The safest deadlift is the deadlift you maintaining proper form with.
I often have really bad back pain when I flex my spine, even during everyday activities.
Deadlift, even romanian, done heavy helps my back because it strengthen the muscles which keep the spine in neutral position.
I’m very careful with my form, and never go to failure - always hold 1-2 reps in reserve.
It’s annoying to see people on forum, doing big lifts with big weights, pulling with their backs and bunch of guys congratulating because they can’t see bad form until it’s very bad or very very bad (I don’t say it’s you).
And this guys complain that deadlifts and back squats hurt their backs (I don’t say it’s you).
The most important thing is to be sure of your technique and never to continue when you feel that you break it.
If you have proper technique and back still suffers - it’s time to see doctor.
It’s difficult to use the right weight every time, although I don’t go very heavy usually…I am scared to have back pain again, maybe I’ll do very light sumo deadlift after squat once a week, just because I know this exercise is very important and useful.
[quote]Jnatural wrote:
It’s difficult to use the right weight every time, although I don’t go very heavy usually…I am scared to have back pain again, maybe I’ll do very light sumo deadlift after squat once a week, just because I know this exercise is very important and useful.[/quote]
If your form is dialed in it’s very unlikely you will hurt yourself.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Low back pain in a conventional deadlift is more a technique issue than a movement issue in my experience. I find it tends to result from people having their feet too far apart. A narrow stance really helps out.
I made a video showing how I deadlift conventionally, with a pain free lower back.
Thats a really good video, very informative. I lift conventional so given me some tweak to try out next time. I was at my strongest when using a narrow stance like you but then for some reason i let my feet drift out and ive noticed exactly what youve mentioned there. Thank you for the info!
[quote]Jnatural wrote:
I hope this But I think some persons are more predisposed to injury with a certain exercise[/quote]
I donno about that, maybe. I think your probably over thinking it because of your injury. Believe me I get it. I’ve hurt my back before and anytime I go for 1RM it’s a thought I have to squash pretty quickly.
[quote]Jnatural wrote:
What’s the safest deadlift variation to avoid low back pain??
I am pretty sure that conventional is the worst…
Is romanian deadlift safer than sumo/conventional deadlift?[/quote]
Why do you think you need to deadlift to build a strong body? If it’s causing you this much stress why not just avoid the movement altogether? There’s no one movement you absolutely HAVE to do.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Low back pain in a conventional deadlift is more a technique issue than a movement issue in my experience. I find it tends to result from people having their feet too far apart. A narrow stance really helps out.
I made a video showing how I deadlift conventionally, with a pain free lower back.
Thats a really good video, very informative. I lift conventional so given me some tweak to try out next time. I was at my strongest when using a narrow stance like you but then for some reason i let my feet drift out and ive noticed exactly what youve mentioned there. Thank you for the info![/quote]
[quote]CrushKillDestroy wrote:
I’ve experimented with many options over the years both for patients and myself, and my conclusion is that a kettlebell deadlift is the absolute safest in general. Because there isn’t any bar to travel past your knees and the KB can travel directly up and down, and your back can remain completely upright. If the shortened ROM becomes limiting you can stand on blocks or plates to increase it. Obviously the weight of KB’s is also a limiting factor but frankly if you have back pain i’d suggest you should simply be doing a DL for the movement quality rather than absolute strength building.[/quote]
A similar movement to that that I like is a landmine/angled barbell deadlift. Not as limiting as far as weight goes, but you still can only load one side of the barbell so don’t expect to be breaking world records or something.
[quote]Jnatural wrote:
What’s the safest deadlift variation to avoid low back pain??
I am pretty sure that conventional is the worst…
Is romanian deadlift safer than sumo/conventional deadlift?[/quote]
Why do you think you need to deadlift to build a strong body? If it’s causing you this much stress why not just avoid the movement altogether? There’s no one movement you absolutely HAVE to do.[/quote]
I thought the same thing, but what exercises Can I do to strengthen the posterior chain and the general back as deadlifts do?
I don’t know… for example, Box squat + yates barbell row ?
Love GHR’s. I can’t deadlift in any conventional sense anymore, and GHR’s are the only thing I’ve found which is a closed chain exercise and works my hamstrings and glutes like a DL, without overloading my lower back. It’s quite possible to progress for a long time without adding extra resistance just from positioning of your hands and arms - hands held under your hamstrings is easiest and as you move your hands up your body you increase the lever arm of resistance until you have hands extended out above your head. Then external resistance can be applied.
[quote]Jnatural wrote:
What’s the safest deadlift variation to avoid low back pain??
I am pretty sure that conventional is the worst…
Is romanian deadlift safer than sumo/conventional deadlift?[/quote]
Why do you think you need to deadlift to build a strong body? If it’s causing you this much stress why not just avoid the movement altogether? There’s no one movement you absolutely HAVE to do.[/quote]
I thought the same thing, but what exercises Can I do to strengthen the posterior chain and the general back as deadlifts do?
I don’t know… for example, Box squat + yates barbell row ?
[/quote]
For me, weighted hyperextensions are pretty good…combined with all the row variations and squat variations.
But I think some persons are more predisposed to injury with a certain exercise