Celebrating our 10th year as a Huntington Beach CrossFit Affiliate!

DRS STRONG WEEK 102 & 103: WHY DO WE USE A HOOK GRIP DURING OLYMPIC LIFTING?

Rosario Rios Aguilar • Sep 12, 2016
"SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO SLOW DOWN TO SPEED UP." 

        The FOCUS of this week is SLOW DOWN TO SPEED UP! Look at the overall picture of your training and understand that in order to keep improving there are going to be certain movements or exercises that you can't perform YET. The only way to get better or to improve and move progressively is to slow down to then speed up and conquer a movement. When speaking about slowing down, it means literally to slow down the way you are moving or to maybe be patient on progressions in order to do more advanced movements.

        This also can relate to the topic of HOOK GRIP while lifting.

WHAT IS THE HOOK GRIP?

The hook grip requires an athlete to press their palm into the bar so it sits between the thumb and the first two fingers, then wrap your thumb around the bar and fingers over the thumb. ( see picture below) .This might be an uncomfortable grip for a lot of new people but in time and with practice it becomes second nature. You might even hookgrip while you drive without noticing haha.

WHY DO WE HOOK GRIP? 

Well there are several reasons but the main two why I suggest people to hook grip during the clean, the snatch, barbell cycling, etc is because it's a SECURED GRIP and it helps with bar path by keeping arms from bending too soon. Some might argue that early arm bend on the pull still happens for few people. This is true, early arm bend can still happen but it helps control it a bit more than a normal grip.

        My main advice is that you should start with lower weights to get used it. YES IT WILL FEEL WEIRD AND NOT SECURED AT FIRST! But it will help in the end to maximize your performance, which we all want :) 

NOTE: DO NOT HOOK GRIP DURING A JERK! OR WHEN YOU RECEIVE THE CLEAN IN THE FRONT RACK POSITION. This might be up to discussion since barbell cycling happens a lot during CrossFit and if you have fast elbows and good mobility, chances are you can keep the hookgrip during high rep workouts but for Olympic Lifting it is suggested to release the hook grip as you catch the clean and some release as they catch the snatch. ( different topic haha).

Stay Strong,

DRS Strong

Coach Rosario
  
"Sometimes Jenna totally knows when i'm flexing for a picture hahah"

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