Deadlift Technique Update

I said it was the theory behind conjugate training.

I never said it was, as you claimed - “unique to conjugate”.

Since you misquoted my post I will not offer a response. Sorry.

Alright, I must’ve misunderstood what you meant. Follow up question would be, isn’t that basically the theory behind strength training in general? As far as I know, which isn’t much, there isn’t a single well written program that deliberately ignores weak points.

Some programs ignore the weakness and just Train the Lift. Like smolov and shieko, or starting strength. No time for targeting weaknesses because you have to do the lifts.

Other programs include one assistance move for each “piece.” These are the “cookie cutter” programs. You may “miss” the real problem because you just do your favorite assistance exercises, instead of really finding ones you suck at.

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dem is fightin words!

A program could have you lifting sub maximally so long, you don’t have a way to test to see if you are fixing your weakness. Or if new weaknesses are developing.

Thanks for the replies everyone. @jbackos I’ll definitely be doing a lot of what you suggested. What youve been saying seems in tune with what I’m actually feeling. Everytime I do a hamstring dominant movement my hamstrings are completely fried the next day.

With regards to my technique, I’ll basically be switching out my current deadlift routine with a few sets at lighter weight focusing on technique. I’ll start my workout with the form work, then move into the block pulls, GMs, ghrs, etc

@FlatsFarmer I’ve thought about that and that’s why I proposed it may be more efficient to just hammer an obvious weak spot. Then @Benanything decided to be a smartass :slight_smile:

Even way back Arnold said that sometimes he would hammer a compound movement just to see what muscle was sore the next day. Then he would work the shit out of that muscle to bring it up to par. It was his opinion that the sore muscle is doing the most work and therefore is the weak link. It seems to make sense that the sore muscle will fail first since it it doing more than the proper share of the work.

Before the broxperts come out of the woodwork, those were Arnold’s words, NOT MINE.

Tried low bar squats for the first time, felt a little awkward at first but I made some minor adjustments and it ended up feeling ok. Worked up to a triple with 315x3, nothing to crazy because I’m still wary of my form. Hopefully someone and critique my form there.

I also wanted to try the SLDLs from blocks (the plates im deadlifting from are roughly 4 inches thick). I also wanted to do a video showing my form doing just a regular deadlift at 225lbs to make sure I’m not rounding at even lighter weight than I had previously thought. Fire away:

Well look who wore their passive aggressive pants today.

No passive aggressiveness there bud. You finished adding your two cents?

Call me crazy but I think the only reason you may think your lower back isn’t rounding with 225lb is because the weight is effortless to you.

That is to say… I think your lower back is rounding with 225lb. In fact, it appears to me that you set-up with your lower back rounded from the get-go.

Yes the 225lb was more of a check to make sure I wasn’t rounding at very light weight. If I’m setting up with my lower back rounded well thats a pretty big problem. I’ve read that as long as the angle of your back doesn’t change throughout the lift then its ok, but I think that this applies more for upper back rounding than lower back rounding. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Looking at the video again, I’m not sure if I see my lower back rounding in the setup, but others can give their verdict.

Your squat looks better than you deadlift, but from what I can see it appears that you are letting your knees go too far forward. That will make it harder to break parallel and will increase the range of motion, basically you need to sit down between your legs rather than on top of them as you are doing.

SLDL and DL: your lower back appears to be straight, but your upper back is quite rounded. While that is an acceptable technique used by some lifters, it is an advanced technique and is not recommended for beginners. It is also makes it harder to keep your lower back from rounding, especially on heavy lifts.

It applies to lower back rounding as well, the vast majority of disc injuries are in the lumbar spine. If are able to set up rounded and not round over any further then it is safer than rounding during the lift, but it is still much less safer than a neutral spine. Some people can get away with back rounding, the only way to find out is to keep doing it until you get injured. In your case, when you pull something relatively heavy your whole back rounds once the bar starts moving.

What follows may be gibberish:

Here are some bad lat stretches.
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lat_stretch
All these mid backs are loose. The shoulder blades are not pulled together, so the back rounds.

Here are some good ones.


The shoulder blades are squeezed together, there is almost an arch in the upper back. And the back stays flat, not rounded.

Here’s a dude setting up with shoulders slack and back rounded, versus with shoulders squeezed together and back flat.
deadlift-spinal-position

Here’s a round back deadlift. Shoulders are "slumped, " back is rounded.
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Here’s an Olympic bro, back almost beyond flat almost into being arched.
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Look at all those muscles squeezing the shoulders together, keeping the chest up and the back solid.

I think you may want to spend some time working on your scap retraction. Literally try to fortify the area of your back that rounds. Here’s a bad video of a move I’ve been using.

Devils advocate, but this is hugely circumstantial. Rounding means his legs are already locked. The quads aren’t contributing at all to the pull. They’re probably weak. Also, the lats and trunk are going to play a bigger role in staying upright than the glutes or hamstrings.

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The guy with the shoulders rounded is correct. Stop listening to PT’s and watch KK, and virtually all other great conventional deadlifters. The trick is to keep the lower back flat and tight and let the shoulders hang LOOOOOOW.

Of course its circumstantial. We’re guessing here. Unless you train with him you can’t tell what’s really happening.

Last I checked this was a “Powerlifting” forum. The clean pull has absolutely NO relevance to powerlifting.

Your photo is taken at a moment of extension way beyond a heavy deadlift and besides being off base is disingenuous and misleading. Stop licking OL nuts and stick to discussing powerlifting, please.

BTW the guy with the rounded upper back is KK. 939 with no belt. He could probably take the little OL lifter’s best C&J and toss it across a room. Study him. You are in no position to critique him.