Fat Gripz or Fat Bar?

[FJRC7]

I’m trying to decide whether to buy fat gripz or a fat bar. I’ve been doing SS for a couple of months, and my grip is becoming the weak link in the deadlift. After doing some searching on these forums, it appears that the best solution to this problem is a back off set of DL after the normal work set, but using a fat bar. I workout at home, and I have minimal money and space for additional equipment, so I am attracted to fat gripz over the fat bar. But I was hoping for some opinions on 1) whether fat gripz are a reasonable alternative and 2) the utility of owning a fat bar and how valuable of an addition it could be to my equipment arsenal. Also, if the fat bar is the way to go, any recommendations on what and where to buy would be appreciated also.

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

You could also do towel pull ups which are very cheap.

[FJRC7]

Good suggestion. I like cheap. Although my pull up strength is pretty meager to begin with, so I'm not sure whether this would help me build my grip until I am able to crank out some reps with it. Maybe I could just do as many reps as possible and then hang to build the grip more.

[MattJ.D.]

I bought fat gripz and felt they were useless not because they didn't work ,but when I would add them to the end of the work(my last workout of the week, when I always deadlift) my grip and back were fatigued so doing extra work was just out of the question; I just couldn't find a place to actually use them. Just my 2 cents

[Chode]

When you say ur grip strength is becoming an issue - have you used different grip setups? over/under or hook?

[Jsutt]

When you say ur grip strength is becoming an issue - have you used different grip setups? over/under or hook?

I also understood that there's nothing wrong with using straps early if you're not planning to be a competitive lifter.

[MattJ.D.]

I also understood that there's nothing wrong with using straps early if you're not planning to be a competitive lifter.

yeah if you want forearm development of a girl..if you can't DOH 315 somethings wrong

[FJRC7]

When you say ur grip strength is becoming an issue - have you used different grip setups? over/under or hook?

Yes, I'm using a hook grip now, and I have tried a mixed grip, but it does not seem helpful. It seems I have fat, short hands, which, according to others' comments in the threads I researched, are less than ideal for deadlifting. Of course I'm using chalk too. And if it's helpful, I pulled 305 last workout, so it's not a whole heck of a lot of weight for my grip to be giving me problems.

[FJRC7]

if you can't DOH 315 somethings wrong

Something's wrong then. And this is odd to me, because I'm usually the guy that ends up crushing others' hands in a handshake. I think the problem is the proportions of my hand.

[FJRC7]

I bought fat gripz and felt they were useless not because they didn't work ,but when I would add them to the end of the work(my last workout of the week, when I always deadlift) my grip and back were fatigued so doing extra work was just out of the question; I just couldn't find a place to actually use them. Just my 2 cents

And thanks for this comment. I wondered about that too, seeing as how my grip is toast after struggling with the work set. I suppose this would be a problem with a fat bar as well.