Who?
I’m one of the few with positive feelings towards the deadlift. I definitely feel it has helped my back muscle mass, but what the heck do I know.
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I confess that I have no idea if deadlifts gave me a broad, thick back more than the rows, pull-ups and lat pulldowns I’ve been doing since I first picked up a barbell. How much credit do squats and heavy kettlebell swings get?
How do people even attempt to measure this?
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For me, I have done more volume of deadlifts than rows/pullups combined. I’ve never really considered my back a weak point, so I assumed some of that mass must have been gained, or at a minimum maintained, by deadlifting.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t have a clue how to measure this. Unless you had NEVER deadlifted, then just started and saw new growth…
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With how much weight is moved on a deadlift compared to a row or a pull-up, this is pretty typical. The big thing I keep factored in though is that far more than the back is at work on a deadlift, so now it becomes a question of how much “back volume” is involved in the deadlift.
For measurement, I go by observation. There are a good amount of powerlifters out there with large deadlifts and good backs, but not “awesome backs” per the original comment. There are a lot of bodybuilders out there with awesome backs who don’t perform a deadlift proper (conventional or sumo) but relegate to RDLs, SLDLs, or no sort of deadlift whatsoever.
I find the deadlift to be far more a hip exercise than a back one. A strong back is required for a strong deadlift, but a strong deadlift does not build a strong back. It’s much the same way I’ll say that you need to build a strong grip for a better farmer’s walk, not that a farmer’s walk is a strong grip builder.
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This. The only reason this gets said a lot is because some twink at the gym started doing them with 60s and built up to 100s and was like “Man, my grip got stronger.” Like no shit, but try going from a 200-300 carry without training grip specifically. Maybe it works for some, but not for most.
Regarding the deadlift thing, I think a lot of it depends on how you pull. I’m very back dominate, but only because my back is “generally” strong. I built it FOR deadlifts, however, not FROM them.
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I think this is a valid argument. Looking back through my log, it doesn’t appear my back size has improved significantly since deadlifting more frequently. I don’t think it has regressed, but I’m going to go ahead an assume most of what I’ve built happened from the regular rows/pulldowns I was previously doing when doing a more bodybuilding focused program.
When I have done higher volume deadlift days, or a few different EMOM challenges I’ve tried, I do get some lower lat DOMS which leads me to believe I’m working the right muscles to spur on growth to a degree. The lower rep/higher intensity days don’t seem to target the back muscles as much as the hips seems to be the more predominant mover.
I also agree that different variations of the deadlift can benefit back mass more than conventional/sumo. I remember trying the banded deadlifts where the band is pulling the bar away from you and that seemed to place more emphasis on my back/lats.
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As for this, who only deadlifts and never does a row, pull up, pull apart, etc for their back and has an awesome back? Obviously there are outliers, but still
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This is actually a pretty interesting point. After the 30 minute EMOM thing we did, the most pain I felt was in my mid traps and hips.
That’d be an interesting datapoint to collect.
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For a moment I thought I qualified here. I did bodybuilding workouts only for years to build my back. A few years ago I began to power clean and then I added conventional deadlifts about a year ago. I did not stop my other back work. I haven’t noticed any new growth but I haven’t done an either/or approach. It’s been bodybuilding only or bodybuilding plus deads.
But again, I don’t think I’ve seen much of a change by adding deads. From a feeling standpoint I think my middle back may be better from deads but I don’t have any photos for comparison.
I typically judge myself from the front and with circumference measurements so I’ve missed out on observing changes to my back side.
re: deadlifts and back - let’s not forget that, for the most part, deadlifts train the back muscles isometrically.
Dynamic movements such as rows or whatever build more muscle than isometrics. We know this to be true, so logically it would stand that things like rows, pulldowns etc do a better job of building up the moosles
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So here’s a little uninteresting story that happened with me today… I was planning to do a chest workout and went to the gym at my usual time only to find it packed. It’s strange because usually not many guys are there at that time. Every bench was taken but the incline bench ( which I wasn’t planning to use). I find a guy I know benching and asked him how many sets left he has, he said two sets. So I wait for him to finish only for a guy to come and want to work in with me. I hate working in with someone because the weights we use are never the same, and the weight adjustments are a pain in the ass. So I got pissed off and was like fuck it I’ll just do shoulders. I started doing some military presses when magically every bench that was taken became free🤦♂. I was more pissed off now and continued my pathetic shoulder workout. And this is the end of this uninteresting shit story…
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As for the deadlift argument , you guys are far,far experienced from me and I didn’t find anything to add to what you said. I just don’t like it when someone talks about absolutes in training. Everything will work differently for different individuals with respect to how they’re built and their way of life
Isn’t this an absolute?
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My inner Bodybuilder is coming out of the closet… Looking at this pic of my youngest ,I would love to slap another 20 lbs of lean beef on his frame . After which do a cut and slap his happy ass on stage…But hes not
that into lifting 
I’m getting a vibe here that you really just want to slap your kid.
As a parent, I totally get that.
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Since we’re flame-free… I used to fantasize about the things I would like to do to particular woman, now I drift off and dream of this:
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LOL… wont lie,me and him have bumped heads on two occasions where he thought he was going to try and take me.
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I could watch that all day 
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Oh man. I have to admit- My kid is afraid of me throwing anything at/to him. For some reason that is beyond me entirely, EVERY TIME I’ve ever thrown anything to him or at him, it hit him directly in the face, no matter how hard I’ve tried not to.
That includes a snowball last winter.
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