How to Use Lifting Straps: Deadlift Setup, Step by Step

Lifting straps do one job: they keep your hands attached to the bar when your grip would otherwise give out before the target muscle does. On a heavy set of deadlifts, rows or shrugs, the back and legs can usually keep going long after the fingers have started to open. Straps close that gap.

They are simple to use and almost everyone gets them slightly wrong the first few times. Here is the setup, then the detail.

How to use lifting straps, step by step

1. Thread the tail through the loop. Most straps are a single length of material with a sewn loop at one end. Push the free end through that loop to make a collar you can slip your hand into.
2. Put your hand through the collar. The tail should come off the palm side of your hand, not the back. Tighten the collar at the base of your wrist so it sits snug without cutting in.
3. Set your hand on the bar. Take your normal grip and position, with the tail hanging down past the bar.
4. Wrap the tail under and around the bar. Pull it under the bar and back over the top, wrapping toward you. Two wraps is typical; one is enough on lighter sets, three if the tail is long.
5. Roll the bar back into your hand. This is the step people miss. With the wrap in place, roll the bar slightly toward you to cinch the strap tight, then close your fist hard over the wrap.
6. Pull the slack out and lift. Take the tension, feel the strap bite, then start the rep. If it slips, unwrap and redo it — a loose strap is worse than none.

Do one hand, then the other. On a deadlift, most lifters set the strap on their weaker-grip hand first.

Which strap type suits which lift

The wrapping method above covers lasso-style straps, which is what most people mean by lifting straps. Spinto's range covers four shapes:

• SP-23 Basic Lifting Straps ($7.99) — plain cotton lasso straps. The cheapest way to find out whether you like lifting with straps at all.
• Padded Lifting Straps ($12.99) — the same lasso design with padding at the wrist, which matters more than it sounds on high-rep shrugs and rack pulls.
• Heavy-Duty Lifting Straps ($19.99) — heavier material for people who strap up often and go heavy.
• Figure 8 Lifting Straps ($19.99) — a closed loop rather than a tail. You thread your hand through, loop under the bar and back through. No wrapping, no slipping, but you cannot bail out mid-rep. Strongman and heavy deadlift work.
• Olympic Lifting Straps ($14.99) — shorter, designed to release quickly, for snatch and clean work where you do not want to be tied to a bar overhead.

The full range is in Straps & Wrist Wraps.

Straps are not wrist wraps

These get confused constantly, including in product listings. A lifting strap wraps around the bar and holds your hands to it on pulling movements. A wrist wrap goes around your wrist and holds the joint steady on pressing movements. Different product, different lift, different problem. If your grip is failing, you want straps. If your wrist folds back under a heavy bench, you want wraps.

Five mistakes worth avoiding

• Wrapping the wrong way. The tail should wrap toward you, under the bar and over the top. Wrapped the other way it unrolls as soon as you pull.
• Not rolling the bar. Without that final roll the wrap stays loose and slides. This is the single most common reason people decide straps do not work.
• Strapping up for everything. If you never train without them, the grip work never happens. Most lifters strap the top sets and leave the warm-ups and back-off sets bare.
• Using them on a bar you might need to drop. Straps tie you to the bar. That is the point, and it is also the risk on anything overhead or anything you may need to bail from.
• Leaving them twisted. A twisted strap concentrates pressure on one line across the palm. Lay it flat before you roll.

When to leave them in the bag

Straps make sense once grip is the limiting factor and the set matters — heavy deadlifts, rack pulls, shrugs, high-rep rows, farmer's walks over distance. They make less sense on warm-ups, on anything where you want grip to be trained, and on lifts you might have to drop. Plenty of lifters also keep them off anything they would have to do raw in competition.

If your hands are the problem for reasons other than raw grip — tearing, callus, the bar rolling — chalk or grips may suit you better than straps. Chalk blocks and liquid chalk address a slipping bar; leather lifting grips and gloves address the skin.

Looking after them

Cotton straps hold sweat. Air them out rather than leaving them balled in a gym bag, wash them occasionally, and replace them when the stitching at the loop starts to go — that is where they fail, and they fail suddenly.

FAQ

Which way do lifting straps go on?
The tail comes off the palm side of your hand, so that when you take your grip the tail hangs down past the bar ready to wrap underneath it.

How many times should I wrap the bar?
Two wraps suits most lifters and most bar diameters. One is enough on lighter sets, three if you have a long tail left over. What matters more is rolling the bar back into your hand to cinch it.

Can I use lifting straps for bench press?
No. Straps are for pulling movements. For pressing, the wrist is what needs holding steady, and that is a wrist wrap.

Do lifting straps work on any bar?
They work on straight bars, trap bars, dumbbells and most machine handles. Thicker bars eat more of the tail, so a longer strap or a figure-8 is easier on fat bars.

Are figure-8 straps better than lasso straps?
They hold more securely and take less setup, but you cannot release them quickly mid-rep. That makes them good for heavy deadlifts and a poor choice for anything you might need to bail out of.