Hey everyone I’ve got a problem… 47 year old, been working out since I was 10, although only been doing “hardcore” powerlifting stuff for maybe 2-3 years. Here is my setup… I can hexbar DL 500 for reps of 5 or so. I can do rack pulls (inch above knee) no straps with 405 (not struggling too hard with that), BUT it seems as though when I go conventional and pull from the floor, I strain my lower back. Seems like the movement from the floor to my knee is the point that gets me injured. I know its gonna be hard for someone to try and diagnose without a video, but does anyone have any ideas?? Since I’m not competing for anything, should I just say eff it and keep doing hex and rack pulls?? Thanks for any help or advice
Yes! The hex bar deadlift keeps your pull over the center of gravity of the weight very easily.
But IMO you should be pulling from the bar height the same distance from the floor as an Olympic bar. Most all hex bars I have seen have handles attached where you are pulling less range of motion than the Olympic bar requires. I don’t recommend the higher grip, unless the lower grip causes pain.
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When you’re lifting stuff off the ground in your regular life, do you ever hurt your back in the same way you do with the conventional deadlift?
If so, I might be more incline to “fix” the issue.
If not, I might just continue bangin’ around 5 plate hex bar deads!
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I cant remember if I’ve ever hurt my back just with picking stuff up (that I remember). I pick up 50 pound bags or corn for hunting all of the time, move a lot of furniture (since I have a truck lol). What I may do is to keep doing hex and rack pulls for 4 weeks, then on the 5th week try conventional with lower weight/ higher reps. If something like 225 messes my back up then I know its something in my mechanics. I have been working on more posterior chain stretching and more emphasizing the butt squeeze at the top of those lifts. On a side note, it really feels good to be able to drop some weight but still be somewhat strong. I’m 6’2 and was about 320 (if not a little more) about 4 months ago and I’m down to 289. First time I’ve been under 300 in years. I can’t believe it took me so long to figure out the eating part. OH and I did watch Matt Wenning yesterday talking about arm width on DL’s and I think my grip and feel are too wide, so I may give that a try too
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Alright, so much good news.
You can do the stuff you like to do without your back hurting. That’s great.
You’re following a conjugate guy, and thinking about your positioning. So you’re on the right track with information and programming.
You just lost a bunch of weight, which might have changed the best way for you to set up. Now that you’re not as fat and wide, maybe just bringing the hands and feet in a little will fix things. Or maybe you’ll just need to stand closer to the bar or something.
Anyway, here’s a video from another conjugate guy. Big lifter guy is having back pain at the bottom of the deadlift and Coach Sam Brown shows him how to get set up correctly and “tight” and deadlift without issues.
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awesome! thank you for that!!! Ah yea, I love EliteFTS stuff. Just got a bunch of bands from them to stretch this old ass LOL
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There is absolutely no reason you can’t say eff it and do what you like. You’re obviously strong, you’re still pulling from the floor with the trap bar, so there’s really no need to do a conventional deadlift unless you just want to for the sake of it.
Is that the only exercise that upsets your back, or is it that range of motion? If it’s just the exercise then who cares, if it’s a range of motion issue then you might have a better quality of life fixing it
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So why not post a video?
thats pretty much the only exercise that bothers my back. Its more of a PERSONAL ego thing. I don’t ego lift, and I know this sounds stupid, but I think it looks pretty damn cool. I can do everything BUT that lift. I did do an experiment with a hex bar and traditional bar. the handles on the hex bar, are only about 3 inches or so taller, so I may reverse the hex bar so the handles are the same height and see what that does.
As for the video, I try not to be one of those guys that videos , but I’ll what I can do. But thanks again everyone, I’m figuring out that it might just be an exercise I can’t do, and I need to accept it haha
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No I totally get the personal pride thing.
I suck at bench, and it doesn’t really grow my chest, but I’ll be damned if I don’t want to do a 140kg bench before I die
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well heres some videos. Front and side views or conventional and hex. I didn’t want to not use a little weight but just enough to get some load , cause everyone has good form with real light load. Oh and be nice this is my first video ever of me working out
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OH and just to add, I narrowed my stance and drew my arms in closer and that felt A LOT better
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To me this looks so light for you, it looks like you are just standing up with bar. The bar is kinda all over the place.
How is your back today?
I was trying to have a little load but not a lot, just to give a visual. It was 90 pounds on each side so I wasn’t pushing it too much. Conventional actually felt a lot better with a more narrow stance and bringing my arms in a little. Back feels great and no issues at all. I don’t know if compacting everything on conventional did anything, but I know my back isn’t hurting haha. When you say the “bar is all over the place” what do you mean? And are you saying that for the conventional and hex pull?? Thanks again!
Good news!
I was talking about conventional. I mean the bar is out in front, then tight, then out. Probably because it was lighg. I think you need to work on getting tighter throughout the movement.
What cues do you use?
Like… squeezing an orange in your armpits, and pushing the floor away rather than lifting the bar.
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Closer hands, closer feet, you don’t need to bend over so far… Makes total sense that it feels better.
Anyway,
first thing that jumps out is that your belt is too high, and you can’t use your abs and brace properly. So your lower back is creating all te stability all in it’s own.
I know one guy deadlifted like that and was awesome. But he’s already out of the sport. And I know wearing your belt that way feels better, and that wearing it lower makes it harder to deadlift. But that’s because your “brace” or “core tightness” in the bottom is wrong.
And your neck is all extended, making your excessively arch your back. This makes it hard to use your lats and abs for tightness, and to “lock” your shoulders to your hips.
Check out this bro, and how his chin is “packed” or “tucked” or what ever.
The good news is that you’re huge. And a conjugate guy, so you won’t take this as a personal attack.
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yea I gues thats why I keep getting hurt with conventional haha. I think SOME of the wonkyness might be because its not a hard working weight. I wasn’t really thinking about anything while doing it because I know I cna do a lot more and just get lazy with the lift. I’ll see if I can get some reps with 405 where I’m having to concentrate on form more
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ahhhhhh good point about my neck!! I’ve never noticed that before. I think I got used to looking at a mirror to check my form. I’ll take another look at my belt positioning too. OH and I don’t take anything to heart. I’ve been working out since I was 10 (47 now). I’m ALWAYS looking for things to improve on or fix, or just different techniques. Always good to hear other peoples perspective on things
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Fact of the matter is that the height of the bar is completely arbitary. Yeah it could be a form issue but some peoples bodies just aren’t designed to pull big weights from that height with full safety. I believe everyone should be able to do the movement, but as something that you want to push the loads on, and someone thats not interested in powerlifting, you should just find a height you can pull from safely. Whether thats doing a conventional off of a plate, or sticking with the trap bar. For what its worth you’d be surprised how rarely some elite deadlifters actually pull from the floor.
I currently deadlift with a trap bar using the high handles but stood on a 25kg plate. It leaves me about an inch or two higher than conventional and my back feels way better during training and in my day to day life. So good that I can really push it on RDLs later in the week.
Here’s a recent article about this very thing:
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thanks for that!! I’ve actually started doing a lot more rack pulls (just above the knee) along with hex and thats kept me injury free so far
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