Quick notes on the Deadlift
James White
As the meat and drink of any strength and conditioning program worth its cheese, the deadlift, as always, warrants discussion. In this article James reels off a few quick thoughts on this mother of all strength exercises.
When you walk into your local commercial gym there are always plenty of people working hard on easy, fun exercises like lateral raise, pec fly, bicep curl, sit ups and tricep pull down. But how often do you see someone loading up a bar and grinding out some deadlifts? Very rarely you will see someone doing some sort of squat variation but never a deadlift!
I think the reason for this has nothing to do with not knowing the benefits of the deadlift but more to do with trying to avoid hard work. It is one of the most painful and tiring exercises you can do, but also one of the most effective and rewarding.
A deadlift can, and should be, performed for a very wide variety of reasons.
It is a key primal pattern move that should be performed by everybody from competitive athletes to bodybuilders to little old ladies who like their gardening.
As long as you don't have a pathological/physiological reason for not doing so, it should be one of the foundations of your training program.
For the average joe with no sporting interest, the deadlifts still bring a huge range of benefits including legs, low back and grip strength that will give great confidence and safety through the everyday physical challenges of life.
If you have been progressively deadlifting and have built good technique with a strong back and grip then the everyday moving of boxes, wheelbarrows, furniture etc. will not only seem easy but you will be less likely to damage your back.
Moving on to how a deadlift can help a sports man is an obvious subject. The whole of the posterior chain which includes the hamstrings, glutes and erector spinae are seriously taxed during a deadlift. I used to be a powerlifter and deadlift was my best lift. Now I have moved to mixed martial arts (which involves wrestling and submissions on the ground) and my strength has carried over to allow me to manhandle most of my opponents. After training with people I am often asked how I became so strong and what exercises they should be doing. I always say that I give 90% of my strength advantage to being able to deadlift a lot.
Deadlifting dangers? The old myth goes that deadlifts are dangerous.
Deadlifting does have its dangers but then so does bicep curls, so does crossing the road and more to the point so does not deadlifting and then trying to lift a really heavy box up onto a shelf!
If you do it properly then in the long run you will avoid all the back twinges and pulls that you would have probably got with a weak back.
Variations
A standard deadlift would use Olympic bars and plates. If your gym has them then you have no excuse. Just get started, learn to do it properly and start getting strong.
If your gym is not well equipped to perform heavy deadlifts the next best thing is to grab some dumbells and lift them like you would lift two bags either side of you. You might not be able to go quite as heavy but you will still feel the benefits.
Another super effective way of deadlifting which actually uses less weight is longer range deadlifts. For these you need to stand on a box that is high enough so the bar is just over your feet.
It makes sense when you think about it, you wouldn't do shoulder press only half way down so why not deadlift the full range? As long as you can hold good technique you can get more range if motion, so more muscle gets worked. Basic bodybuilding guidelines...use full rom, develop more muscle.
If you don't have much weight handy then it really makes a lot of sense to use a step/platform and increase range.
So where does rounded back lifting come in all this? Well you will hear most trainers tell you that rounded back lifting is dangerous and will only end in a damaged back.
Well there is a place for rounded back lifting as well. Three times world strongest man Bill Kazmaier used to do rounded back deadlifts, because in competition there is no getting away from lifting from the ground with a rounded back. Sandbag training is a fantastic way to build functional strength with a high carry over to sports but you will find that when trying to lift one of those your back will start to round to allow you to get closer to the ground.
You don't need to purposefully do normal deadlifts with a rounded back, that's not a good idea.
When you start deadlifting with your feet raised on a box or lifting atlas stones or a sand bags you will be lifting with a slightly rounded back which is fine for building sports specific strength. You have to be careful, start light and speak to a coach/osteo. if you’re going to be doing a lot of heavy stuff. Lighter stuff is just natural function.
Cut your workout times by placing in a few super effective exercises and you will not only leave the gym with the satisfaction of knowing you didn't wimp out of a good session but your team mates will start asking how you have got so fast and strong.
Learn to deadlift well and explosively and you will be amazed at the power gains you can get.
About the Author
James is a young guy but my is he strong! – He started out as a Powerlifter and has competed for Great Britain on numerous occasions. He holds British and Commonwealth records and was 2007 British Junior Powerlifting Champion. Recently he has decided it is not enough to be able to simply shift huge weights, he wants to hurt people as well. He is now dedicated to learning the sport of mixed martial arts and intends to make his competitive debut in the near future. He is a highly knowledgeable personal trainer, and is also studying osteopathy. See his personal sites at Build-muscle-burn-fat.com and James Whites Personal Training
