Straight leg deadlift Vs standard

BossArky

Recently I have been working on my deadlifts. What is the best way to do them for a relative newbie such as myself? I have been doing them on and off now for about 4 ish months now and want some pointers / targets.

I am 70kg and the heaviest I have managed is 65kg yesterday. About a week ago I did 60kg and could barely walk with the DOMS in my hamstrings for 4 day afterwards. I could possibly do heavier, just don't want to bust my back.

Following a bit of research over the past days I found many variations: straight, standard, romanian, etc... Is it right that the base of my spine feels pretty strained after doing these straight legged ones? I am not the most flexible and think the muscle pain is from the stretching on the lower back and hamstrings just under my butt. It is nothing really painful.. just severe DOMS.

How much should I be aiming to increase the weight by between sessions, and what is a target that I should be aiming for in 3 months, then 6 months etc?

What is the difference between straight and standard? I guess standard have more in common with squats as more leg used?

ironkay

depends what ur looking for, Stiff Legs, if done properly will stress the hamstrings more, the standard version will work your back more, never worry bout the weight, as soon as u cant feel it in the area ur tryin to work uve done too much

Hanley

ironkay wrote:

never worry bout the weight, as soon as u cant feel it in the area ur tryin to work uve done too much

yeah... and as soon as you're starting to breathe heavy you better stop running.

BA, do SLDLs on your squat day, 3x10 maybe (don't push to failure), then start off with regular (conventional) deadlifts on your "back" day shooting for maybe 3x6, again not failing. Try to add maybe 2.5kg a week for 6 weeks, you might have to change things up then. You might now tho. you'll have to figure that one out yourself...

A sore lower back after deadlifting is probably a sign that it's not conditioned for alot of deadlifting. This should improve over time as your GPP comes up.

agentgreen

Gpp?

tribulus

GPP, General physical preparedness.

OP it's important you keep your back flat during any of these exercises, are you sure you're performing these correctly?

Hanley

GPP, as Trib said is general physical preparedness. Your bodys ability to handle the demands you're attempting to place on it.

Unless your very fat or out of shape (which BA doesn't appear to be from reading his journal) there's no need to worry about doing anything specific for it. JFL and it'll take care of itself.

Also, high rep deads will pump your lower back worse than anything. I personally wouldn't do anymore than 6 reps. I MIGHT do 8-10 once every 2 or 3 months. Maybe.

BossArky

Hanley, why not go to failure? i.e. with bench press if I fail I flatten myself.. but with deadlift I'll just drop the weight, no?

Why do you recommend 3 x6 instead of 3 x8 or 3 x10? When you say high reps will pump the lower back, do you mean that they will make it massive and tear through my shirt? Please explain what you mean there about "pump".

Here is how my DOMS has been going after the stiff deadlifts in the past while:

- day of deadlift... tiredness
- day 1 after ... ouch my lower back
- day 2... ouch my hamstrings
- day 3... ouch my traps
- day 4... ouch my mid back... & general soreness all over the muscles mentioned...

Degsy

BossArky wrote:

Hanley, why not go to failure? i.e. with bench press if I fail I flatten myself.. but with deadlift I'll just drop the weight, no?

Why do you recommend 3 x6 instead of 3 x8 or 3 x10? When you say high reps will pump the lower back, do you mean that they will make it massive and tear through my shirt? Please explain what you mean there about "pump".

Here is how my DOMS has been going after the stiff deadlifts in the past while:

- day of deadlift... tiredness
- day 1 after ... ouch my lower back
- day 2... ouch my hamstrings
- day 3... ouch my traps
- day 4... ouch my mid back... & general soreness all over the muscles mentioned...

Sounds like your form could be off or you could be trying to move too much weight.I think you could be heading for an injury,study the correct form first and work your weight up gradually.You only have one back!

Dr4gul4

Degsy wrote:

You only have one back!

Just like Steve Austin.


Personally i do both, but i find Standard Dead's really work the back more.

but yea if you do SLDL's correctly you will not walk properly for a day or two.

tribulus

Honestly if you're doing SLDL's/RDL's correctly you shouldn't really be getting DOMS in your lower back. I'd suggest you video yourself doing these next time to ensure your form is correct and you keep a neutral spine.

BossArky

To clarify - I am very careful to keep a straight back.

My questions are more about what exactly the pros and cons of stiff vs straight are, rather than "am I doing them correctly or not".

The soreness is just standard new exercise soreness.. i.e. I'm pretty sure it is DOMS.

tribulus

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1502753

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459241

I think RDL's are a great exercise and hamstring builder. I'm not such a fan of SLDL's as I feel they're other better ways to hit your lower back such as conventional deadlifts than by the bar postion drifting away from your body.

BossArky

tribulus wrote:

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1502753

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459241

Cheers, interesting reading.