Grip Strength and Straps

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

I recently stubled upon an article about Grip Strength and its significance to health. Grip Strength: An Indispensable Biomarker For Older Adults - PMC

I often used straps for my “heavy” singles deadlifts because I told myself that I don’t want to be limited by my grip strength but this article had me reconsider that a bit.
The last sessions I didn’t use the straps and it still worked and I thought if I can not hold the weight for 5 reps @ RPE8 maybe that is not my weight right now, is there something to it?

And with e.g. Romanian Deadlifts I did 150kg for 8 Reps with straps and the next session I did 140 kg without Straps for 8 reps is that even something to think about?

Sadly in my commercial gym chalk is prohibited and in summer I sometimes just HAVE to use Straps because my hands are so sweaty.

And do straps/no traps matter that much ​in the end?

Thanks as always…

2

It’s important to recognize that grip strength is used in the research (and occasionally, clinically) because it is validated and easy/quick/cheap to measure as a proxy for general strength and muscle mass. Not because increasing grip strength itself has a unique effect on health/disease risk.

So I would not focus specifically on grip training over other exercises/general training for health purposes.

If you simply enjoy it, or if you plan to compete in a sport that does not allow the use of straps (like powerlifting), then developing the necessary grip strength is essential. Otherwise, you do not need to worry about this; general strength & conditioning without any particular focus on the grip is going to generate all the health benefits you’re likely after.