[quote]JoeGood wrote:
[quote]punnyguy wrote:
Joe, from what I see, you are starting with a rounded back, before you even start the lift. Which means you are de facto toast before you even begin.
My .02 is you need to try the Tony Gentilcore deadlifting style (which is not exactly how others teach it mind you): start with your shins lightly touching the bar (while you are still standing upright), consciously and actively retract and downwardly rotate your scaps, (by which point you should already begin to feel an arch in your lower back), arch your lower back, then without looking down at the bar (this is important), reach for the bar (by feel, w/o looking down!), grab and begin. By not looking down, you will not lose your arch before starting; with the shins already lightly touching the bar, you will have to sit back to start your pull instead of popping up your hips.
I have a rounding problem also, and doing it (or trying to) this way helped me out alot. (You can google for a video of Gentilcore DL’ing 500+, it’s the best form for a max effort DL I’ve ever seen; no chance whatsoever for an injury with his form)
(I also hope I don’t come across sounding harsh, because I am a big fan of your work ethic and entertaining videos!)
edit: did a search for the “horse’s mouth”:
http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_dirty_dozen_12_tips_for_heavier_pulls[/quote]
I’m going to give that a shot. I watched the video several times again and I was surprised at how high his hips were when starting the pull. [/quote]
How high/low the hips are when starting the pull is dependent on body mechanics -femur length, arm length, etc. It’s more important to feel that you have a back arch when starting the pull, and that you are pulling back to the extent that if your hands slipped off the bar, you would fall backwards. It is only after the bar passes your knees that you thrust your hips forward, etc. I deadlift with the dreaded hex plates, which is why starting with my shins touching the bar, even while standing, was such a helpful cue for me personally.
Here is another video of great form at monster weight:
Notice he rolls the weight back so that at the start, his shins are perpendicular to the floor. To my eyes, he starts with a slight round, but then gets the arch when he rolls the weight back to his (now perpendicular) shins. He loses some of his arch during the lift, because it is a monster weight, but he never loses tightness, which is the key.
edit: something funky going on with the video; google Mike Tuchscherer, it’s the video where he deadlifts 715 x 4; he lifts heavier weights, but you don’t really see the progression of what is happening to the arch because the weights are too heavy, and they’re only singles.