How to Use Lifting Straps for Deadlifts and Rows

Lifting straps help when your grip gives out before your back does on heavy deadlifts, rack pulls, rows and shrugs. A strap ties the bar to a loop around your wrist, so your fingers hold less of the load. With a conventional loop strap, run the tail toward your thumb, take it under the bar and back over once, then roll the bar toward you to tighten. Open your hand and a single wrap loosens. A figure-8 strap keeps you attached even if your grip relaxes, but you can't get out until the bar is set down.

What straps do and when they help

Once the strap is tight, the loop around your wrist takes more of the weight and your hands and forearms take less, as StrengthLog explains. That helps on pulls where grip is the limit. Barbell Logic points to heavy rack pulls and high-volume sets, and Rogue lists deadlifts, rows and shrugs.

The research is short-term. In a study of 20 men, deadlift 1RM averaged 177.0 kg with straps and 160.6 kg without (Jukic and colleagues, 2020). Ten women managed more reps at 80% of their strapless 1RM when strapped (Trahey and colleagues, 2023). Neither study followed lifters through months of training. A 2026 review by Martins and colleagues found no evidence on long-term effects and inconsistent results on other back exercises. One study found no 1RM benefit on the lat pulldown.

Straps don't strengthen your grip or support the wrist joint, and they aren't meant for pressing or squatting.

Lifting straps vs wrist wraps

Both get called "wrist straps", but they do different jobs. A wrist wrap is thicker and winds around the wrist joint to support it, mainly when you press (Gymreapers). A lifting strap connects your hand to the bar so you can pull. For the bench press, look at wrist wraps.

How to put on a loop strap

How the loop fits your wrist

A conventional loop strap, also called a lasso strap, is one length of webbing with a loop sewn at one end. The tail passes back through that loop to make a wrist cuff (Jim Schmitz, IronMind). Our Cursed lifting straps work this way. A pad sits inside the sewn loop, each strap measures 56 x 3.5 cm, and they're sold as a pair. Brands use names such as "closed loop" for different designs, so judge a strap by how it's sewn rather than by what it's called.

1. Match each strap to its hand. The direction the tail runs through the sewn loop makes a strap left- or right-handed. A Cursed pair comes threaded as a mirrored left and right, so if you unthread one, rethread it to mirror the other.
2. Put your hand through the cuff. The tail should cross your palm toward your thumb and come out between your thumb and index finger (StrengthLog). If it runs the other way, you're holding the other hand's strap.
3. Snug the cuff. It should sit around the wrist just below the hand, not up on the forearm, without cutting off circulation. Tuff Wraps suggests you should still be able to slide a finger underneath.

Wrapping and tightening on the bar

1. Start with your non-dominant hand. Your dominant hand is then free to help wrap it (The Art of Manliness). The second strap is fiddlier because one hand is already on the bar, so expect it to take practice (StrengthLog).
2. Set your hand on the bar. Rest your open hand on top of the bar, with the tail hanging down on your side of it.
3. Wrap under, then over. Push the tail under the bar, away from your body, and bring it back over the top toward your palm (EliteFTS).
4. Stop at one wrap. Most coaching sources, including Schmitz, Barbell Logic and EliteFTS, teach one wrap, and it releases fastest. StrengthLog allows one or two. Extra turns add bulk in your hand and slow the release.
5. Close your hand and roll the bar toward you. Curl your fingers over the strap so the bar is sandwiched between strap and hand. Then roll the bar toward you, or roll your wrist, until there's no gap between hand, strap and bar (Barbell Logic).
6. Strap the second hand. Repeat the wrap and make both straps equally tight.
7. Lock your grip before you pull. Barbell Logic warns that on the deadlift a loose grip lets the strap draw the bar forward, off your legs.
8. Test it light. Make your first strapped set a light one, so you can check the tension and wrap direction before the heavy work (Tuff Wraps).

Rows use the same setup, and Gymreapers lists both barbell and dumbbell rows among the lifts straps suit. If you row with an underhand grip, StrengthLog says the wrap reverses: over the bar first instead of under.

Loop straps vs figure-8 straps

A figure-8 strap is one band crossed into two loops. Your wrist goes through one loop, the other loop passes under the bar, and the same hand goes through that too. You stay attached even if your grip relaxes. The cost is the release. Harbinger says its figure-8 has no quick release, so opening your hand won't free you.

Our 4-Star figure-8 straps are padded nylon, sold as a pair in one size that fits most, with a 6-month warranty. These steps follow Rogue's and Harbinger's instructions.

1. Put your wrist through one loop.
2. Pass the other loop under the bar. Rogue describes swinging it under.
3. Put the same hand through the second loop. Both loops now sit on one wrist.
4. Grip the bar and the strap firmly. Rogue says both need a firm grip before you lift.
5. Set the bar down to get out.

Figure-8 straps on rows

Sources split here. Our Dawn and Wisdom figure-8 listings name heavy rows as a use. The 4-Star listing names deadlifts and heavy pulls. Tuff Wraps advises against figure-8s on rows, pulldowns, snatches or anything you might need to release mid-set. StrengthLog and Gymreapers keep them off the Olympic lifts and any lift you may need to bail from. Ask whether you'd ever want to drop a row before the set ends. If you would, use loop straps. If you always finish the set and lower the bar first, a figure-8 is a reasonable choice. Our lifting straps collection has both types.

Common setup mistakes and letting go

• A loose cuff or wrap. Tuff Wraps calls a loose loop the most common setup mistake, and Gymreapers lists a loose strap among the most common errors.
• A wrap against the bar's rotation. Tuff Wraps says a tail that unwinds mid-pull was wrapped against the bar's rotation. Rewrap so that rolling the bar toward you tightens the strap.
• A wad of strap in your palm. EliteFTS warns that webbing rolled into a ball usually won't release when you try to bail. Cursed straps are 56 cm long, so let the spare tail hang rather than winding it into your hand.
• Straps on lifts you may need to escape. Schmitz says never to strap squat cleans, and StrengthLog calls a strapped front-squat rack position "difficult and dangerous" if you need to bail.
• Worn straps. Check the webbing and stitching. Schmitz notes that a strap blowing out mid-lift is "quite startling".

With one wrap, a loop strap loosens as soon as you open your hand, as EliteFTS and The Art of Manliness describe. Extra turns or a balled-up tail make that release slower and less reliable.

Straps and grip training

Straps don't replace grip work, and nobody has shown that they weaken your grip either. The Martins review treats long-term effects of strap use, good or bad, as untested. As StrengthLog puts it, nothing stops you training your grip separately. Treat that as sensible practice rather than a proven requirement.

Coaches tend to ration straps. Barbell Logic adds them only to the heaviest or highest-rep sets and suggests trying other grip options, such as the hook grip, first. Schmitz advises against straps in warm-ups and makes new lifters wait about three months before they strap their pulls. The Art of Manliness author starts his warm-ups without them.

If you compete

As of October 2026, lifting straps aren't on the permitted equipment list in the IPF 2026 rulebook, or in the USAPL, USPA and IPL rules. USPA and IPL make one exception. A lifter missing at least 50% of their fingers, including the thumb, may use a strap in the deadlift, on the affected hand only and attached only at the wrist. Strongman rules vary by event. Strongman Corporation's Wrath of the Strongest 2025, for example, allowed straps of all kinds in its car deadlift. If you'll deadlift on a powerlifting platform, pull your heavy singles without straps in training, as the Art of Manliness author does.

Sources

1. Lifting Straps 101: Types, Benefits & Proper Use, StrengthLog, accessed 2 October 2026.
2. How to Use Lifting Straps for Deadlifts, Barbell Logic, accessed 2 October 2026.
3. Rogue Ohio Lifting Straps, Rogue Fitness, accessed 2 October 2026.
4. The Use of Lifting Straps Alters the Entire Load-Velocity Profile During the Deadlift Exercise (Jukic et al., Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2020), PubMed, accessed 2 October 2026.
5. The Effect of Lifting Straps on Deadlift Performance in Females (Trahey et al., Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2023), PubMed, accessed 2 October 2026.
6. Are Lifting Straps a Game Changer for Resistance Training or an Overrated Tool? An Exploratory Review of Current Evidence and Future Research Directions (Martins et al., International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2026), PubMed, accessed 2 October 2026.
7. The effects of lifting straps in maximum strength, number of repetitions and muscle activation during lat pull-down (Valério et al., Sports Biomechanics, 2021), PubMed, accessed 2 October 2026.
8. How To Use Lifting Straps, Gymreapers, accessed 2 October 2026.
9. Straps - What, How, Why, and When to Use Them (Jim Schmitz), IronMind, accessed 2 October 2026.
10. How to Use Lifting Straps, Tuff Wraps, accessed 2 October 2026.
11. How to Use Lifting Straps to Level Up Your Strength Training, The Art of Manliness, accessed 2 October 2026.
12. How to Use Lifting Straps: A Simple Tutorial, EliteFTS, accessed 2 October 2026.
13. Figure 8 Padded Lifting Straps, Harbinger Fitness, accessed 2 October 2026.
14. Rogue Heavy Duty Figure 8 Lifting Straps, Rogue Fitness, accessed 2 October 2026.
15. Figure 8 Lifting Straps vs Olympic Weightlifting Straps, Gymreapers, accessed 2 October 2026.
16. 2026 IPF Technical Rulebook (effective 1 March 2026, v3), International Powerlifting Federation, accessed 2 October 2026.
17. USA Powerlifting Rulebook, Version 2026.2, USA Powerlifting, accessed 2 October 2026.
18. USPA Technical Rules, 24 March 2025, United States Powerlifting Association, accessed 2 October 2026.
19. IPL Technical Rules, 10 May 2025 (V2), International Powerlifting League, accessed 2 October 2026.
20. Wrath of the Strongest 2025 entry form and rules, Strongman Corporation, accessed 2 October 2026.