I am wondering if the hook grip has the potential to cause long term damage to the thumb. I am 52 and a novice in the midst of my linear progression, and I just reached 250 on the dead lift, and I can tell grip is starting to become an issue in my left hand. I now need to begin considering how I want to approach any grip changes and would rather do an alternating grip. My understanding is that the bicep tendon injury that can occur with the alternating grip is quite rare. I am concerned about adopting the hook grip because I use my thumbs when I play guitar and bass as well as all day banging out code on the keyboard. What do you guys usually recommend?
Thanks for the time that you put into this forum and site.
I am not aware of any long-term damage to the thumb from pulling with a hook grip. However, I have also not worked with anyone who was a serious guitarist (and don’t play myself), so have no idea whether there may be any effects from that standpoint. I still doubt it.
Yeah, you’re unlikely to tear your bicep either way, but the primary advantage of hook grip is a more symmetrical setup, so I’d still recommend it. I haven’t heard of anyone having trouble with playing guitar due to it, and I’ve got a few friends who play and use hook grip.
For what its worth, I’m 36 and always hook grip my work weight (last single @ 380, last set of 5 at 335). I’ve been playing classical piano and acoustic guitar for many years and am a professional software engineer. So far, hook grip hasn’t caused any problems with any of those pursuits (also I started using athletic tape on my thumb pretty early on to make it more comfortable).