I train for strength in my garage at home. I have no desire to compete but want to get as strong as possible. So i would double overhand on the deadlift until i couldn’t do 5 good reps without losing my grip on the bar. At that point i would go to straps. However i really don’t like straps all that much and so i decided to try mixed grip. Well i can pretty much lift as much gripping that way as i would with straps. So this is what i’ve been doing. When you read a lot of people though they come away with horror stories about torn biceps and all that stuff. It kind of makes you a bit cautious. My 1 rep max is 155kg, 341Ibs i think. I’ve really only been deadlifting for around 3 months so am happy with how it’s going so far. Thanks for any input. I’m a 55 year old male.
We don’t have any problems with the mixed grip. I tend to think that these “horror stories”, as in many cases, are over-emphasized, meaning those get lots of views and traffic because we are drawn to those kinds of stories and problems. I do recommend that you make sure you are fully locking out your elbows before your pull. Don’t lift with flexion there (can happen on the supinated side).
(And I know that torn biceps can happen, so I’m not saying that WON’T happen. There is a certain amount of risk is lifting heavy weight, but we don’t even know how often this actually happens, you know?)
Are there many (any) stories of torn biceps for people who pull all of the slack out of the bar and get really tight before initiating the pull? OTOH, jerking the bar off the ground with a mixed grip, or trying a lift way heavier than your ability, seems dangerous.
Thanks Leah. Yes i feel fine using the grip and definitely prefer that rather than going to straps when double overhand starts failing. It’s amazing the difference that switching to mixed grip promotes. You definitely feel much more in control.
This is part of the problem. There is no collection of data, but some lingering internet lore that “it’s common.”
I think jerking the bar off the floor is a poor idea, so I recommend people just don’t do it.
I don’t know but i have run across a few articles online of people saying avoid mixed grip like the plague because of this torn bicep thing. Most of them say use hook grip but it just feels wrong to me and very uncomfortable and not as strong as mixed. Straps are fine but i really prefer to lift without them and i did a little test between doing around a 1 rep max with mixed grip versus one with straps. I expected the lift to feel easier with straps but it didn’t feel any easier than using mixed. So at that point i thought what’s the point in me using straps then if i can pull almost as much using mixed grip?
Right, my point is that articles are not really a body of evidence for one versus the other, you know. People are going to write about an injury more often than a non-injury and people are going to search for an explanation for said injury and probably hold onto that idea, regardless of its truth.