I just switched to hook grip on the deadlift.
I read the book and watched a ton of videos on how to do it. I used hook grip on my deadlift warmups for two weeks and then tried it for the work set. Last week I hook gripped 400 for 4 reps and switched to mixed to pull the last rep. This morning I pulled 405x5 with hook grip, and it felt fine. I'm double overhand gripping my warmups to save my thumbs for the work set.
I find it's less painful if I add Step 3.5 to the setup: squeeze the bar and thumbs as hard as I can.
It's worth it. My thumbs are a little beat up, but these are the benefits I've found:
- I can set my back better
- I have no more SI joint pain after deadlifts
- I can get a bigger breath
- It's easier to drag the bar up my legs