Yes, lifting straps help your deadlift, but mainly by taking your hands out of the equation. In a 2020 study of 20 men, the average deadlift one-rep max was 177.0 kg with straps and 160.6 kg without, a gap of 16.4 kg. The research does not show that straps make your back and legs work harder.
That distinction matters if you train alone and keep your own records. A strap changes what a number in your logbook means, so it can also muddy your training history. This guide covers what the studies measured, how much weight straps add, what they do to bar speed and muscle use, whether they weaken your grip, when to use them, and how to log strapped sets so your progress stays comparable.
Do lifting straps help your deadlift?
Yes. Lifting straps are fabric or cotton loops that wrap around your wrists and the bar, so your grip no longer limits the lift. Studies in men and women show higher one-rep maxes and more reps per set with straps. The benefit comes from relieving the hands, not from stronger back or leg muscles.
Many lifters find their grip fails before their back or legs do, especially on heavy singles and high-rep sets. Straps remove that bottleneck. A 2026 narrative review in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance by Martins and colleagues summarised the current literature and said straps can enhance maximal strength and grip perception.
The same review was careful about what straps do not do. Its authors wrote:
"LS may increase mechanical work in the deadlift, but contrary to common belief, they appear not to contribute to increased muscle recruitment."
Martins et al., International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2026
That is the most useful sentence in the research for a self-coached lifter. Straps let you lift more weight or more reps, but the data does not show that your lats, glutes or hamstrings are working harder per kilo.
How much more can you deadlift with straps?
On average, about 16 to 17 kg more in the one-rep max, or roughly 10 percent, in resistance-trained men. In women, one trial found significantly more reps at 80 percent of one-rep max. Individual results vary, so treat the averages as a guide and test your own numbers.
The clearest figures come from a research group led by Ivan Jukic. In their 2020 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 20 resistance-trained men (average age 24.3 years) performed an incremental loading test with and without straps. Their one-rep max was 177.0 ± 28.9 kg with straps and 160.6 ± 26.0 kg without, a difference that was statistically significant (p under 0.001, effect size 0.56).
A second study from the same group, published in 2022, tested 18 resistance-trained men. Their one-rep max was 179.0 ± 29.9 kg with straps and 162.0 ± 26.9 kg without. That is a gap of 17.0 kg, or about 10.5 percent, which is consistent with the first study.
For women, a 2023 study by Trahey and colleagues in the same journal tested 10 women with an average of 3.2 years of resistance training experience. They performed three sets of as many reps as possible at 80 percent of their one-rep max, once with straps and once without. Straps produced significantly more reps, and grip strength dropped significantly less across the sets. The abstract does not report the exact rep counts, so this guide does not quote them.
| Study | Who | Test | Main finding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jukic et al., 2020 | 20 men | Incremental load test and 1RM | 1RM 177.0 kg strapped vs 160.6 kg unstrapped |
| Jukic et al., 2022 | 18 men | 1RM attempts | 1RM 179.0 kg strapped vs 162.0 kg unstrapped |
| Trahey et al., 2023 | 10 women | 3 sets of max reps at 80% 1RM | More reps and less grip loss with straps |
| PLOS ONE, 2026 | 30 men | Isometric mid-thigh pull | Higher peak force, rate of force development and impulse with straps |
A 2026 study in PLOS ONE reached a similar conclusion with a different test. Thirty men (15 judo athletes and 15 recreationally resistance-trained students) performed an isometric mid-thigh pull with and without straps. Peak force, rate of force development and impulse were all higher with straps (p under 0.05), which the authors read as straps reducing the influence of grip limits on maximal force.
Every study listed here used young, resistance-trained participants, mostly men. Older lifters, novices and people with weaker hands may see a different gap.
Do straps change bar speed or muscle use?
Not at submaximal loads, and probably not muscle use either. In a 2022 study of 16 men, mean velocity, peak velocity, mean power and peak power did not differ significantly between strapped and unstrapped deadlifts at 20, 40, 60 and 80 percent of the unstrapped one-rep max. The difference only appears as the weight gets heavy.
The 2020 Jukic study found that bar speed at a given percentage of one-rep max was higher without straps, with larger gaps at heavier loads. That sounds odd until you remember that the strapped one-rep max is higher in kilos. Eighty percent of 177 kg is a heavier bar than 80 percent of 160.6 kg, so the strapped lifter is moving more weight at the same percentage.
Two further findings matter if you use velocity or fatigue data:
- Velocity-based one-rep max estimates get worse with straps. In the 2022 Jukic study, six prediction models produced absolute errors of 6.6 to 8.1 kg without straps and 12.4 to 16.3 kg with straps. None met the authors' threshold of 5 kg.
- Straps did not reduce velocity loss within a set. A 2023 study of 16 men performing four sets of four reps at 80 percent of one-rep max found that straps were not effective at reducing velocity decline when the same absolute load was lifted.
On muscle use, the 2026 Martins review is the best summary available. It found no consistent effects of straps on pulling and back exercises and said they appear not to increase muscle recruitment. It also said the idea that straps help muscle growth over months is still a hypothesis, because no study has tested chronic use.
Will lifting straps weaken your grip?
Nobody knows yet. The Martins review states that no scientific evidence supports the chronic effects of strap use in training, good or bad. The studies above measured single sessions, not months of training, so claims that straps ruin grip strength or protect it are both unsupported.
What the research does show is acute: in the 2023 study of women, grip strength dropped less across three hard sets when straps were worn. That makes sense, because the hands were doing less of the work.
Grip is a trainable trait, and it responds to the load you put through it. A sensible reading of the evidence is that if you strap every set of every session, your hands get less direct work on the deadlift. That is a logical inference, not a measured result. The 2026 PLOS ONE study found a 6.6 kg difference in grip strength between judo athletes (51.3 ± 3.4 kg) and resistance-trained students (44.7 ± 3.3 kg), which shows that hand strength varies a lot between people.
If grip matters for your goals, train it on purpose with heavy holds, double overhand sets and carries instead of hoping the deadlift will do it for you.
When should you use lifting straps?
Use straps on sets where your hands fail before your back and legs, which usually means your heaviest sets and your high-rep back-off sets. Train lighter sets and warm-ups without them. That way you get the load on the target muscles and still give your grip regular work.
A practical approach for a self-coached lifter:
- Start unstrapped. Use a double overhand grip for warm-ups and early working sets, and a hook or mixed grip if you need it for top sets.
- Add straps when grip is the limiter. If you drop the bar while your back and legs still feel capable, that is the signal. Judge it with RPE: if the set feels like an 8 for your legs and a 10 for your hands, grip is the problem.
- Keep some raw work in the week. One unstrapped top set or a dedicated grip block keeps your hands progressing.
- Know your sport's rules. Most powerlifting federations, including the IPF, do not allow straps on the platform, so competitors need to train raw grip.
- Match the lift to the aim. On a Romanian deadlift day aimed at hamstring size, straps let you work close to the muscles' limit. The Romanian vs conventional deadlift guide explains how those lifts differ.
If your deadlift has stalled for weeks, look at programming, recovery and effort before reaching for straps. The strength plateau guide covers that checklist.
How do you track strapped and unstrapped deadlifts?
Record every strapped set with a note, and compare like with like. A strapped set at the same weight can mean different effort, and a strapped one-rep max sits roughly 16 to 17 kg above a raw one in the research samples. Mixing the two in one trend line makes your progress look faster than it is.
That gap also distorts estimates. The estimated one-rep max guide explains the formulas behind those numbers, and they take no account of equipment. If you log a strapped set of five and a raw set of five at the same weight, the formulas will treat them as equal even though the effort was not.
IronLedger records weight, reps and RPE in half steps (or RIR) on each set, with free-text notes that stay in your history, as listed on the product page. It has no strap field, so you would type "straps" into the set note by hand. That is enough to filter your history later and compare matching sessions on the progress analytics page.
A simple method:
- Pick one deadlift variation and repeat it at the same weight over several sessions.
- Alternate strapped and unstrapped top sets, noting which is which.
- Compare reps and RPE at matching loads. The RPE workout tracker guide covers how to rate effort.
- Label strapped personal records separately. The personal record tracker guide explains how to keep PRs meaningful.
For other fields worth capturing, see the workout tracking metrics guide. The same logic applies to other equipment, and the lifting belt guide covers how belted squats change your numbers.
What mistakes should you avoid with lifting straps?
Most mistakes come from treating straps as either cheating or a free upgrade. They are a tool that raises what you can lift on the day. The errors below are the ones that distort your records or leave your hands underprepared.
- Strapping every warm-up set. Light sets are not limited by grip, so you gain nothing and skip easy hand work.
- Mixing strapped and raw data. A 16 kg average gap means a strapped PR overstates progress if you compare it with a raw one.
- Assuming straps build more muscle. The 2026 review found no evidence of added muscle recruitment, and no study has tested long-term growth.
- Trusting velocity-based estimates with straps. Prediction errors rose to 12.4 to 16.3 kg in the 2022 study, so use rep and RPE data instead.
- Generalising from young trained men. Most of the evidence comes from that group, so test the effect yourself.
- Using straps to hide a technique problem. If the bar drifts away from you, a better grip will not fix it.
| Question | With straps | Without straps |
|---|---|---|
| Deadlift 1RM | About 16 to 17 kg higher in two male samples | Lower baseline |
| Reps at 80% 1RM | Significantly more in 10 women | Fewer, with grip failing first |
| Bar speed at submaximal loads | No significant difference in 16 men | No significant difference |
| Muscle recruitment | No increase found in the 2026 review | Same |
| Grip fatigue across sets | Significantly less grip loss | More grip loss |
| Long-term grip effects | Unknown | Unknown |
Frequently asked questions
Yes. In studies of men and women, straps raised the deadlift one-rep max by about 16 to 17 kg and added reps at 80 percent of one-rep max. They work by relieving grip, not by adding muscle.
Sources and references
- Jukic et al., The use of lifting straps alters the entire load-velocity profile during the deadlift exercise — 20 men; 1RM 177.0 vs 160.6 kg; higher velocity at each %1RM without straps (2020).
- Jukic et al., Validity of load-velocity relationship to predict 1RM during deadlifts performed with and without lifting straps — 18 men; 1RM 179.0 vs 162.0 kg; prediction errors 6.6 to 8.1 kg without and 12.4 to 16.3 kg with straps (2022).
- Jukic et al., Magnitude and reliability of velocity and power variables during deadlifts performed with and without lifting straps — 16 men; no significant differences in velocity or power at 20 to 80% of 1RM (2022).
- Trahey et al., The effect of lifting straps on deadlift performance in females — 10 women; significantly more reps and less grip loss with straps (2023).
- Martins et al., Are lifting straps a game changer for resistance training or an overrated tool? — narrative review; no added muscle recruitment; chronic effects unsupported (2026).
- Velocity-based resistance training monitoring: influence of lifting straps, reference repetitions, and variable selection in resistance-trained men — 16 men; straps did not reduce velocity decline at the same absolute load (2023).
- Influence of lifting straps on force, rate of force development and impulse outputs during isometric mid-thigh pull — 30 men; higher peak force with straps; grip strength 51.3 vs 44.7 kg between groups (2026).
- IronLedger product page — per-set RPE in half steps, RIR and notes kept in history.
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