I Love Deadlifts. I can only imagine how benefitial they are for a sport like rugby. I can Pull 330lbs RAW snatch grip, but I feel like my grip is failing me long before my Posterior Chain is… The question I wish to ask, is: would it be worth it to start wearing straps? I know I should try and stay RAW where I can, but I reckon strength of the posterior chain is more important than grip in rugby, so I was wondering what you think I should do? Just keep pulling RAW, waiting for my grip to catch up? Pull with straps and leave my grip behind? I think i could probably pull about 440 if my grip wasnt done ofter 330.
Get some chalk for sure; you will be amazed at what kind of difference it will make. I can’t even pull 275 without it, and with it, I can pull 475. Also try using a mixed grip; one over hand grip one underhand grip, and alternate in between sets.
I find that when pulling with a snatch grip my grip is weaker. Pulling with a regular grip makes the bar much easier to hold. If you want to be deeper at the start of the pull (like in a snatch grip deadlift) you can either pull from a raised surface or use 25s on the bar instead of 45s.
TR
Train the grip - just do a couple of sessions a week - its important to be tight in certian situations, mauling and scrummaging. Grip will help here.
Although deadlifting, squatting and benching will bring on your game, dont neglect dynamic lifts - like the power clean, in addition to all the skill work and cardio you need to be doing. No point being the strongest guy on the park if you cant get to the breakdown at the 70th minute!
Persevere without the straps, I’m two weeks in on being ‘sans’ straps, my last pair, which i’d had for over four years, fell to pieces mid shrugs! I thought this is a good time to improve forearm and grip strength. I only used straps for deads and shrugs, last weeks deads my grip gave out before my back, but this week i managed to squeeze out two more. Go for Gold!
Cheers lads!
I play wing and outside centre.
I agree grip is important indeed, and most certainly I am learning that getting big numbers in my lifts is much less important than skills and speed, agility, etc.! I am currently shifting a lot of my focus towards skills and sprint. I also do power cleans to press. As a uni student I’m getting well tired of trying to bulk up anymore. I reckon I will be a lean 77kg’s… I can maintain an go for stength and fitness in the meantime. As for deadlifts Im going to try regular grip first, and then I may try with straps, just to see what my posterior chain can handle on it’s own, and if the difference is substantial I may consider training half straps, half RAW. Im not very proud of my numbers yet, only been training weights properly for roughly a year now.
DeadliftSnatch grip RAW 1RM: 150kg
Squat 1RM: 150kg
Bench 1RM: 100kg
Clean: 90kg (just started these recently )
hook grip:
wrap your hands around the bar, with your fingers OVER your thumb. The pressure of your fingers holds the thumb in place and keeps the grip on the bar without straps.
This can do a number on your thumb; experiment with light weight first, then maybe wrap some tape around your thumb so the skin doesn’t get abraded horrendously.
Yeah, it’s not great on the thumb, but it helps the grip a LOT.
switching two a mixed grip should solve your problems. Doing 330lbs with a snatch grip is pretty damn impressive and should have gone a long way towards developing a strong grip. I know my snatch grip dead is almost 100lbs less then my mixed grip
Ditto what some people have said about chalk, it gets me from 420ish to 520. And i just feel better about it compared to straps because at least i am somewhat still working my grip in the process. It also is actually pretty easy to find, i figured i’d have to order it offline or something. I found it at my local sports authority for 2 dollars for a brick. It might be found under gymnastic chalk. I’m not a rugby expert but i assume having a strong grip to go with the deadlift would be beneficial too. Also, you might think about working grip outside of deadlift training, even if you decide to go with chalk or straps. Since i began to train with rolling thunders and coc grippers, my grip has been the single biggest aspect of strength ive noticed help me in everyday situations.
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I definitely will give these alternative grip styles a try, and will see if I can invest in some chalk. (I’m pretty certain Cotswold has somerock-climbing magnesium chalk, would that be as effective?) By the way, what are these rolling thunders and coc grippers? Some type of grip exercise? please elaborate! Thanks,
[quote]Sepukku wrote:
By the way, what are these rolling thunders and coc grippers? Some type of grip exercise? please elaborate! Thanks,
-Sep[/quote]
Yea, they are available online (google it.) The rolling thunder is like a thick bar that rolls around that you hang weight from. And the coc grippers stand for captains of crush, they are like sporting goods store grippers, but are made of steel and have resistance ranging from 140 lbs for the #1 to the #4 which has 365 lbs of resistance to close and like 5 people have done it. They are only like 20 bucks each and its kinda fun to challenge your friends to crush one, nobody ever can unless they train on it. Ive liked using em so much i often devote a day just to grip training and am interested in grip contests by themselves now, grip training can be taken quite far.
Seriously tho, once i used chalk, even before i trained grip, my grip on deadlift was no longer a problem, it is amazing how much it helps, you’ll be suprised. Just give it a shot, its like 2 bucks.
[quote]Sepukku wrote:
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I definitely will give these alternative grip styles a try, and will see if I can invest in some chalk. (I’m pretty certain Cotswold has somerock-climbing magnesium chalk, would that be as effective?) By the way, what are these rolling thunders and coc grippers? Some type of grip exercise? please elaborate! Thanks,
-Sep[/quote]
You can just buy black board chalk; mash it up with something heavy (for instance a hammer), and you are good to go. Works for convenience.