The Hook Grip - Some Clarifications
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(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 11/18/19)
We discussed the rationale for using the hook grip quite a while ago, and in light of a few recent conversations, I thought a few clarifications might be in order.
When do I use the hook grip?
Use the hook grip when pulling a barbell from the floor. Specifically, use the hook grip for cleans, snatches, and heavy deadlifts. I suppose you could use the hook grip for rows as well, but I’d probably recommend that if your row requires a hook grip, simply use straps instead and save your thumbs for your other pulls from the floor.
Don’t hook your presses, i.e., don’t use the hook grip anytime you are pushing a barbell - this includes bench presses (regular, close grip, incline, etc.), presses, jerks, and push presses. This is just silly, and your friends will give you no end of grief for doing so. You only perform the hook grip when the wrist is in tension, and this means that you only hook pulling movements, movements where - if the weight is heavy enough - your grip might fail.
Does the hook grip always hurt?
Yes. And no.
Yes, because of course there is quite a bit of pressure on your thumb, and at first, you will find this to be quite . . . uncomfortable. If you feel like screaming like a 3-year-old at the end of your deadlift work set, congratulations, you’re among friends.
No, because eventually you won’t notice the discomfort nearly as much as you do at first, and more importantly, you will stop caring. You are a lifter, and you’ll have more important things to complain about, such as having to unload all the plates from your massively heavy deadlift that you just pulled . . . because you used the hook grip. Everyone who uses it adapts to it, and you are not a special snowflake. Yes, you.
Why does the hook grip work so well?
When taking a normal, double-overhand grip (i.e., without the hook) on the bar, you’ll notice that you have four fingers on one side of the bar and only one finger (your thumb) on the other side of the bar. It is the thumb that fails you when the load gets heavy - it leads a lonely existence on that side of the bar, and it doesn’t have any friends to help.
The hook grip remedies this situation by allowing the other fingers (primarily the middle finger) to help the thumb maintain its purchase on the bar. I suspect that the thumb also starts to fail in the non-hooked grip due to the angle of attack it has on the bar - note its somewhat “from-the-side” approach to gripping the bar compared to the other fingers’ perpendicular approach to the bar - but I haven’t given this enough thought just yet. Nonetheless, suspicions abound.
Now you know, and in time, I think you’ll be hooked on this grip.
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8 Tips to Breathe & Brace CORRECTLY When Lifting Heavy (Also: #1 Mistake!)
/How and when should you breathe and brace when lifting weights? Whether you're training for general strength or for a sport such as weightlifting, powerlifting, strengthlifting, or strongman, the process is not complicated, but there's a lot of poor information out there to sift through, so Phil explains it all in this short video.
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Can't do a Chin-up or Pull-up? Do This!
/Why can't I do a chin-up or pull-up, and what's the first step I should take toward the goal of getting my first chin-up or pull-up?
(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 05/23/22)
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Get the Most Out of Your Warm-up
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(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 03/27/19)
You know - sage lifter that you are - that the purpose of your warm-up is to prepare you for the work ahead of you that day. You know it’s important, and you know that whether you’re going to squat 145 lbs or 345 lbs for your work sets, it is neither prudent nor productive to simply load the work weight on the barbell and have at it without the appropriate warm-up.
But . . . there is an additional purpose to the warm-up. Perhaps it’s not even an additional purpose, but rather a purpose that is merely hidden in the concept of preparing for the work ahead. Put simply, you can (and should) use your warm-up to become a better lifter.
The weights are (relatively) light when warming up, so this is a great time to work on refining your technique. Because you haven’t yet reached the soul-crushing, mind-altering load that is your work weight for the day, the warm-up is when you can spare some mental bandwidth and put into practice any changes or cues that you and your coach have recently discussed.
Maybe you’re trying to fix some pesky knee slide in the squat. Break out the TUBOWs and get to squatting. Perhaps you’re attempting to improve the bar path in the press or the bench press. The warm-up is a great time to do exactly that. Are you inconsistent when it comes to hitting depth in the squat? Grab a coach (or a fellow well-informed lifter) and ask him or her to check your depth as you warm-up.
The warm-up is a precious time. A magical time. Don’t just plow through it - get the most out of it. You can finish your warm-up a better lifter than when you started. Don’t miss out on this opportunity.
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Get Thee to a . . . Gym?!
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In Shakespeare’s day, “nunnery” was simply another word for “gym.”
(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 04/08/22)
When it comes to getting stronger, you know that technique is important. You know programming is important. Nutrition is important (that’s right, if you’re eating 75 grams of protein per day, you might be a very strong 8-year-old . . . someday). The equipment you lift with and on is important. So many important things!
But, do you know what is most important?
Consistency. It ain’t sexy, but it’s the truth. And you know it’s the truth. You know that you’ve seen people doing silly, ridiculous stuff in the gym for years, and some of them have even gotten pretty darn strong. Know why?
They. Do. Not. Miss.
In other words, they don’t miss a training session. You might have the greatest technique ever seen and the greatest program ever written, but if you only show up to train once a week, or if you train for two weeks and then skip the gym for three weeks, it doesn’t matter. It’s like having a billion dollars on the moon - it doesn’t do you any good.
If you’ve been inconsistent, then here’s your new mantra: Just show up. That’s it. Don’t miss a training session. Starting back up again after a lay off? Start light - do whatever you need to do to get your butt back in the gym, even if it’s just for one lift that first day. But get your butt there (the rest of you will accompany your butt, of course - that’s how this works).
Start with one day, and Just. Show. Up.
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