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When I deadlift, I'm using left hand over, right hand under. Are there any differences if I switch the hands? Are there any benefits to switching or cons to not switching?

Eric
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Steven
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    If you use the same hand position for your mixed grip for every rep that you need to, you can eventually develop muscle imbalances. It's easy to switch which hand is over and which is under either between reps, or between sets. – Alex L Aug 23 '15 at 21:38
  • Which muscles correlate with each grip? – Steven Aug 23 '15 at 22:04
  • @Steven I think the muscles are the same (or close enough) but the angles are different. – Eric Aug 24 '15 at 02:32
  • Also, I edited the title to "mixed grip" since that's the normal term used. Related q/a: http://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/6017/mixed-versus-overhand-grip-on-deadlifts – Eric Aug 24 '15 at 02:34
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    I'm guessing you use mixed grip because otherwise it fails? For this reason I always begin with a pronated grip and use this for as much as I can, so my grip gets stronger as well, and then I switch hands for the mixed grip. – Tobias Sjösten Aug 24 '15 at 09:05
  • I'm tempted to say no. Just like Tobias, I try to use a 'regular grip' as long as possible, which means I only do my last set with mixed grip. I'm pretty sure those 5+ reps won't cause a significant muscle imbalance. – Nathan Aug 24 '15 at 10:55
  • It's not necessary; it's beneficial though. – Kneel-Before-ZOD Aug 25 '15 at 02:43
  • No one's mentioned the 'hook-grip', which may be a good solution if the OP is feeling anxeity over over-under. I personally always hook-grip. – Nathan Sep 08 '15 at 17:00

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Ideally, on all of your lighter sets, you'd be using a double-overhand grip (both palms facing you) to actually work your grip as well as the rest of the posterior chain. If you keep your mixed grip work to just the heaviest sets, it doesn't matter as much if you switch them. Yes, the muscles of the forearm and shoulder end up getting loaded differently, so if you deadlift heavy, often, you might develop imbalances. But if you're a competitive power-lifter, that's probably an ok trade-off, and if you're not, you probably aren't deadlifting so heavy or so often that you need to worry anyways.

FWIW, I used to switch up my mixed grip pretty regularly, but over the past few years, have settled on having my right hand switched on the heaviest sets, and haven't had any issues at all. Yet.

Dustin Kreidler
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