If you’re a regular gym goer or a newbie, there’s a good chance you have been wondering whether straps for deadlift are truly beneficial or just another accessory that every fitness enthusiast out there carries around to look cool. The reality is that there’s quite a serious debate among coaches on whether or not straps are good and should be used or whether they’re a form of “cheating” that you’re best without if you’re aiming to achieve better results as a weightlifter.
In the following article, we’re going to try our best to answer the question of whether you should or shouldn’t use straps for deadlift as we examine the pros and cons. So, if that sounds like something you want to learn more about, then keep on reading.
The Pros of Wearing Straps
You will hear many “experts” and online coaches claim that wearing straps is cheating and that it will make your grip weaker and will lead to you not having any “real-life strength.” You can relax right now, as that statement is wildly untrue, seeing as most elite Olympic lifters wear straps for training, along with Strongman and Powerlifters, and all three of these athletic groups are known for being strong and able to lift tons of weight.
If you use straps correctly and with the right purpose, they can be massively beneficial to your training regime. Some of the Pros of wearing lifting straps include:
- Straps enable you to lift with relaxed arms so that the tension shifts to bigger muscle groups.
- They allow you to lift heavy, even when your forearms are overworked - something incredibly important for people who lift heavy with high frequency.
- They’re great for when you want your CNS (central nervous system) to recover as they decrease the neurological stress of heavy deadlifts, pulls, and snatches.
- Straps enable you to get a few extra reps on big compound lifts, which is terrific when you’re trying to build strength and muscle.
The Cons of Wearing Straps
With the pros now being clear, it’s good to note that not all of the cons that many are mentioning are invalid. Using straps too much or not correctly can definitely have bad implications for your training program as a whole, so let’s take a look at some of the more notable cons:
- Wearing straps too often can lead to you forgetting how to pull a heavy bar, as you would have forgotten what it feels like. This can be a huge issue for people who want to compete in any weightlifting category, regardless of whether that’s functional fitness, Olympic weightlifting, Strongman, or powerlifting.
- It may compromise your technique - when using straps, you tend to “yank” the bar from the floor, something which isn’t possible without straps on and can lead to you having incorrect form when performing exercises with just your hands.
- Your grip strength can be compromised if you rely on straps too much - using them occasionally when you’re tired or just want to get a few extra reps is great, but using them daily can have a negative effect on your natural strength. If your grip is weak, it means you have to work on it.
When to Wear Lifting Straps and When to Skip Them
The general rule is that if you’re a bodybuilder or a casual gym goer who doesn’t care about developing grip strength, you can pretty much use lifting straps for any exercise where you feel you need them. However, if you’re someone who cares about developing a balanced physique or someone who’s training to be able to lift more heavy weights, then straps should be used sparingly, only for some movements, and you should additionally be working on improving grip strength and endurance.
To make things easier, let’s do a quick roundup of which lifts you should use straps for, which ones you can occasionally use straps for, and for which you simply shouldn’t.
In the first group, we have:
- Snatch and Clean (high & low pulls from hang, blocks or floor)
- Snatch and Power Snatch (from blocks or hangs)
- Pulls
- Rows
- Shrugs
In the second one:
- Deadlifts (all of the heights and variations)
- Power Snatch and Snatch (from the floor)
And in the final one:
- Clean and Power Clean
- Thick bar work
- Farmer walks
Should You Wear Straps for Deadlifting?
The best answer to this question is occasionally yes. On days when you’re feeling tired, your body is sore, and you just want to get some extra reps in, lifting straps can help you do that and will allow you to get more training volume in the course of a week. The same applies when you’re lifting heavy weights, and your grip starts failing while you still need to continue working out - straps can save you in that situation as well.
However, on normal training days, you should be deadlifting without any help at all - if you’re having problems with your grip, implement more exercises to help you strengthen it, as that’s the only way you will get better over time.
In Conclusion
Hopefully, you learned all you wanted to about whether you should be deadlifting with straps. As with most fitness accessories, lifting straps aren’t something you can’t live without, but they’re definitely a “nice to have” if you’re serious about improving your results in the gym and lifting more weight.
