*** The 2012 Gym Rats Thread ***

MoNkeE said:

Howay then icecold, rip me apart:


@85kg, nowt major. Altho doing deads after squats does make it a tad more challenging.

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Looks good overall. It's pretty much what has already been said but your hips are too low to the ground and you need to be more explosive as LiE said. Another minor point is you look like your head is a little high so you may want to think about dropping your chin a little to emphasize neutral spine.

For hip/knee position, here is a video of mine and one of my brothers just as discussion points.


You can see that both my brother and I have reasonable form (ignore the knee wobbling, various other reasons for that but as the video is old they are gone now), and the shin is kept much closer to vertical than yours. This will add more tension onto the posterior chain and will affect the loading on the back as you will be closer to horizontal so you obviously don't want to try these changes with heavy weight.

Hope this helps .

Tasty deadlifts.

Right cheers for the advice all. So basically my starting position is letting me down; need to keep shins closer to horizontal and hips in a more elevated position. Am I right in saying this will add considerably more stress on to my low back? Not in a negative way.

Not really, most of the tension should be taken up by the hamstrings.

LiE said:

Not really, most of the tension should be taken up by the hamstrings.

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You say that...But the pure mechanics of the way his body is going to move is going to put strain on the lower back...His hips will essentially with a pivot point

of course the lower back is part of the posterior chain, but the suggested change shouldn't load the lower back any more than it is now.

LiE said:

of course the lower back is part of the posterior chain, but the suggested change shouldn't load the lower back any more than it is now.

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Cool

I guess...Lower the weight for a bit? See how much it gets affected?

If you are trying some new form then definitely start off lighter. I would then try a heavy weight to really test the form, you may find to shift the weight you fall back into your old form.

Doing light weight on anything is all well and good when you are trying to nail form, but depending on your goals you really should try it after a while with a more substantial weight. Most exercise can be done with super form with a light weight, what you want to try and aim for is improving the form at the top end.

Whats the best way to find 1rm?

Namely on deadlift. I can rep 120kg for 8. But im just too wary of damaging my abck to go for 200kg x 1 for example.

Work up in increments i.e. 120 x 3, 140 x 1, 160 x 1, 180 x 1, 200 x 1.

Indeeeeeeeeeeed ^^^

Failing that, jump in 20's as LiE said, but then jump in tens / fives etc...Only issue there is you will fatigue more obviously.

120 x 8 works out at at 1RM of ~150, so I wouldn't jump to 200 yet.
160 x 9 is the kind of level you'd be expected to move 200 with dying

I'd say start incrementing at 5kg when you hit 150kg. We don't know if your bouncing your reps, no offence You can always try again in a couple of weeks if you get heavy enough for this to tire you out.

edit: since Lie has done the 1rm calculation, definitely work up to 150kg slowly then see how you feel. In terms of back safety, just don't compromise your form.



Monkey, everything has been covered already, apart from the most important thing. Someone appears to have put a rag of some sort on your head, see to this immediately.


...but also, to be super strict, you aren't "packing" your neck. So you're not tucking your chin to maintain neutral spine all the way up to your skull. You'll find the hight your hips should be with some more trial and error, but always be explosive.

The only thing I'd say about the deadlift vids, is to look up rather than look down - doing so will prevent rounding of the back.

Keep shoulder blades locked back as much as you can, good strong arch in the back, core tight, and snap that glutes forward as soon as you get past the knees.

I'll add glute drive to the list of things to improve on. thumbsup.jpg

icecold, the hat stops my head from exploding when I strain too hard.

icecold said:

...but also, to be super strict, you aren't "packing" your neck. So you're not tucking your chin to maintain neutral spine all the way up to your skull.

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Freefaller said:

The only thing I'd say about the deadlift vids, is to look up rather than look down - doing so will prevent rounding of the back.

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Wait....What?

I was told when first learning to deadlift that looking up will promote a neutral spine. However, I suppose it's fair to suggest that once you're more "aware" of back positioning (let's face it when you first start out, you have no idea you're rounding your back when you do), you should be aiming to keep the spine in a neutral position all the way up.

So I can appreciate why FF says to look up, but I think maintaining a neutral spine all the way up to your skull makes more sense. I feel quite ocnfident in saying that I don't have a problem keeping my core and back tight.

When it gets heavy your upper back will start to round, and that's acceptable IMO. What you want to avoid is lower back rounding.

Delvis said:

Wait....What?

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People have different tips and experiences - go with what gives you the most neutral position and enhances your lower back arch.

MoNkeE said:

icecold, the hat stops my head from exploding when I strain too hard.

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So it's a lifting aid? Better mention it on the PB chart.


FF, looking up is actually worse biomechanically (although not worse than looking down so far that your upper back bends). It's something that's only recently started filtering through strength and conditioning channels, but most of the top coaches are advocating a neutral spine which includes packing the neck and tucking the chin. This basically means you initiate the deadlift looking at the floor, but the idea is to keep your spine aligned and not fix your eyes on a static point.

People tend to look up to reclaim stability in their spine due to having poor thoracic mobility or weak erectors and mid/upper back stabilisers.

Edit: it's also just a fact of modern life that most people spend most of their day with their chin too far forward so aren't aware of what a neutral spine all the way up even feels like. Try it in the mirror (or series of mirrors...), it will probably feel really weird.