I have a problem that I think plagues a lot of lifters. When doing heavy deadlifts my hips/butt come up before the rest of my body, thereby possibly over-exposing my lower back to stress. Are there assistance exercises that will help me rise from the bottom position in a more upright position? Or perhaps I should use lifting shoes? Any advice would help. Thanks.
Hey bud, I’d say that it’s one of two things: 1. you still have to ‘learn’ better technique, and/or 2. the weight is too heavy and you can’t hold your technique because of it. As much as you might not want to, you may have to lower the wieght to get in proper reps. As for assistance exercises, anything that targets the lower back/glutes should help. But if you lower the weight and do proper deadlift technique that should be about the best exercise for it I would imagine.
Yes, that problem does plague a lot of lifters, and no, shoes are not the answer. I’d recommend going no heavier than you can in good form and SLOWLY working your way up. Stiff legged deads and good mornings can also help prevent this by strengthening your low back.
You will improve on the deadlift when you stop thinking of it
as a back exercise and start thinking of it as as a leg exercise.
There’s a propensity to lower the weight by leaning forward,
instead of bending at the hips and the knees.
(Let your butt drop!) This will take a lot of stress off your back!
BTW/ You must treat each rep as a single, and then re-set before
the next one…Your deadlifting fool, Joey Z. ::::----::::
every time I deadlift the bar scrapes up my shins and I end up bleeding any tips to avoid this?
Kevin: These guys have hit it on the head. There’s no time for ego with deads. The hip is the “pivot”. The initial movement is sort of a compound movement WITHIN a compound movement: butt goes down, you “push” through the floor with your legs and feet, “pull” from the UPPER back; stand up straight with leg/back power. As Joey said; RESET. And as everyone said, use a weight where you can use STRICT form. Take it slow and practice on form…the weight will come…
Strong legs, weak core - work on your lower back and abs, and learn to simultaneously push your abs out tucking your pelvis.
Nothing to add as the previous posts have got it right. But I have an interesting thing to try. Some may think this is strangish.
Clean Pulls. If you can learn to clean pull correctly, you’ll learn to keep your body in the right postion on the way up, or the bar will stay on the floor.
I realize its not for everyone, just something to try.
Try sumo style, or soccer shin guards.
I’d also like to hear input on how to avoid scraping the fuck out of my shins while deadlifting…thanx
I scraped myself bloody & raw the first time I did serious deads (& still have the scars from it; funny part of your body, the front of your shins). Since then, I just wear heavy cotton sweatpants on days that I do leg work. Occasional bruising, but no more blood.
Shin scrapes are not the most pleasant thing but I view them as a badge of honor. If your one of the few people the actually do deadlifts, show off your scars with pride.
I love to do deads at a “fitness center” pulling heavy weights, sweating my ass off and my shins are bleeding. People look at you like your crazy.
Don’t really understand the shins problem, myself. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but I don’t hit my shins. I’m not pulling 400 lb or anything, and I don’t have extra long legs (or short, for that matter), so maybe I’m the one who’s cracked. If I did, I’d switch to sumo style.
great responses so far. one thing i might add, sort of combining the two topics being discussed on the thread, is that once you get your butt down well enough to start the lift with your legs the bar will definitely come up against your shins. this even happened to me when i used to do deads sumo style. if i miss a lift, it’s always because the bar gets forward on me. focusing on retracting the scapula helps me stay in the right position through the first pull.
as far as saving the skin on your shins, i just pull my socks all the way up. sure, i kind of look like an idiot, but it helps. i do find i go through a lot of socks, though.
Scraping your shins is probably a good sign - it means that you’re focusing on keeping your butt down and the bar close to your body. I think that as you become more proficient, you’ll learn how to dead without altering your form much but without scraping your shins either. You’ll learn to pull with the bar maybe 1/2 inch from your legs. As I’ve gotten better at the movement I’ve cut way down on my shin scraping (though it still happens a little). It really is just a matter of inches (or less). One thing that helps is initiating the movement with the bar resting about an inch from your shins instead of touching them.
Crash:
My wife doesn’t agree with the heroic bloddy shins idea for herself
We tape the bar in the middle areas or use one of those foam tubes
I’m not much into bloody shins, I just keep the bar about a half inch from my legs. Most of the time if it hits my legs it just slides anyway…my workout is a killer (thank you Whopper) so I’m always pretty sweaty.
Three things – first, try wearing converse all stars or some other type of shoe without a raised heel. Second, try sumo style, as that will force you to involve the hips to a greater degree. Finally, for the bloody shins, just pull your tube socks up during your set, or powder your shins.
Hope this isn’t a dumb thought (I’m not a soccer player!) Would those soccer shin guards work while doing deads?
Actually, I like to do the deadlift, incorrectely. Obviously, the risk of injury forces you use much lower weight. But, pulling the weight with your back vs. your legs adds insane thickness to your back. I don’t have a problem with my leg size and that’s what squats are for. But the benifits of raising the weight with your back, using the curve of the back to pull the weight up is perfect for me. I don’t think I will ever do dead lifts properly again. Also, think 95-135 lbs vs. 400 lbs. Yall, should try it some day if you want to add serious thickness to your back.