Use Of Grip To Powerlifting & Deadlifting

[TelegraphKey]

Why does stronger grip = more overall strength?

It seems to me that stronger grip means less energy expended trying to maintain control while deadlifting & doing other pulling lifts, which means more energy is used in the belly muscles which ultimately makes you stronger.

So a stronger grip makes your lowback, upperback, & biceps stronger, which in turn helps to make legs, chest, shoulders & arms stronger.

Would this be right?

But if so, is there any direct benefit for strength in non-pulling exercises such as bench press & squat, by increasing your grip strength?

[Darco]

Yes,

It's amazing how levering girlish weights daily for a few weeks has given me AWSOME control on my dumbbell presses, I was blown away.

[Starkmann]

I rember in one of John Brookfield's books how he talked about a light weight feeling glued to the floor because you didn't have the grip to hold it. I ran into this with my deadlift. I had been stuck at 350 for a month. On one particular day I knew I could lift the weight but it just wouldn't budge. I went and got some straps and easily pulled 405 and felt like I had plenty left in the tank. That was when I knew I had to really get after my grip.

[big bri]

for those who are having trouble with their supporting grip, try heavy rack deadlifts. i went from barely being able to hold onto 315 in the deadlift to being able to hold onto anything i was capable of pulling from the floor. reason is because i was doing a lot of heavy rack deadlifts and after a year or so was pulling 700-800 lbs from the rack, with only the use of chalk which is very important as you will rip the calouses off your hands if you don't use it. so definitely incorporate rack pulls into your routine and your supporting grip will skyrocket. you'll never have trouble with your deadlift again, and straps become obsolete. i didn't have a remarkable carryover to my crushing grip strength though.

[porky]

I rember in one of John Brookfield's books how he talked about a light weight feeling glued to the floor because you didn't have the grip to hold it. I ran into this with my deadlift. I had been stuck at 350 for a month. On one particular day I knew I could lift the weight but it just wouldn't budge. I went and got some straps and easily pulled 405 and felt like I had plenty left in the tank. That was when I knew I had to really get after my grip.

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i have the same thing when im 2 lazy to use chalk for deads, the weight feels extra hard.

[Muscle Turtle]

For me, I havent dropped a dead lift since I was a youngn. 600 lbs easy weight in my hands, I attribute this to using bands in the dead lift, and trying to pull as much double over hand as possible.

[TelegraphKey]

Thanks for all the replies. I often use Rack DL's when I do DL's (In fact I've just begun a new cycle of them. I read a Louie Simmons article a long time ago where he talked about some legend Powerlifter who did weekly Rack Pulls -- but he'd start with the bar at the highest setting, like a Shrug, then go down one notch each consecutive week. By the time the bar reached floor, several weeks later, he usually hit new PR's in the Deadlift). Last time I did this cycle, I also hit my PR, and now I've hit my PR for "Shrug"-type partial Deadlift. I did 700 lbs last week, from about halfway up my thigh between knee & hip -- and my trapezius has been deliciously sore for days! Incremental Rack Deadlifts are definitely a tremendous way to increase DL grip.

I agree with the person who said there doesn't seem to be much carryover from supporting DL grip to crushing grip. I've definitely improved my DL grip over the years but my crushing grip sucks, relatively. But I wonder if vice-versa might be opposite: Would greatly improving my Crushing Grip on CoC grippers noticeably help my DL grip strength?

Also, as to my question about How does increased grip strength help out all the other lifts? I didn't think of it, but you're right when you say working on grip & wrist helps with things like db presses, etc. But I'm also thinking of, grip strength helps make pulling exercises (DL, rows, etc.) easier, so you have more energy to devote to directly building the belly muscles (back, biceps, lats, etc.), which in turn helps out the opposing muscles (legs, chest, triceps, delts) for bigger pressing movements.

[Starkmann]

Also, as to my question about How does increased grip strength help out all the other lifts?  I didn't think of it, but you're right when you say working on grip & wrist helps with things like db presses, etc.  But I'm also thinking of, grip strength helps make pulling exercises (DL, rows, etc.) easier, so you have more energy to devote to directly building the belly muscles (back, biceps, lats, etc.), which in turn helps out the opposing muscles (legs, chest, triceps, delts) for bigger pressing movements.

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I definitly think it helps but I'm not sure I can quantify it. All I can see about grip and accessory lifts is that: If you train grip seperatly, it should never act as the limiting agent in your accessory work. For example, if I was doing weighted pullups for some lat work. I can only do about two at a time but I am pulling 270 or 280 and I can do about ten sets. So between 20 reps of 270 plus maybe 20 or 25 reps of heavy barbell rows of about 225-250 many peoples forearms/grip fail first. In my case, it is my rhomboids. It's the old wekest link cliche. By training grip, you are improving on many people's weakest link

[Luke Whippo]

I agree with the person who said there doesn't seem to be much carryover from supporting DL grip to crushing grip.  I've definitely improved my DL grip over the years but my crushing grip sucks, relatively.  But I wonder if vice-versa might be opposite:  Would greatly improving my Crushing Grip on CoC grippers noticeably help my DL grip strength?

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if you deadlifted double overhand you "MIGHT" get the best carryover (as the bar starts rolling out, you gotta squezze with all you got) I don't do this because when I deadlift I want to get the best out of my deadlift so I use hookgrip, but like you my crushing strength is bad compared to my support grip, latley I've been doing thumbless grip reverse curls with my 2"thickbar, this seems to target my crushing strength (thumbless grip) (I think this is helping, it's still a little early too tell yet though)

For a stronger double overhand/mixed grip pull........deadlift with a thickbar and do rack pulls.