Pronated Vs Supinated Grip: Which One To Use For Your Workout?

Your grip is often something that’s overlooked despite grip strength being a vital factor in performance. The way you grip something has a big difference in several exercise components. This includes muscle activation, training volume, and grip strength itself. 

Because of this, we’ve compared two popular grips — the pronated vs. supinated grip. We explain what they both are, their benefits and drawbacks, and when to use them. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about these two popular grips.

Definition Of Pronated And Supinated Grip

The difference in hand placements offers some distinctions between the two types of grips. This changes the benefits and suitable uses. First, let’s take a look at the definitions of both grip types.

What Is Pronation?

A pronated grip, also known as an overhand grip, is commonly used for most strength-based movements. This means that in most cases, your palms are facing away from you and knuckles will be facing towards you. Your hands will technically be on top of the bar or the weight you’re holding. 

In some cases, however, the position of your palms and knuckles depends on the exercise. Some exercise movements move your palms to face towards you at certain points. 

For example, in the clean and jerk, you start with a pronated grip, palms facing towards your body. As you perform the jerk movement, your palms are facing away from you but still in a pronated position. This is a key point to bear in mind when considering what grip you’re using.

What Is Supination?

A supinated grip, also known as an underhand grip, is commonly used for most smaller muscle movements such as bicep curls. Additionally, larger movements such as chin-ups use the supinated grip.

This means that your palms are generally facing upward and toward your body. Your knuckles will be facing downwards. When using a supinated grip, your hands will technically be below the weight you’re holding.

Like the pronated grip, your hands and knuckles will face in different directions to what is stated above depending on the exercise. When thinking about what grip you’re using, think about the start of the exercise.

Benefits Of The Pronated Grip

Using a pronated or overhand grip comes with some distinct benefits. These are the main ones:

Increase Functional Strength

Resistance training is well-known to improve functional performance. This is especially the case in older populations who need to combat a progressive decrease in mobility and muscle mass. 

Most of your major functional strength lifts require a pronated grip. This allows you to generate more power and lift using a safer hand position.

What’s great about the functional strength lifts is that they translate into better performance in daily activities. Tasks such as picking children up from the floor resemble parts of the deadlift movement. Putting the shopping away overhead represents parts of the overhead press. 

This means that using a pronated grip can increase functional strength. These functional movements become more efficient as you’re better at using the grip and arm position needed.

Better Lat Engagement

If your main goal is strength and power generation, use a pronated grip for your main strength lifts. A supinated grip can be used, but it won’t allow you to generate as much power. 

This is because a pronated grip provides better lat activation than when using a supinated grip. The lats are a large muscle group that covers most of the back musculature and are responsible for pulling power. Therefore, better activation may improve power generation. 

In a study comparing different grips, a higher peak force was shown when using a pronated grip. Results showed a maximum force of approximately 75–80 kilograms of force. This was a difference of around 2–3 kilograms of force compared to the supinated grip.

Results did show similar lat activation between both grip types. This could be explained by the specific exercise movement. In this case, a cable seated row was used.

Supinated Grip Benefits

Like the pronated grip, using a supinated or underhand grip also has certain advantages. These are the main ones:

Greater Biceps And Forearms Activation 

Perhaps the best benefit of using a supinated grip is that it leads to more bicep and forearm activation. This bigger stimulus can improve both of these smaller muscle groups when it comes to strength and muscle growth. 

When you’re doing the main pulling movement such as chin-ups and pulldowns, you’ll still be largely using your back. However, the biceps and forearms will still be more activated when compared to using a pronated grip. 

Therefore, using a supinated grip for some movement can still keep the focus on the target muscles. At the same time, you can increase bicep and forearm activation.

Better Grip Strength

The position in which you grip the weight influences your grip strength. Generally speaking, a supinated grip leads to better grip strength when compared to a pronated grip. This is mainly due to the way your palms are facing. 

While this can allow you to lift more, it’s not the best grip for strength-based movements. This is due to the reduced safety and power generation. However, it does benefit you for the high-volume accessory movements typically performed.

Can Train With More Volume

Whatever your training goal, exercise volume is an important determinant. In multiple studies, it’s been identified as the main determinant of muscular hypertrophy.

While a pronated grip may lead to more lat activation, a supinated grip can provide a useful tool. If you’re performing a lot of volume and starting to fatigue, switch to a supinated grip. Because it involves the biceps and forearms more, it can help you perform more training volume. 

Using a supinated grip for the reverse grip variations can help add exercise variety and improve training volume as well.

Drawbacks Of The Pronated Grip

To present an impartial view, we need to mention the potential drawbacks of using a pronated grip. These are some of the main ones to consider:

Weaker Grip Strength

When compared to the supinated grip, you generally have less grip strength. This is mainly due to the overhand position of the palms and fingers. This is why a lot of advanced lifters use a mixed grip when progressing to heavier weights.

If you’re performing higher rep work using smaller accessory movements, a pronated grip is generally fine. This gives you a trade-off between better lat activation and lower grip strength when using the pronated grip. 

However, grip strength is a major determinant of powerlifting performance. For this reason, a pronated hook or mixed grip is commonly used.

Neglect of Smaller Muscles

As mentioned above, the pronated grip is better for large muscle activation. This is good for power generation in movements where that is the main goal. However, only lifting with a pronated grip may neglect the smaller muscles. 

While the biceps and forearms generally play secondary roles in the major movements, they still need to function correctly. Part of this is performing specific isolation movements to build their strength and power. 

To ensure you don’t neglect the smaller muscles, switch between grips based on the exercise. Use a pronated grip for most of your compound movements. Switch to a supinated grip toward the end or for the accessory ones.

Supinated Grip Drawbacks

Here are the main supinated grip drawbacks to consider when deciding which one is best.

Possible Biceps Strain 

The supinated grip provides more bicep activation. However, if volume and intensity are not properly managed, this can lead to potential biceps strain from overtraining.

Resistance training is good but muscles need time to recover. A minimum of 48–72 hours is suggested between muscle groups. That’s why it’s great to use a mixture of the two main grip types alongside the neutral grip. 

It’s important to mention that the supinated grip is not classed as dangerous. It just needs to be correctly integrated into an exercise routine.

Not For Pressing Movements

One of the biggest drawbacks to consider when using the supinated grip is that you shouldn’t do strength-based pressing movements. Examples include bench presses and overhead presses. 

The hand position may cause the weight to easily slip. When this happens, the chances of your grip failing are much higher. Make sure you consider the risks when using the supinated grip in any of the strength-based movements.

When To Use A Pronated Grip?

Common competition lifts in Crossfit, powerlifting, and weightlifting mainly use a pronated hook grip. Most strength-based exercises should be performed using one. In most cases, this allows better power generation and provides a safer exercise movement. 

This is because the pronated grip allows for better lat engagement which can lead to more force production. Alongside this, a pronated grip is a much safer option in most pressing movements.

Use a pronated grip at the start of your workout when you’re performing the compound, strength-based movements. This allows you to perform the harder movements with more force generation when your energy levels are still high.

For many of the exercises below, a reverse grip can also be used. This means that it would become a supinated grip. However, the pronated grip is generally the better option when performance is the key thing to focus on.

These are some of the main exercises that commonly use a pronated grip:

• Deadlifts.
• Barbell Rows.
• Overhead Presses.
• Bench Presses.
• Clean and Jerks.
• Back Squats.

When To Use The Supinated Grip?

The pronated grip should be used for the majority of your strength-based exercises. However, if you want to develop well-rounded strength across your back and arms, use the supinated grip as well. This can be generally done towards the second half or the end of your workout. 

The main reason is that the supinated grip offers better bicep and forearm activation. It also helps with grip strength and allows you to train with a much larger volume. Because of these reasons, it’s much better for your high-volume accessory work after the main movements.

If you want to change grips, you don’t have to wait for different exercises. This can also be done between sets when performing the same exercise. For example, switch from a barbell row to a reverse grip barbell row using a supinated hand position.

If your program is designed to focus on building your biceps and forearms, most of your work will likely be done using a supinated grip. 

Most of your main elbow flexor movements will use a supinated grip. A neutral or pronated grip is then used for the variations. 

A supinated grip can be also used with many common pulling exercises. These use the same movement pattern as the pronated version but with a different hand position. Here are some of the main movements to consider:

• Chin-ups.
• Bicep Curls.
• Preacher Curls.
• Reverse Grip Barbell Rows.
• Reverse Grip Lat Pulldowns.
• Reverse Grip Tricep Pushdowns.

What About The Neutral Grip?

The neutral grip, as also known as the hammer grip, can be seen as the middle ground between the pronated and supinated grip. In most cases, it involves your palms facing each other with your knuckles facing in opposite directions. 

Even if it’s not as widely used, a neutral grip offers several potential benefits that make it worthwhile. It should be programmed alongside the pronated and supinated grip as part of a well-organized routine. 

One of the main benefits of using a neutral grip is that it can put less stress on your shoulders when lifting. This is because your arms are in a neutral position when your palms are facing each other. 

The shoulders are one of the most commonly injured body parts when resistance training. They account for 7.4% of all injuries across the main weight training sports. This may be caused by specific exercise demands and excess stress when performing the same movement patterns.

Another benefit of a neutral grip is that it can target your brachialis. This is a small muscle located underneath your bicep muscle. For this reason, it’s often regarded as part of the biceps brachii. 

As a key elbow flexor, the brachialis contributes to upper-arm thickness and function.

These are some of the common neutral grip exercises to focus on:

• Bicep Hammer Curls.
• Trap Bar Deadlifts.
• Tricep Pushdown Variations.
• Renegade Rows.
• Dumbbell Rows. 
• Swiss Bar Overhead Presses.

Pronated Vs. Supinated Grip: Key Information

Conclusion

The pronated and supinated grip uses different hand positions throughout each exercise movement. This offers different advantages and drawbacks that should be considered before choosing which one to use. 

The pronated grip is better for strength-based movements such as the deadlift and bench press. Therefore, it should be used toward the start of your exercise session. The supinated grip is used more for accessory movements such as bicep curls so should be utilized towards the end.

The suitability of each grip will depend on your exercise goals and workout programming. The neutral grip can be used as a middle-ground option. It may help to reduce shoulder stress and target the brachialis as a key elbow flexor. 

Frequently Asked Questions