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OPINION: Sometimes you just gotta lift, for the sake of others

Derek GoforthMidwest Times
There are lessons learnt in the gym that apply to other aspects of life.
Camera IconThere are lessons learnt in the gym that apply to other aspects of life. Credit: Erik Isakson/Getty Images/Blend Images

I am fairly sure many of you will not have a clue what a hook-grip is or how it could possibly relate to the average person on the street.

Well very simply put, the hook-grip is a weightlifting term for the correct finger and thumb position when performing certain lifts from the ground.

Most commonly the deadlift and the clean and the snatch.

All complex lifts that take a lifetime to master.

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The hook-grip enables the bar to transition more effectively from the floor to its final position, therefore giving more overall power, or at least access to that power, if needed by the lifter.

It also means the grip is more secure and takes the pressure off some smaller easy to fatigue muscles.

All very interesting, I am sure you are saying, but how does that relate to me?

Well, simply put, the hook-grip is extremely effective but takes time to master.

While you are first mastering it ... it really really hurts and also doesn’t seem to be of much benefit.

But all the while your coach tells you to keep at it and the results will come.

For me this echoes in so many things I have been through, in so many decisions I have made in my recent life.

We all are required to do things, for our own benefit or the benefit of others around us that we know are the right call but are uncomfortable, sometimes even painful.

But we know or at least have been told that the actions will be for own long-term good.

It could be cutting off a toxic relationship, giving up a food, changing jobs or even moving house. Things that are uncomfortable, jarring and sometimes miserable.

But as with a well executed hook-grip it will leave us stronger, happier and better equipped to handle the various “weights” life throws at us

So what’s your hook-grip?

What is it in your life you know you should be doing, be doing differently but just cannot because of the initial discomfort and adjustment.

I recommend you just jump in.

Wrap your thumb and fingers round the bar, get lifting and grin and bear it.

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