I used to have a career where I worked 8 am - 5 pm. For the first few years I worked this job, I would train before work between 5 am and 7:30 am. Training hard and heavy this early in the morning is daunting, and sometimes dangerous. Without realizing it, I began modifying my morning deadlift workouts to accommodate. What started as warming up with a double overhand grip turned into training deadlifts for the entire morning workout with a double overhand grip.
The double overhand grip is the hardest grip for deadlifting, the world record may be 700lbs or 317kg while Eddie Hall's record deadlift is 1102lbs or 500kg in straps!Â
Most people don’t go heavy with this grip because they want to maximize the weight on the bar, so they switch to a mixed grip (one hand supinated, one hand pronated) or they use straps. However, there are advantages to using this grip! When I was training early in the morning, this grip allowed me to continue training my deadlift HARD, but not heavy… This grip capped the weight on the bar at a safer load for my back and spine. Let’s get real: max deadlifts when you’re still half asleep in the morning isn’t the smartest way to train. With the double overhand grip, you can still train your deadlift movement pattern, put in a full effort (so it doesn’t feel easy), all while building stronger hands and forearms.
Here’s a video of me explaining the details of training the deadlift this way! We'll be including videos in all blog posts in newsletters from here on out!
Video Cliff Notes:
- Pick a weight that’s approximately 70% of your every day/comfortable max mixed grip deadlift
- Do 3-6 reps with this weight for 4-6 sets
- Set should stop when the speed of the lift slows significantly (don’t go to failure)
- Rest 4 minutes between these sets
Training the deadlift this way allows you to train the deadlift with a higher frequency, and in situations where you don’t feel 100%; This will allow you to continue training the deadlift when:
- You’re injured
- Can’t work near maximum weights
- And/or need more work on the lift but find working with lighter weights boring
If you’re in love with deadlifting, this is a great way to deadlift even more while making gains! You would be surprised how much stronger you can get on your max lifts when you train hard and smart with weights that aren’t even close to your max! Oh, and of course, the double overhand deadlift builds a massive grip that will carry over to all the other barbell lifts.
Perhaps there is a place for double overhand deadlifts in your training schedule, maybe before work in the morning!?