.

Deadlift grips and their pros and cons – Which grip to use?

The overhand grip, the mixed grip, and the hook grip are the 3 grips you can use, but each grip has its own pros and cons. Although the mixed grip and the hook grip provide the best grip, don't neglect using the overhand grip since that grip is a great way to work out your forearm muscles.

Published: 05 September 2023Last updated: 24 January 2024

---

Introduction

Everybody should deadlift. No matter if you're a beginner or advanced, you want to lose weight or gain muscle mass...deadlifts, together with squats and the bench press, are, in my opinion, THE most essential exercise in any fitness program.

But how do you hold the barbell? Is one grip better than the other? And how can you strengthen your forearm muscles for a more powerful grip?

At the end of this article, you'll learn the three types of grips you can use when deadlifting, how to increase your grip strength, and what accessories you can use to help your grip.

Hand position terminology

Before discussing the several types of deadlift grips, it's wise to learn some terminology used in anatomy for exact definitions of hand positioning. The terms used to describe how your hands are positioned are:

• neutral position
• pronated position
• supinated position

Neutral hand position

The neutral position, as I call it, is when standing upright and having your arms hanging at your sides. In this position, your palms face the center and are slightly rotated inward (to the back).

This is what I call the resting position. Note that this neutral hand position is NOT the same as in the standard anatomical position.

Pronated hand position (overhand)

The pronated position is, starting from the neutral position above, when you rotate your hands further inward so your palms directly face the back (if somebody stands in front of you and looks at you, they'll see the back of your hands now).

Supinated hand position (underhand)

Likewise, the supinated position of your hands is when you rotate your hands outward from the neutral position, so your palms now face the front.

Somebody standing before you will now see the inside of your hands.

The supinated position of your hands is how the hands are held in the standard anatomical position.

What if I'm not in a neutral position?

What about if you're not standing upright with your arms hanging and resting at your sides?

For example, suppose you're holding one arm horizontally at your side and you rotate your arm inward from your shoulder joint to flex your biceps.

How do you now determine if you're holding your hands in a supinated or a pronated position in such and other cases?

The trick is to base your hand position on your forearm's inward or outward rotation.

Rotating your forearm inward results in your hand in a pronated position.

On the other hand, rotating your forearm outward results in your hand in a supinated position.

No matter what situation you're in, whether you're squatting, doing pull-ups, or sleeping, your hands are in a pronated or supinated position based on your forearm's inward or outward rotation respectively.

Deadlift grip types

Now you know the anatomical terms for positioning your palms, let's see which deadlift grips you can use.

Overhand grip

The overhand grip for deadlifts is the most common grip you'll see in the gym for the average gymgoer.

Also, almost all beginners start with this grip.

When you deadlift with this grip, you grab the barbell with your hands in a pronated position. That means your palms face to the back, and your upper hands are visible when viewed from the front.

Overhand grip pros

• GREAT if you want to increase your gripping strength.
• Low chance of injury (biceps tear).
• Equally effective in increasing gripping strength for both hands.
• Easy to use (just grab the barbell the same way with both hands).
• Shoulders and arms are loaded symmetrically by the weight.

Overhand grip cons

• Very rough for your hands with heavier loads.
• Promotes callus formation in your palms (may be seen as a benefit to most guys, but women in general see it as a disadvantage).
• Provides the least grip (barbell slips out of your hands more easily due to sweat and lacking grip strength).

Mixed grip

In the mixed grip, you hold the barbell with one hand pronated and the other hand in a supinated position.

It doesn't matter which hand is pronated and which is supinated.

The mixed grip is also common, but this time, it's popular under intermediate and advanced gym goers and not so much under beginners (simply because beginners don't know about this grip or can't lift too heavy yet such that their grip starts to be a bottleneck).

The mixed grip allows for more grip because the barbell can not roll in your hands, and if it slips out of one hand, it slips into the other. This removes some of the stress on your forearm muscles, making it easier to keep a hold of the barbell while lifting heavy.

In that sense, it's not the perfect grip if you want to increase your gripping power naturally.

Usually, though, grip strength will be a bottleneck when deadlifting heavy with an overhand grip, forcing people to use a different grip, such as a mixed grip or lifting straps, to be able to lift heavy without being limited by their grip power.

Mixed grip pros

• Very strong grip.
• Slightly easier on your hands.
• Less callus formation due to easier on your hands.

Mixed grip cons

• Less suitable to increase gripping strength of your hands (works your forearm muscles less).
• Higher risk of severe injury (biceps tear!).
• The load on your arms and shoulders will be asymmetrical.

Hook grip

In the hook grip, you grab the barbell with an overhand grip, but this time, your thumbs are bent inwards, so the other fingers wrap around the barbell and your thumb.

In the hook grip, your hands literally act like hooks, preventing the barbell from rolling out of your hands. This makes it slightly less straining on your forearm muscles compared to the overhand grip, making it somewhat less suited if you want to maximally grow your forearm power.

It's the least used grip in commercial gyms, but it's widely used in the Olympic weightlifting world.

It provides a very strong grip without compromising on mobility, making it suitable for very athletic movements such as snatches and cleans.

Hook grip pros

• Very strong grip.
• Easier on your palms.
• Low chance of injury (biceps tear).

Hook grip cons

• Very rough on your thumbs.
• Very painful to your thumbs in the beginning.
• Promotes callus formation at the side of your thumbs.
• Promotes callus formation in your palms, but less than the overhand grip.

Other grips for deadlift?

Sometimes, you might hear about other types of deadlifting grips, in particular, a snatch grip or an axle grip.

Although these are 'grips' as well, they actually are one of the grips discussed above (i.e., overhand, mixed, or hook grip).

Snatch grip

The 'snatch grip' is nothing but holding the barbell with your hands wide apart. How you actually grab the barbell still comes down to an overhand, mixed, or hook grip.

Hence, I don't see the snatch grip necessarily as a different grip. Instead, it's a variation on the conventional deadlift, but the actual grip is the same (overhand, mixed, or hook grip).

Axle grip

The same holds for the Axle grip. The Axle grip is nothing but a grip for an Axle bar.

An axle bar is just a really thick barbell, also known as a Fat bar, which is popular in Strongman competitions.

An axle bar places tremendous stress on your gripping capability because, due to its thickness, you can't wrap your fingers entirely around the bar. This makes it really difficult to lift a loaded Fat bar off the ground.

But the way you grab the Axle or Fat bar still comes down to one of the types of grips I discussed previously, namely an overhand or a mixed grip.

The hook grip, on the other hand, is unusable with an Axle bar because you can't wrap your fingers around your thumb due to the thickness of the bar. As a matter of fact, using a hook grip (i.e., bending your thumb inward) on a Fat bar results in less grip than an overhand or mixed grip. That's because the amount of grip your thumb has on the bar while bent inward will be less than when keeping your thumb straight.

VIDEO OF ME HOLDING A THICK KOKER WHILE SHOWING THE AMOUNT OF GRIP OF MY THUMB BENT VS NOT BENT.

How to improve grip strength for deadlift

If you like deadlifting, it's obvious you'll benefit from having a really strong grip.

Luckily, you can improve your grip by focusing on specific exercises and specific grips that naturally increase your gripping power.

Use overhand grip

The grip with the least gripping strength of all is the overhand grip. And that's the grip for deadlifting you need to use if you want to work on your gripping power.

But isn't it counterintuitive to use the least powerful grip if you want to improve your grip?

Not at all!

In fact, using the overhand grip with deadlifting places lots of stress on your forearm muscles since all gripping power comes from your muscles and not some other mechanism. This lets your forearm muscles get worked really hard to maintain the grip, making them stronger and bigger over time.

On the other hand, using the mixed or hook grip introduces a mechanism that prevents the bar from rolling out of your hands. That removes some of the forces and stress on your forearm muscles, making those grip less ideal to increase your grip in the most effective way.

Use a Fat bar

As described previously, a Fat bar or Axle bar is a really thick bar that's mainly used with Strongman training and competitions.

The thickness of the bar makes it impossible to wrap your fingers and thumb entirely around it, and you can't use a hook grip with it either.

All grip power must come from your fingers and forearms, making any Fat bar training the ideal way to increase grip strength.

Equipment used

The only downside of this exercise is the needed equipment, namely a Fat bar or Axle bar. It's a downside because you won't see this type of bar in most commercial gyms.

You can usually find these bars in small, local powerlifting gyms, but the disadvantage is that the monthly fee of such gyms is generally higher than that of commercial gyms.

Farmer walks exercise

Farmer walks is an exercise where you grab some weight in both hands and simply walk with them. The more steps you make and the longer you walk, the more you train your forearms and grip strength. Heavier weights also help in increasing your grip strength.

With each step you take, the weights will slightly bounce up and down due to the shocks of walking, making the weight want to slip out of your hands. This makes Farmer walks much harder on your forearms and grip strength than just simply standing still while holding heavy weights.

Do not use a hook grip, a mixed grip, or lifting straps when doing Farmer walks. You're focussing on training your forearms and increasing grip power, so put maximum tension on your forearm muscles by using the overhand grip exclusively.

Do use gym chalk, though, to prevent slipping of the handle of the weight from sweaty hands.

Equipment used

All types of weights will do, except for a barbell (though it's still theoretically possible to walk while holding a barbell, it's much less practical, uncomfortable, looks weird, and you can also trip and injure yourself).

If you insist on using a barbell, use a hex bar instead. More commonly used are dumbbells or kettlebells, though.

Shrugs exercise

Shrugs are one of the best exercises if you want to work your trapezius muscles, but what's often overlooked is that they're great for building more grip strength.

After all, you need to hold weights in your hands to shrug with weights.

VIDEO OF ME DOING SHRUGS

Also, when doing Shrugs with a focus on forearm training and increasing grip strength, do not use hook grip, mixed grip (in case of using barbells), or lifting strips. And that's because you want to put maximum tension on your forearm muscles to improve grip power.

Hence, it's best to limit yourself to the overhand grip for the most effective way to improve your grip strength when doing shrugs.

You may use gym chalk, though.

Equipment used

You can use dumbbells, kettlebells, regular barbells, Fat bars, EZ-bars, and hex bars for shrugs.

When using any barbell other than hex bars, it's best to hold the barbell in front and in contact with your body.

Indoor climbing

Finally, the most effective way to increase your grip strength is to start indoor climbing.

I'm not an indoor climber myself, but I have taken a beginner's course in the past at the University of Amsterdam.

It was a 9-week course teaching complete beginners how to do basic indoor climbing with a partner.

What's stayed with me from that time is the absolute brutality to your forearms and grip strength.

If you think you have a strong grip thanks to all the weight lifting...think again!

Just watch this video below for a comparison of grip strength between an indoor climber and a Strongman!

Equipment used

Unfortunately, you can't do indoor climbing at a gym. You need to have access to an indoor climbing facility. Universities usually have these in their sports center and provide indoor climbing programs and free climbing sessions.

However, not all cities have a university or an indoor climbing facility, so it's not always a viable option if you want to work on your grip strength.

Accessories for better deadlift grip

Finally, let's see how you can improve your grip so you can focus on the deadlift itself.

You'll have two ways to increase your grip:

• Gym chalk
• Lifting straps

Gym chalk

Gym chalk is magnesium powder that you rub into your hands to improve your grip. This magnesium powder is magnesium carbonate, which absorbs the sweat from your hands, preventing the barbell (or dumbbell) from slipping into your hands.

By using gym chalk, you can use the overhand grip to maximize the load on your forearm to increase your grip strength without worrying about the barbell slipping easily out of your hands due to sweat and moisture. At some point, though, the barbell will slip out of your hands, but not so much because of sweat or the greasiness, but simply due to the lack of strength in your forearms.

Gym chalk is available in powder form (or as blocks of chalk, which give off powder as you rub it against your palms) or in liquid form that you need to apply to your hands.

Personally, I can't live without gym chalk when doing heavy lifting. Even when doing some light workouts, I find using gym chalk beneficial. As your workout progresses, you'll sweat more and more to the point that your hands become all sweaty and greasy, making even moderate weights slippery in your hands.

There are really no significant disadvantages to using gym chalk, so if you find that the barbell is slipping out of your hands or if you want to maximize your grip...consider using gym chalk.

Gym chalk benefits

• Gym chalk powder is cheap.
• Easy to use (just rub it in your hands).
• Immediately improves your grip significantly by preventing slipping of the barbell.
• It's especially useful during summer when it's hot in a gym with poor air conditioning.

Gym chalk disadvantages

• Liquid gym chalk is a bit more expensive than powder.
• Chalk powder can make a mess on the floor.
• Chalk powder will leave stains on your clothes (although it's easily removable and can be washed out).
• Some gyms do not allow the use of gym chalk due to the mess it can make.
• Chalk powder also makes a mess on the equipment (so bring a brush with you to clean afterward).

Lifting straps

Lifting straps are an accessory that's worn around your wrists, and they have a long end that you need to wrap in the other direction than the direction your fingers make when you wrap them around the barbell (or dumbbell handle).

When you use these, your hands and the straps will function as a hook, and all load will be placed on your wrists instead.

Lifting straps GREATLY enhance your grip, to the point that you can use only one or two fingers to secure the wrapped long end of the strap around the barbell without losing grip of the bar.

The most significant disadvantage of lifting straps, though, is that they remove all forces from your forearms, making them a bad choice if you want to increase your own grip and forearm strength.

As such, if you're a beginner, it's best to develop forearm strength by doing deadlifts or other exercises where you hold heavy weight without the use of lifting straps.

Lifting straps benefits

• They’re cheap.
• They attache your wrist to the barbell, making (a lack of natural) grip strength redundant.
• Allow for overhand grip with heavy deadlifts, hence, a symmetrical load on your shoulders from the weight is placed.
• Reduce the risk of biceps tear.

Lifting straps disadvantages

• Using lifting straps rmoves ALL load from your forearm muscles, which will make your forearms underdeveloped if you solely lift with lifting straps.

Conclusion

So, which grip should you use when deadlifting?

Use the overhand grip when:

For general training, use the overhand grip to work out your forearm muscles and naturally increase your grip strength.

Use the mixed grip when:

When exhaustion kicks in while doing high-volume, moderate-load deadlifts, you can use the mixed grip to ease the load on your hands and forearms.

Use the clean grip when:

Consider using the hook grip When doing more dynamic exercises, such as a clean or a snatch high pull.

In all cases, gym chalk will help against a slippery bar due to sweaty hands.

Finally, if you want to solely focus on your posterior chain without overworking your forearms, or if you want to try a new PR in deadlifting, consider the use of lifting straps to focus solely on the deadlift.

However, if you're new to strength training, it's best to also work on your grip strength and refrain from using lifting straps. In this case, try to do as much overhand gripping as possible since that grip type will help the most in increasing your grip strength naturally.

Which grip do you prefer when doing deadlifts?