Fix My Deadlift...

Training Powerlifting
21

I agree with a good bit about what has been said here.

I think a lot of it has to do with your setup. I think, for now, you should ditch the roll. Concentrate on a good arch and keeping your back in a nice line.

I think Hanley is right about your upper back arch is too intense and makes lockouts difficult. It makes it harder to fire the hips through.

I cant really think of a direct thing to really fix all this other than to just concentrate on better form. You need to be tight, you seem to be doing the pray/pull combo…

good luck.

22

I would suggest, along with dropping back the weight and working on your form, hitting the lats with some chins or heavy pulldowns, db rows, strict BO Rows.

Basically anything that is going to reinforce holding onto the arch through a range of motion.

Good mornings would maybe help if you go light enough and follow strict form. If you go to heavy, you will just add to the problem, IMO.

Some heavy core work would probably do you some good as well.

23

I do heavy core work and heavy back work. But i think due to some comments i will increase the volume on these.

I think i will drop the weight a bit next week, but set up a bit different.

Planning to get my training partner to tell me when my back is ok at the set up. cuz i think only about 1 or 2 reps, i actually started from a good position. and then through the movement i will actually try to keep my arch cuz im not sure if i currently do. Will get vids up next week.

Scott

24

also i will try to “sit right” this week and have consulted a physio mate of mine for some tips and advice to correct my posture.

Cheers for all the replys thou.

Scott

25

If you look/pause at 8 seconds in on the 10 rep one, its gives you a good idea.

The weight at this point is barely off the ground but your knees are way to extended.

Actually, if you look at the start of any of the lifts, your back remsembles nothing like it should.

It might help to keep your chest up.

I wouldn’t recommend you keep lifting like this though.

26

remember that a dealift is in essence a high squat, I’m guessing you don’t squat with your back like that. imo your DL should go up shortly if you correct your form.
KROC ROWS

27

im gonna concentrate on my form more.

and Rape my upper back for a while, I was wondering, how much cheating it therefore allowed on things like BB row, I get to about 90kg and cant do strict rows anymore. how much cheating is allowed? i wanna hit it heavy…

28

Rack Pulls would help imo, as long as your focusing on keeping your back tight and not lifting huge.

30

[quote]thosebananas wrote:
These are videos from today…

215kgs/475lbs x3 Scott 215kg Deadlift Triple - YouTube

180kgs/400lbs x10 Scott 180kg Deadlift 10reps - YouTube

Ive deadlifted like this for about a year and a half. never had any pain in the area that is rounding, but im sure its wrong and needs to be fixed.

any thoughts would be good.

There are more videos of me deadlifting on our clubs channel if you want to see more.

Thanks
Scott[/quote]

One method I’ve seen proposed and actually used myself for correcting form is to stand facing a wall, with your toes about 6 inches or so away from the wall. Practice crouching down and touching the ground without touching the wall with your knees or head. If you can do it easily without falling over backward, inch your feet an inch or so closer, and keep doing so till it becomes a challenge. Then practice crouching down and touching the floor to track that groove till it sticks.

Otherwise you can usually count on your form breaking down at least slightly on a near maximum lift.

For the record I just pulled a pb about a week ago. 500 lbs @ 235 lbs body weight. Not that great but good for me cause I didn’t break form. I used to practice like I described above at first though. Hope it helps.

31

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
thosebananas wrote:
bushidobadboy wrote:
You asked my opinion as an osteomyologist with years of PT experience, so I’ll give it to you.

If I saw a person lifting lifke that in my gym, I would be STRAIGHT over to them to warn them that their technique is very poor.

The whole of your spine is rounded to the max. now some thoracic rounding is to be expected, but you have no lumbar arch and excessive thoracic rounding.

Even I can lift 200kgs, but I make damn sure my lumbar spine is positioned in neutral 0 it’s biomechanically strongest position.

I could coach this into you in about 5 minutes - if I were there, but I’m not.

BBB

Any tips on fixing it?

Cheers for replying.
Scott

Get a broomstick. Get a friend to duck tape it to your back, all the way from the top of your buttcrack, to the top of your thoracic spine. Use the tape in an ‘X’ pattern.

Leave a little gap, for the mumbar lodrosis, i.e. tape it at the buttcrack and all along the thoracic spine, but not along the lumbar spine, or you won’t be able to arch.

When the stick is in place. Tilt forward from the hips. Wherever you feel the tape pulling, is where you are rounding the spine away from neutral. Once you can do this unloaded, add a bar, then add weight. Progress until you can maintain the correct neutral spine with a decent weight.

Work with this for a few weeks, so that you can really stengthen the appropriate muscles and ‘grease the groove’. Then finally you can attempt some 5RMs etc with a spotter.

You can also use a camera to provide external feedback.

All this has taken me longer to type than to actually correct, lol. The net is great but distance is not, lol.

Of course, as a friend and fellow T-Nation member you are welcome to a free coaching session with me any time - you just have to travel or pay for my travel.

BBB
[/quote]

i assume you mean spotter as in someone to watch my form instead of actually spotting me?

I like ur idea of broom handle. I was thinking that tape would be a bit hard to use everytime i go into the gym.

What about bands?

Scott

32

[quote]Vires Eternus wrote:
thosebananas wrote:
These are videos from today…

215kgs/475lbs x3 Scott 215kg Deadlift Triple - YouTube

180kgs/400lbs x10 Scott 180kg Deadlift 10reps - YouTube

Ive deadlifted like this for about a year and a half. never had any pain in the area that is rounding, but im sure its wrong and needs to be fixed.

any thoughts would be good.

There are more videos of me deadlifting on our clubs channel if you want to see more.

Thanks
Scott

One method I’ve seen proposed and actually used myself for correcting form is to stand facing a wall, with your toes about 6 inches or so away from the wall. Practice crouching down and touching the ground without touching the wall with your knees or head. If you can do it easily without falling over backward, inch your feet an inch or so closer, and keep doing so till it becomes a challenge. Then practice crouching down and touching the floor to track that groove till it sticks.

Otherwise you can usually count on your form breaking down at least slightly on a near maximum lift.

For the record I just pulled a pb about a week ago. 500 lbs @ 235 lbs body weight. Not that great but good for me cause I didn’t break form. I used to practice like I described above at first though. Hope it helps.[/quote]

I will give this a shot. cheers.

Scott

34

This is a video of my training partner Spencer. His conventional technique is just about as good as anyone out there.

We corrected his form with a couple of tweaks that took him from 550ish to 650 in about 18 months. He’s a 180 lb. 20 year old btw. This might help you.

First, he narrowed his stance to about 8-10" in between the heels. Second, instead of coaching him to lower the hips, we coached him to “raise the head and chest”. This accomplishes 2 things: It sets the cervical and thoracic spine in a nice neutral position from the start and lowers the hips without thinking about it. I’ve had lifters only try and lower the hips, but they still had poor upper back position. Third, to help keep the upper back locked in, we coached him to try and “bend the bar around the legs”. Imagine trying to make a horseshoe out of the bar when you begin your pull. It will reinforce the upper back and keep the bar close to you. All of this should take care of the “soft” upper back at the start of your lift.

Watch the portion of the clip just a split second before he begins the pull. He takes a deep breath, pulls his head and chest high, and bends the bar around his legs.

It’s pretty obvious you have a hyperkyphotic thoracic spine. Not a whole lot you can do about it at this age. I wouldn’t worry a whole lot about it as long as your lumbar spine is locked in throughout the lift. 2 of the best deadlifters in history had extreme hyperkyphosis of the thoracic spine: Lamar Gant and Vince Anello. When they locked out a deadlift, the bar was only an inch or two above the knees. They were 4x bodyweight deadlifters. I think you’ll be fine.

Did you ever have mid-back pain when you were younger or have anyone mention Scheurmann’s Syndrome?

35

No back pain apart form some on sundays after rugby matchs. What difference would it make if i had?

Scheurmanns Syndrome - no. I will google and learn.

Cheers
Scott

36

googled it…

How would i know if i have it… and if i do, how do i fix it without a plaster brace.

Scott

37

[quote]thosebananas wrote:
googled it…

How would i know if i have it… and if i do, how do i fix it without a plaster brace.

Scott[/quote]

You’re not really going to “fix” it, and without an xray, it’s tough to tell if you had it at one time or not. What you can do is keep what thoracic extension ability you have and not let it degrade over time. In the interest of keeping the post short, look up Eric Cressey’s or Mike Robertson’s stuff on how to combat the hyperkyphotic, slumped over posture. What you don’t want to have happen is this posture to start affecting your shoulders/rotator cuff. You should be fine with deadlifts, squats, etc…

All you know at this point is you have a lot of curve/kyphosis in your upper back. If you’re pain free, most likely you’ll be fine throughout your lifting career. Do the exercise Bushido told you about with the broomstick and shoot for that neutral spine posture with all of your deadlifts/squats.

PM me if you want.

38

While all this complicated mumbo jumbo is all fine and good, and possibly he should look into seeing a doctor IF HE IS INJURED.

Look man, from the videos I have seen, you are pulling with your back first, and this really isn’t a back excersise man. Not to be crude, but this is the simpliest way I have found to explain it to men.

Picture you have a beautiful girl bent over infront of you. When you wind back for another go, whats the first thing you are going to use? It’s your damn hips. Hump the living crap out of the bar man.

Watch your videos, the first thing that moves is your shoulders are being pulled down because you are going with the back first. Beyond that you have no arch at all. I didn’t read all of the posts, I don’t have time to read most of the crap these people put on here. It’s like listening to Obama talk, I laugh at all the lies and skip over the bullshit, which in hindsite I just shouldn’t watch, it just makes me angry.

Just fix the form man and you’ll be gravy, you are already strong as hell!

Stay Strong,
Brendan

39

Overall…

Its deads tomorrow. I am going to try and take everything into consideration. And try a few different things. Film everything and then evaluate. I will drop the weight a bit and concentrate solely on form tomorrow.

So tune in Friday evening… :smiley:

Cheers for all the helpful replies so far.

Scott

40

[quote]Chefbc14 wrote:
While all this complicated mumbo jumbo is all fine and good, and possibly he should look into seeing a doctor IF HE IS INJURED.

Look man, from the videos I have seen, you are pulling with your back first, and this really isn’t a back excersise man. Not to be crude, but this is the simpliest way I have found to explain it to men.

Picture you have a beautiful girl bent over infront of you. When you wind back for another go, whats the first thing you are going to use? It’s your damn hips. Hump the living crap out of the bar man.

Watch your videos, the first thing that moves is your shoulders are being pulled down because you are going with the back first. Beyond that you have no arch at all. I didn’t read all of the posts, I don’t have time to read most of the crap these people put on here. It’s like listening to Obama talk, I laugh at all the lies and skip over the bullshit, which in hindsite I just shouldn’t watch, it just makes me angry.

Just fix the form man and you’ll be gravy, you are already strong as hell!

Stay Strong,
Brendan[/quote]

You’ve gotta post a vid…“hump the bar”…this I gotta see…please…