The use of lifting straps alters the entire load-velocity profile during the deadlift exercise

This study aimed to compare the one repetition maximum (1RM) and load-velocity (LV) profile between deadlifts performed with (DLw) and without (DLn) lifting straps. The full individual LV relationship of 20 men (age: 24.3 6 2.4 years; body height: 180.6 6 6.9 cm; body mass: 85.8 6 8.0 kg) was randomly evaluated during 2 separate sessions for the DLw and DLn via an incremental loading test. One repetition maximum was greater (p, 0.001; g 5 0.56, 95% confidence interval 5 [0.32, 0.79]) for DLw (177.0 6 28.9 kg) compared with DLn (160.6 6 26.0 kg). A highly linear relationship between mean velocity (MV) and %1RM was observed for both conditions (R². 0.95; SEE, 6.18 %1RM for pooled data and R². 0.98; SEE, 3.6 %1RM for individual data). However, MV associated with each %1RM was greater for DLn, and these differences were accentuated as the loading magnitude increased (g 5 0.30-1.18). One repetition maximum was strongly associated between both conditions (r 5 0.875 [0.71, 0.95]), whereas MV at 1RM (r 5 0.21 [20.25, 0.60]) was unrelated between conditions. The slope of the LV profiles (r 5 0.845 [0.64, 0.94]) was correlated, but differed (g 5 0.41 [0.16, 0.66]) between DLw and DLn, whereas the mean test velocity of all loads was unrelated (r 5 0.270 [20.20, 0.64]). An individual LV profile should be created for each athlete in the same condition that are going to be used in training to obtain a more precise estimation of the submaximal relative loads.