Deadlifting technique...

BennyC

BennyC

BennyC

Soldato
Joined
25 Sep 2006
Posts
14,449
Hi guys,

Been training for a year (first year of Uni) and have now returned to my second year to continue my training. Picked up some labral tears in my shoulders, but this doesn't affect the majority of exercises. I tended to neglect my legs last year, barely training them all.

Squats, Leg Press, Extensions and Curls are all part of my reasonably frequent leg exercise routine. I had been put off deadlifts due to the possibility of serious back inury, but sucked it up and have started some anyway. Nothing ridiculously heavy 70KG for 5 sets of 10 reps to get things going. I had a bit of rage to get rid of so did a couple of sets on 100KG which i found hard, but not quite at my limits. As i'll be moving onto bigger weights soon, I thought i should perfect my form.

At current, I have my feet under the bar so that the bar is about an inch away from my toes. I then bend over and have my back straight, almost parralell to the floor, push with my legs, and then straighten my back. I thought this seemed fine, looking in a mirror. But on bigger weight, could feel this working my back in a similar fashion to 'good mornings'.

Would I be right in changing my form so that my back is at more of a 45 degree angle, and my legs are bent so that I am in a sort of semi squat position. I'm not quite sure how the back/leg work ratio on this lift should be. Should I have the bar right up against my shins? as I hear people scrape their legs, so this would seem correct?

Any other pointers are great, such as reps and sets recommendations for maximum gain from this lift as I am after an equal amount of mass and strength gains.

Thanks in advance

Benny C
 
Face the mirror throughout your full movement, keep your back straight, not hunched over.

I would say your back should be on \ <-- kinda angle.. although i might be wrong.

Thats how i felt comfortable doing them.

My legs are damn long so i found i had to do more of a sumo knees pointing out kinda stance to avoid the bar grinding up my shins
 
thanks for the help so far. read a few articles and found that 'pushing your hips foward' while keeping your back straight to be quite helpful. As it'll stop me turning a 100kilo deadlift, into a 100kilo good morning and stop every disc in my back tumbling like jenga!
 
Please do not lift with your chest parallel to the ground, you'll mess up your back. You need to drive upwards with your chest out and almost in a squatting position, pushing the hips forward as you go up. The bar will almost scrape along your shins as you go up. Keeping your back straight throughout. It's a pushing exercise, and your lower back whilst involved shouldn't get that much pressure on it. If you're doing DLs please do them with care.
 
Freefaller said:
Please do not lift with your chest parallel to the ground, you'll mess up your back. You need to drive upwards with your chest out and almost in a squatting position, pushing the hips forward as you go up. The bar will almost scrape along your shins as you go up. Keeping your back straight throughout. It's a pushing exercise, and your lower back whilst involved shouldn't get that much pressure on it. If you're doing DLs please do them with care.
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thanks for your advice FF. After seeing some tutorials, if i keep the bar on my shins and my back locked i should be okay. Thing is I have quite short legs, so will have to get fairly low with my legs to begin with. I'm going to give my back a few days to rest and then I'll let you know how i get on with them next time. Should find them easier when i do them correctly!
 
also when you push up remember to drive up from your heels, as FF has said don't keep chest parallel to the ground.

Essentially take it from the bottom of a squat upwards
 
The bar just needs to go straight up as does your back at this / sort of angle. Legs bent to a deep squat position (doesn't matter how tall you are), all your arms do is hang down. Push up with the legs, head looking up, back straight, and as you're about 1/2 up start driving your hips forward. Being short should be advantageous!
 
i much prefer to lift with hands by my side, hence why i think im in love with the hammer strength DL machine!
 
we have a Hammer Strength Smith machine, quite a nice peice of kit. I was keeping my back straight even if it was at completely the wrong angle! As i know how rounding you back puts even more stress on it, especially when you're already bent over.

Some good advice thanks guys. At current it's just an olympic 20kilo bar, its a nice size length and grip wise.

I'll keep that bar on my shins from now on!
 
Freefaller said:
Please do not lift with your chest parallel to the ground, you'll mess up your back. You need to drive upwards with your chest out and almost in a squatting position, pushing the hips forward as you go up. The bar will almost scrape along your shins as you go up. Keeping your back straight throughout. It's a pushing exercise, and your lower back whilst involved shouldn't get that much pressure on it. If you're doing DLs please do them with care.
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HA! That's what I kept doing wrong the first time I did this. I abosolutely killed my lower back doing that. But hey my first time so :p
 
Good news, nailed the form, so managed some clean sets, pain free!

Warmed up on 70 kilo for 10 reps x 2 sets, then same again on 90, and same again on 100 kilo. Then thought i'd up the ante a bit and hit 10 reps on 110 kilo, but my grip was on the verge of slipping completely. Need to buy some straps!
 
I really need to work on my form I think I have too much back involved but it is quite hard to tell what your doing as you cant see ya self 3rd person.

And I have to use straps also, my gym dont allow the use of chalk not sure about Benny06 :P
 
fluffmct said:
Fixed.
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Not everyone is blessed with strong grip strength. Straps for BORs and DLs I have no issues with, in fact it can even help as you're not concentrating on the grip but on the movement of the weight and on working the muscles. Fortunately my grip is a lot stronger than what I can DL at the moment (210 for reps) so I haven't come across that problem, but when I do I will use straps.

Belts aren't really necessary, but straps have their place. :)

Nice progress Benny :)
 
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