I’ve been having tendinitis-type in my hands for a while now when I bench, so I started using a thumbless (i.e. “suicide”) grip a few months back.
So far I have no problem with it, am pretty stable (even during speed benching) and it has no negative effect on my strength.
I was having a discussion with my PL friend (a Canadian champion who recently benched 550 raw) and when I told him this his question was :“How can you spread the bar with that grip ?”
Maybe I’m wrong but recently I feel like I’m actually getting better at this, especially when going light/explosive and during floor presses. I may be mistaking “spreading the bar” with “flaring the elbows out” when pushing…Hard to tell.
So here’s the thing? How many PL’s use a thumbless, if any? Is it really a bad idea? Are you short-changing yourself when doing so?
Any feedback is appreciated.