A Perfect Way To Improve Grip Strength Using Straps

You are going to like this advice at first. Then you might get mad at me.

Let me explain.

Every lifter wants a stronger grip. It is one of those things we all chase. You are doing rows and the dumbbell starts sliding out of your hand. You are pulling a deadlift and everything feels good, right up until your fingers decide they are done for the day.

And when that happens, what are we told? Do not use straps.

That is the standard answer. Go into almost any lifting forum, comment section, or gym conversation and you will hear the same thing. Straps are cheating. Straps are a crutch. Straps will make your grip weaker.

Sounds hardcore. It is also wrong.

Yes, I said it.

One of the smartest things you can do to build a stronger grip is start using lifting straps. I know that sounds backwards. I know it goes against what a lot of people say. But most lifters are missing a very important piece of the puzzle.

Grip strength is not just about your hands. Your back strength matters. A lot.

When your back is not strong enough to keep controlling a weight, your body starts looking for a way out. The brain senses that the load is becoming too much to manage, and one of the first things it does is tell your grip to start shutting down.

In other words, your hands might not be the real problem. Your back might be the real problem.

If your back cannot handle the weight, your grip is not going to hang around forever just because you want it to. The stronger your back gets, the more capable your grip becomes. A stronger back gives your grip a stronger foundation.

This is where straps become valuable.

Straps let you train your back without your hands tapping out too early. They allow you to get more out of rows, pull ups, and deadlifts. Instead of stopping a set because your fingers are opening up, you can keep going until the muscles you are actually trying to train have been pushed hard enough.

That matters.

On rows, straps can allow you to use more weight. On deadlifts, they can help you get more quality work in. On pull ups and other back movements, they can keep your grip from being the weak link.

More weight builds more back strength. More reps build more back strength. More productive sets build more back strength. And over time, more back strength can help build more grip strength.

That is why straps are not a crutch. They are a tool. They help you train the muscles that support your grip so your grip has a better chance to improve.

Now here is the part you might not like. This is not magic.

You are not going to put on a pair of straps today and wake up tomorrow with a gorilla grip. That is not how this works. This is not some overnight grip hack. It is a long game.

And you are still going to have people telling you that straps are useless. They will say straps make you weak. They will say you are avoiding the hard work. They will say your grip will never improve if you use them.

I understand why they say it, because I used to believe the same thing.

My Grip Was Holding My Back Hostage

I did not use straps until 2007. For years, I avoided them completely. I thought they were going to make my grip worse. I thought the only way to build a stronger grip was to force myself to hold everything without help.

So that is what I did. For 21 years, I let my grip limit my back training.

Dumbbell rows were always a battle. The heaviest one arm dumbbell row I could do without straps was 120 pounds for 10 reps. That was it. Barbell rows were even worse. I was terrible at them.

Part of the issue is that I have small German hands. I have never been great on lifts that require a double overhand grip. Some people are built to clamp onto a bar like a vise. I am not one of those people.

Here is how bad it was.

I started deadlifting in 2007, and I could not pull 315 pounds with a double overhand grip. The bar would start slipping. That was not because I was lazy. It was not because I avoided grip work. It was because my grip was limiting how hard I could train my back, and my back was not strong enough to support a better grip.

That is the cycle nobody talks about. Weak grip limits back training. Weak back limits grip strength. Round and round you go.

Avoiding straps did not fix my grip. It kept my back weaker than it should have been, and because my back stayed weaker, my grip never had a real chance to improve.

Then in 2008, I finally bought a pair of Versa Gripps.

Versa Gripps are basically a more advanced style of lifting strap. They are not just loose pieces of cloth. They lock in faster, hold tighter, and make it easier to secure yourself to the bar.

The difference was immediate. Suddenly, 120 pound dumbbell rows were no longer the ceiling. I could train my back the way it needed to be trained.

By 2010, I was doing one arm dumbbell rows with 265 pounds for 10 reps. During that same stretch, my barbell rows climbed to 405 pounds with reasonably strict form.

That would not have happened if I kept refusing to use straps.

Once I started using Versa Gripps, I also began deadlifting exclusively with a double overhand grip. That was important to me because double overhand had always been a problem.

Two months ago, I pulled 700 pounds for 2 reps off a 3 inch block.

Think about that. In 2007, I could not hold on to 315 with a double overhand grip. Years later, after building a much stronger back with the help of straps, I was pulling 700 for reps from blocks.

The lesson is simple. In 2007, I thought my back was strong. It was not. Today, I know my back is strong.

And even though people still give me grief for using straps, my grip does not fall apart when I need it. When I deadlift without straps, my grip is solid. It has not been the thing that failed me.

I was able to attempt a 700 pound deadlift on the powerlifting platform without any grip issues.

So let me make the point as clearly as possible. Back in 2007, I had grip problems. Instead of fixing them, I allowed those grip problems to hold back my back training.

When I started using straps, my back strength improved dramatically. As my back became stronger, my grip improved too.

Now, some people will still argue that straps did not directly build my grip. Fine. Even if we pretend that is true, straps still helped me build the back strength needed to deadlift 700 pounds. Without them, my back strength would have stayed far behind where it needed to be.

And if my back strength had stayed behind, there is a good chance I never would have pulled over 500 pounds. That is the part the anti-strap crowd never wants to talk about.

Final Thoughts On Straps And Grip Strength

Most lifters are not powerlifters.

Most lifters will never step on a platform and have to prove their grip in front of judges. Most lifters are not training for a grip contest. They just want to get bigger, stronger, and better.

If that describes you, then avoiding straps makes very little sense.

Why would you let your hands limit your back training? Why would you stop rows early when your back still has more to give? Why would you leave back strength on the table because someone online told you straps are for weak lifters?

Use the straps. Use Versa Gripps if you like them.

Train your back hard. Build more strength. Add more reps. Move more weight. Stop letting your grip end sets before your back has been properly challenged.

You have almost nothing to lose. You can build a bigger back. You can build a stronger back. And as your back strength improves, there is a very good chance your grip strength will improve with it.

Straps are not the enemy. A weak back is the enemy.

Let me know what you think in the comments. Do you use lifting straps or Versa Gripps? Has anyone ever told you they were useless?