Hey Vinh, glad you liked the article. It’s normal to have differences in your hands depending on whether you’re right handed or left handed. As long as the diameter is bigger than the bar and enough to hook onto the bar, then you’ll be ok.

Oh also, my thumb length is only 5.2cm long, so at least I have data that shows how difficult it is for me to do the hook grip.

I stumped upon this article because I wanted to learn how to hook grip with my small hands and thought I was being a little baby due to people reporting how uncomfortable it can be in the beginning. I wanted to know about your thoughts on the diameter of your hands when gripping the bar vs comparing the length of the thumb for the hook grip. The reason why I ask is because if I were to touch the tip of my index finger to the tip of my thumb (making the letter O) and compared both hands side by side, my right hand has a noticeably smaller diameter than the left. This is due to the Abductor Pollicis Brevis muscle on my right hand is bigger.

Hey Barrett, glad you like it 🙂

Hey Tom, sure thing. Basically compensation #3 is an example of too much internal rotation while Pain #3 usually results from limited internal rotation. In China, the elbow should not point directly out to the sides but rather slightly behind to assure enough tension in your back. However, you don’t want to point the elbows behind you or try to “bend the bar”. Makes sense?

Hello Patrick,

Kettlebell (KB) sport uses the term “hook grip” but it has a different meaning. Additionally, to avoid tearing your hands during a KB snatch, some KB practitioners recommend moving the KB handle from the base of your fingers to the heel of your palm. Because of the regripping, a weightlifting hook grip might not be optimal in this situation. Hope this helps!

Thanks for a great article, a much more in depth look at the topic than we normally get. I really liked your explanation of how the thumb IR inherent to hook grip contributes to the strength and stability of the arm as a whole.

It reminds me of an article by Kate Galliet I read a while ago discussing how weak ‘tech hand’ postures contributed to by typing, writing, phone use etc have implications for the strength of the upper body as a whole.

Makes me curious about how thumb IR might play into that picture, and have a role in helping arm-sedentary people get more strength.

Do you think hook grip has any application in things like kettlebell-ing or heavy swinging? From an IR perspective, even if the thumb is not actually inside the grip, just being used in a lower and more internally rotated position? With hook grip perhaps being used as an aid to train the position?