Actually I’m pretty good at teaching the DL. I’m not sure what makes you think I’m bad because I never intended or attempted to write an explanation of how I do so. I’m just stating the surprisngly common trends I see with apparently healthy people and wondered if you see this to the extent that I do. Many of these clients aren’t actually “beginners”. In some cases they have 2-3 years of lifting experience (obviously not good lifting).
I was wondering if you could actually answer the question… you know, like maybe tell us the cues that you find helpful when teaching the DL.
Let me rephrase my post into more of a question. Maybe I can get an answer I’m looking for:
Let’s say a client starts training with you, you’d like for him to deadlift, but there’s no way in heck he can do it due to physiological limitations. What cues do you use to overcome this? What’s your typical first option or alternative in progressing to a full DL.
As for the rows, I use unilateral movements with the row as soon as I find out that the client can’t do the row properly. I don’t even attempt the rows if they can’t perform the deadlift. The DL’s are a great assessement tool. I can find out a lot in about 10 seconds.
[quote]Eric Cressey wrote:
Accidentally posted on me on another thread:
Since I’ve started getting into some personal training (non athlete), I’ve found that at least 75% of my clients can’t perform a deadlift or bent over row correctly. They all lack the flexibility and strength to maintain a neutral spine. The rows end up looking more like a shrug. It doesn’t even matter if I lighten the load, they just can’t bend over far enough.
Also, I’ve found the same people can’t DL in a straight line. They have to pull the bar around their knees because they can’t sit back far enough while bending over.
Have you found the same to be true?
Yes, but a good coach knows how to work around it and teach proper lifting posture. I can tell that you’re not proficient in teaching the deadlift, and the bent-over row isn’t something I use with beginners in the first place. You’re better off starting with a one-arm row or cable-row.
Besides flexibility and slowly building their strength, is there anything else I’m missing that can help train them to do this? What would you do with a client like this EC?
See above. I’d have to hear the cues you’re giving on the deadlift to know what you’re doing wrong. I’ve got dozens of cues I use.
One more…
Do you think ART therapy will help this?.. My spinal erectors in the left lower portion of my back are way bigger than my right side. It is easily visible when I bend over. It looks like a big speed bump. It’s gotta stick out an inch more than the erector spinae on the right side. It’s also much tighter to the touch. I’ve pulled it before a long time ago on pulling on a boat, could it be from this, or is this some kind of unintentional hypertrophy from something that I’m unaware of?
It’s just a classical postural abnormality that can result from unilateral dominance in certain movements. Do 6-8 weeks of single-arm overhead pressing with your LEFT arm, stretch what’s tight, and you’ll see a significant improvement.
ART is never going to hurt the cause.[/quote]
Yeah, I’ve tried all that, it doesn’t work. It’s bigger and tighter than ever. It doesn’t hurt at all and my DL have gone throught the roof lately. It looks like it’s hypertrophied or something??? Really weird. My actual posture is great, I had it assessed just like 2 weeks ago. Oh well, guess you can’t help me on this one. Maybe the ART will help.
