Deadlift question

king_of_inismac

Hey,

I've been lifting weights for about ten years on and off. From reading here, I've decided to include compound exercises like the squat and deadlift into my routine.

Now, I used to do a lot of serious squats in the first gym I ever trained in, so I'm fairly comfortable with the technique, but I have never done deadlifts before.

I've been reading online, but I'm looking for some clarification. I understand you must keep your head up, and your back relatively straight, but my question is do you lift with your knees, or is it solely with your back?

Recently I found myself bending my knees and then straightening them at the top of the lift, but I'm not sure if that's correct. Should my knees remain locked out all the way through the technique?

Thanks,
M

Colm_OReilly

I understand you must keep your head up, and your back relatively straight, but my question is do you lift with your knees, or is it solely with your back?

You should keep you head in neutral alignment, with your back in normal kyphosic and lordotic curves (the normal curves in your back).

At the beginning of the DL your hamstrings/glutes contract isometrically to keep your hip angle, relative to the floor, the same. You knee extends as the bar clears the floor, meaning your quads are contracting concentrically.

After the bar passes your knees you begin to extend your hips to complete the lift.

In short, it's not just with your back.

Colm

arybvtcw0eolkf

king_of_inismac wrote:

Hey,

I've been lifting weights for about ten years on and off. From reading here, I've decided to include compound exercises like the squat and deadlift into my routine.

Now, I used to do a lot of serious squats in the first gym I ever trained in, so I'm fairly comfortable with the technique, but I have never done deadlifts before.

I've been reading online, but I'm looking for some clarification. I understand you must keep your head up, and your back relatively straight, but my question is do you lift with your knees, or is it solely with your back?

Recently I found myself bending my knees and then straightening them at the top of the lift, but I'm not sure if that's correct. Should my knees remain locked out all the way through the technique?

Thanks,
M

Your talking about Stiff Leg Deadlifts then?.

If thats the case your lifting with your back, but don't use a weight so heavy that you've to bend or strain your back.

If you can't feel the tension in your hamstrings (this is what SDL's are for) then you can try either using smaller plates on the bar to you've to extend further forward, or better still put a small plate under your toes/balls of your feet. Like the opposite to a raised heal for squats.

A final thing on SDL's and hamstrings. You really should feel the tension on your hamstrings if your not try reducing your weight.

If your looking for normal deadlift technique and can't figure out what Colm just said (because his science blinds me too) lets know and we'll break it down in simple stages for you.

jt_dublin

Here is a video instruction of the deadlift.

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=cs-wOHN5tdw


You could also ask one of the instructors in the gym to show you the correct movement. Squatting and deadlifting are great. I've become a lot stronger since starting these compound movements.

Best of luck.

davyjose

That guy looks like he's hyper-extending his back a little at the top of the lift.

tribulus

Looks fine to me although a hook grip is different to what he said it was.

jt_dublin

The top of the lift is meant to be pulling the shoulders back but not leaning back, but looks fine to me.

Hanley

Video looked pretty good to me.

Lolzor at "hook grip" tho.

davyjose

tribulus wrote:

Looks fine to me.

Ah I think I'm paranoid about that :P

pwd

I usually arch my back quite a bit because I'm wary of rounding it. This means I have to bend my legs more to reach the bar, so I work my legs more than I actually want to (just because I train legs on a different day).
Apart from that is there any reason to avoid arching your back while doing a deadlift?

Hanley

Compressive forces work both ways. It's obviously alot harder to arch your back to the extent that you'll do damage, but it's something just to be aware of that COULD happen, although highly unlikely.