My deadlift/RDL is limited by my hands/forearms/grip, HELP

How do you know that the weight is in your 1-5 range if you can't even hold it?

No credentials, but here is what my trainer suggested to strengthen my grip for farmer's carry.

There is a foam cylinder that fits around dumbbell grips to make the grip wider. You put these on when you do dumbbell exercises to strengthen your grip. I cut a piece of foam pipe insulation tube (looks like a swimming pool noodle) and put it on one set of dumbbells at home. Subjectively, it does seem to help.

Another tip is to squeeze the bar, especially with your thumb and forefinger, as you start the lift.

Hopefully, we'll get some more suggestions because I have a similar problem with farmers carry.

You are welcome.

Chalk, and the highest weight you CAN do hold it at he top for as long as you can.

Split grip and chalk

im guessing you haven't been doing them very long. Just do what you can and the grip will build up on its own quick enough

"mixed" grip works fine (one overhand, one underhand), although I never liked this for RDL's due to the asymmetric loading. Double overhand grip feels better but you'll probably always be limited by grip strength/endurance, so if you really want to hit that posterior chain go with straps - takes a few times to get used to them but worth it long term.

Olympic lifters use a technique called the hook grip (thumb pinched between the bar and your fingers) in competition but often use straps in training.

Congrats. If you're doing cross-grip and you can't hang on, you must be pulling a big weight.

Get straps. It's not cheating. In a competition, you only need to do 1 rep, so you don't need grip strength for multiple reps.

That being said, just keep doing it and your grip strength will improve.

Work on a farm this summer. Never have to worry about grip strength again. Your welcome.

Don't listen to these people talking about straps. They don't know what they're talking about, not one half decent power lifter trains in straps unless they have some sort of hand injury. I could write a guide for you but I don't want to so here is a link that should be helpful for actually strengthening your grip.

http://stronglifts.com/deadlift/grip/

EPO is my middle name wrote:

Don't listen to these people talking about straps. They don't know what they're talking about, not one half decent power lifter trains in straps unless they have some sort of hand injury. I could write a guide for you but I don't want to so here is a link that should be helpful for actually strengthening your grip.

http://stronglifts.com/deadlift/grip/

That's all common sense.

Whatever your routine I suggest adding a 5-10 second hold at the top for the last rep of every set. Also if you haven't tried it already and aren't so concerned with increasing grip strength as you are with deadlifting more, give the overhand grip a try.

Start rock climbing if there is a rock climbing gym close by. Forearms and grip strength will get so much better.

Don't use straps. Like others have said, they are a crutch. They are designed for competition, not training.

Keep doing your RDLs at the weight you've been using. Even though your legs, butt and back can take more, that doesn't mean you should pile on more. Go slow, be consistent, and keep doing your RDLs. When you are ready to add weight, add weight. That means when all parts of your body are ready to go up you go up, not just one part.

In the meantime, do a little bit of extra grip work, but not too much. Grip strength takes time. My favorite full body lifts that are great for grip are kettlebell swings, pullups, and farmer's walks. You could easily add those three things in after your RDL session. Do not do any of them close to failure, just practice them. Your grip will improve in time.

These previous posters obviously don't lift.

I'm going to try and finish this before my pre-workout dump is finished

Your grip technique is probably wrong. Easy mistake that most people don't fix because they start using straps, over/under grip, large grips, etc. instead of strengthening an obvious deficient muscle group by using the correct technique. Don't get me wrong these things can be useful for the elite, but they are easy money makers to those with a lack of knowledge.

Pay attention to hand position. The issue you are probably going to see when gripping the bar is the ring and pinkie knuckles are not aligned straight across from the pointer and middle finger.

Rotate your hand your hand so they become aligned. Grip with your pinkie.

Anytime you grab a bar grip with your pinkie not the pointer and middle finger. It will take you a couple sessions for the weirdness to go away. Remember you are correcting a technique so it takes time. Benefits overall is that you start activating muscle groups properly. Poop is done so good luck. I will check back tomorrow because I probably didn't explain this very well.

Skadoosh

How much weight is it? I could do double overhand until I got to about 300 lb.

You can focus on the 15-20 rep range and gain strength. You can also do other hamstring ex. Nordic curls, reverse hyper, 45 degree back ext. regular back extension machines all with higher reps. You should mix in heavy loads. But you can gain signigicant strength.

You should look into hip thursts as well. These have become my go to ex. for training. I stil do all the other lifts, but I have found success for running by focusing more on hip thursts and saving my CNS for running. See bretcontreras.com

selectivetruths wrote:

Don't use straps. Like others have said, they are a crutch. They are designed for competition, not training.

I've never heard of straps being allowed in powerlifting competition. That's a new one to me.

I've never used straps, but I don't see what's wrong with doing it if you can't hold on for higher reps. The grip strength will catch up eventually, no reason to limit your training until your grip comes around.

You'll develop grip strength over time. When I first got up to the 300lb mark I started having grip issues (small hands don't help).

I'm assuming you are using a mixed grip. If you aren't then you should.

Do heavy rack pull singles from just above the knee. Worked wonders for my grip.

On the last rep of a moderate set (8-12 rep) hold the last rep for as long as you can.

Do farmers walks.

Do Pullups.

Alan