I remember laughing nervously last year when I was told at Luke Bremner Fitness that I'd soon be lifting "serious weights". Back then Luke had more faith in my abilities than I had in myself.
It turns out that Mr Bremner was perfectly correct of course. As each week passes, I'm able to lift slightly more weight. In fact today I was reminded that in April 2014 I was dead-lifting 40kg and then progressed to the dizzy heights of 45kg. Fast-forward twelve months and I've increased that load by 100%.
My current Thursday routine starts with a wide-grip deadlift. This is similar to a standard deadlift, except my hands are positioned much further apart on the barbell. Initially Luke significantly dropped the weight I was lifting, in order for me to get used to the exercise. Then over the past six weeks we've been gradually upping the amount again to the current level of 90kg.
During this process an area that has caused problems for me is my grip, or more importantly my lack of it! To assist me with my lifting technique I've become used to being strapped to the barbell. The downside of this is that it's not as beneficial as lifting the barbell unaided.
Whilst browsing through my copy of the excellent Becoming a Supple Leopard by Dr Kelly Starrett - also recommended to me by Mr Bremner - I discovered an item about using the 'hook grip'. Put simply, this involves wrapping my thumb around the barbell and then wrapping my fingers over my thumb.
After reading the article I decided to give it a whirl, and if I'm totally honest I've had mixed results. With some barbell exercises my grip has certainly improved, but I'm still having to use straps for the wide-grip deadlift.
So to help me improve my grip Luke introduced a new exercise to my Thursday routine. As a result I'm now hanging around a lot - quite literally! - from the pulley-machine in the personal training studio. Each week my target is to increase the length of time I can hold a dead-hang for. Last week it was 35 seconds, this week it was 40.
This will apparently strengthen my grip and reduce the need for me to be strapped to the barbell. And if today's workout is anything to go by it's already starting to pay dividends!
