Controlling the Weight all the way down on a Dead-Lift?

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

So, I typically do not try to control the weight when I go down during a deadlift past 200lb. I don’t drop the weight from my hands, I just go down quite fast. And it tends to make noise when it hits the ground.

Now, this wouldn’t be much of a problem since that’s what most every dead-lifting guides I’ve seen recommend when you start doing anything that’s beyond your 60%ish, as the strain you put on your smaller muscles can be very bad, but now I’m in trouble with the manager at the place I lift at.

Basically, she’s of the opinion that if you cannot control the weight down close to 100% then you’re lifting too heavy, and thus you should reduce the weight. She has warned me twice for doing this, and is threatening to ban my membership if I continue. Besides the point that no trainer or any employee at the place ever reprimanded me for doing this (I’ve actually had a couple trainers compliment me on going past 315 after seeing me start out with 230ish as my max), I’m a little annoyed that she’s basically telling me to stop deadlifting anything close to moderate weight, or go find another gym. The nearest gym that is not a 24-hour fitness or its like is 10 miles away, and I do not want to drive 10 miles everyday to lift.

I just wanted some real information on this, as I can’t seem to find anything online and I seem to have misplaced all of my relevant sources on deadlifting.

As of now, I’ll continue lifting, but I have no real choice but to severely reduce my weight, around to 180 as my limit, as I do not have 100% control over the bar beyond this weight. Will this have any serious impact on my max?

And will good mornings help gain more control over the weight? Or is it more in the realm of helping me lift the weight off the ground?

2

Use some mats on each end

3

Ya, that’s what I’ve done for a bit before I forgot about the warning.

Unfortunately, she pre-empted me today by saying that it’s a no-no for doing that with the mats at the gym. Apparently they tear. Not entirely sure how having 125lb or so drop on the mats will tear them anymore than having 170+lb people lying on them or doing some sort of calisthenic on them. Suppose it has to do with all the weight being placed on a thin area. Which, of course, many people do when they do some sort of one-legged stands on the mats.

I’m considering asking her whether I can bring my own mats. Expensive, but it’s probably a better long-term investment than driving 10 miles/day.

4

Its time to find a new place to deadlift because the weights are going to clank when it gets heavy and there’s probably nothing you can do to change her mind. Maybe scour craigslist for a bar and some weights so you can pull at home.

5

Is she Fuckable if so slip her some of magick stick so you can do what you want

6

Why are you dead lifting? If its for getting into power lifting you will have to work something out, but if its from a BBing standpoint you might look into variations on the lift that do not require you to drop it (ie - Romanian or Stiff leg… Which are probably superior from a muscle building perspective anyway)

7

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Why are you dead lifting? If its for getting into power lifting you will have to work something out, but if its from a BBing standpoint you might look into variations on the lift that do not require you to drop it (ie - Romanian or Stiff leg… Which are probably superior from a muscle building perspective anyway)[/quote]

Basically this. If you are doing that because you think that is what you should be doing, you may be a little off. In bodybuilding, the goal is muscular development, not just getting a weight in the air.

8

Nobody else deadlifts there?

9

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Why are you dead lifting? If its for getting into power lifting you will have to work something out, but if its from a BBing standpoint you might look into variations on the lift that do not require you to drop it (ie - Romanian or Stiff leg… Which are probably superior from a muscle building perspective anyway)[/quote]

My goals would mostly be in line with power-lifting than body-building. Mostly I’m lifting because I was weak and borderline obese for most of my life and I decided to get out of that.

I don’t particularly care how big I look. I just want to continue losing bf and gaining strength over a long period of time.

[quote]Airtruth wrote:
Nobody else deadlifts there?[/quote]

Plenty do. I think they just don’t lift at about the time the manager comes out and exercises as well. I can’t change the time I lift till about mid-October though, so maybe I should just wait.

Anyways, the key question I had was just how much control should you have over the bar? When I’m warming-up, 135-180ish, the bar doesn’t make much of a noise because I’m not in any real hurry to bring the weight down. As I start getting into moderately heavy/heavy weights, I tend to lose most of the control I have over it. Is this the normal way of doing it? Or Should you really be in control even during your heavy sets?

I ask because there seems to be a good deal of misinformation floating around, and it’s difficult to tell which is which.

10

The deadlift is a one way lift–up–but you are required to “control” the bar on the descent. I personally don’t think this means setting it down gingerly and going too slow risks injury when its heavy or if you are pushing the last rep, IMO. In a USAPL comp you will get red lights if you just drop it, but you can set it down pretty hard as long as you keep your grip. Like I said before, you should be in control, but the weights are going to clank.

11

There is no eccentric part to a deadlift. It’s not required of the lift. Therefor, you just drop it. That is if you’re doing a powerlift style deadlift, from the floor. The same would not apply for a SLDL or RDL.

I believe your issue is that your gym manager doesn’t want you to do that. In this case, you should not just drop it as you are, in essence, using equipment that isn’t yours. If you don’t like the rules, you should purchase a membership elsewhere.

12

[quote]magick wrote:

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Why are you dead lifting? If its for getting into power lifting you will have to work something out, but if its from a BBing standpoint you might look into variations on the lift that do not require you to drop it (ie - Romanian or Stiff leg… Which are probably superior from a muscle building perspective anyway)[/quote]

My goals would mostly be in line with power-lifting than body-building. Mostly I’m lifting because I was weak and borderline obese for most of my life and I decided to get out of that.

I don’t particularly care how big I look. I just want to continue losing bf and gaining strength over a long period of time.

[quote]Airtruth wrote:
Nobody else deadlifts there?[/quote]

Plenty do. I think they just don’t lift at about the time the manager comes out and exercises as well. I can’t change the time I lift till about mid-October though, so maybe I should just wait.

Anyways, the key question I had was just how much control should you have over the bar? When I’m warming-up, 135-180ish, the bar doesn’t make much of a noise because I’m not in any real hurry to bring the weight down. As I start getting into moderately heavy/heavy weights, I tend to lose most of the control I have over it. Is this the normal way of doing it? Or Should you really be in control even during your heavy sets?

I ask because there seems to be a good deal of misinformation floating around, and it’s difficult to tell which is which.[/quote]
It’s not all misinformation, it’s goal oriented.

You’re practicing for a competition lift it up drop it.

You’re going for a max lift it up drop it.

You’re focusing on the concentric portion drop it.

You’re working on overall strength keep control, but you don’t have to go down slow

But I still think the bigger issue is your manager. If other people do heavy deadlifts in the gym then you should be able to regardless of what time you get there. Deadlift is a staple exercise, the minimum a gym should allow. You have a mouth speak up, and if you have to call corporate do it. It shouldn’t go that far but sometimes shit happens and you have to fix it. Sometimes new managers get off by talking shit to the loud folks.

13

Right.

That really is my gripe with the entire situation. The the weights might get damaged? Fine. The cement floor might crack? Fine. I’m more than willing to stop or find a way to accomodate for those. After all, it isn’t my equipment that is getting damaged here.

But telling me to stop deadlifting heavy or face a ban when none of the trainers have ever informed me of such a policy or when I see plenty others pull as much as I do or a couple more plates and make as much noise as I do, I find annoying.

Unfortunately, it is the manager’s call and there’s not much I can do. Just because the trainers are idiots and not following policy doesn’t mean that the manager is in the wrong and I’m in the right.

14

I have a rule that whenever I am teaching anyone to deadlift that they will let the bar fall to the ground (hands still on the bar) once it passes their knee cap. No exceptions. It takes a good amount of flexibility and strength in that end range to be able to safely put the bar down to the floor, and in my experience everyone I’ve ever worked with reaches a point where their hips run out of room and their spine bends to finish the lowering which is very dangerous.

But some ways I’ve found to limit the noise which some of my friends have had great success with even with super anal gym staff

Instead of investing in your own mats, just use some thick cheap bath towels and fold them up under the bar, this works well for muting the sound of metal plates hitting a concrete floor.
Use as few plates as possible, the more plates on the bar the more rattling so use the bigger plates when possible.

Buy a set of bumper plates, 25,35,45 whichever you want just get some that will mute the noise.
In one case we rigged up some straps to sort of levitate the bar a centimeter or so off the floor from the safety pins.

The big things is you have to deal with the gyms rules, so get creative just don’t stop deadlifting.

15

Time to find a new gym. I gave up lifting at my campus gym which is right next door and FREE in order to go to a good facility downtown, which is a 12 mi drive and $50/month. The difference in progress I made was well worth the investment.

Btw, I was dealing with the same shit you are. It was making too much noise on deadlifts.

16

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Why are you dead lifting? If its for getting into power lifting you will have to work something out, but if its from a BBing standpoint you might look into variations on the lift that do not require you to drop it (ie - Romanian or Stiff leg… Which are probably superior from a muscle building perspective anyway)[/quote]

Basically this. If you are doing that because you think that is what you should be doing, you may be a little off. In bodybuilding, the goal is muscular development, not just getting a weight in the air.[/quote]

I think an overlooked benefit to the deadlift (even if the actual lift itself is not piling on muscle) is that it leads to mastery of a complex movement pattern involving hip hinge, and even BBers benefit from this (even if not doing them in their current training). Strong hips have enabled me to get so much more out of movements like T-bar rows now, even if I emphasize stiff-legs more now. Purely anecdotal, but I find myself having a much harder time teaching proper form to fellow lifters on heavy rowing movements who don’t have their share of experience with heavy deads.

17

i don’t get why anyone would join a gym that limits exercise selection

if you listen to her and lower the weight then you are letting her win, then she will tell you to stop squatting or benching so heavy next.

maybe you should just go back there and deadlift until they kick you out

should be able to do whatever you want in a gym without having some clueless and useless trainer harassing you

18

Is the floor large rubber mats?
Does putting the collars on the barbell help at all?

I know my gym doesn’t mind deadlifts, as long as they are not too loud (some claking is okay)

19

I went to do my deadlifts today, and took two bath towels and used them in the manner that Remu discussed.

Worked quite well. The towels definitely muffled the sounds of the bar hitting the ground, and I could only hear the weights clanking against one another. Probably will have to make sure they’re on tighter with the collars.

Also started trying my best to avoid lifting when the manager is lifting.

Hopefully the combination of those two will prevent me from having to deal with another confrontation with the manager.

Ty for the advice everyone!

20

[quote]Jackie_Jacked wrote:
There is no eccentric part to a deadlift. It’s not required of the lift. Therefor, you just drop it. That is if you’re doing a powerlift style deadlift [/quote]

Federations like USAPL and NASA (among others) do not allow lifters to drop the bar on the platform or the lift is disqualified. It has to be a “controlled drop” where both hands are on the bar and keep it under control when it hits the floor.