Overhand Grip

In the overhand grip you grab the bar with the back of your hands facing you and your thumbs pointing toward each other. It's the natural position for most pulling exercises: pull-ups, lat pulldowns, barbell rows, shrugs. The overhand is also the standard grip in the deadlift when you use the double-overhand variant.

The effect on the muscles involved is significant. With the overhand grip, your forearm sits in pronation, a position where the biceps has reduced mechanical advantage. As a result, elbow flexion is handled mainly by the brachioradialis and brachialis, with the biceps contributing less. For the back, the overhand grip reduces biceps contribution in pulls, forcing the lats, brachioradialis, and brachialis to do more work.

Advantages: greater lat isolation in pulling movements, more work for the brachioradialis and forearms, more natural on most barbell exercises. Main drawback: it's the weakest grip in the deadlift, because the bar tends to roll out of your fingers. That's why, with heavy loads, lifters switch to the mixed grip or hook grip. If your goal is to build a wide, thick back, the overhand grip is your starting point.