Worried About Deadlift Injuries

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
1

So a few months back I decided I’d give deadlifting a shot, since a lot of people I know, athletes and health-aholics, all seemed to say it was a very beneficial exercise.

Well about a week in I started having back pains and had to stop. It took about two weeks with the help of prescribed painkillers to make the lower back pain go away.

after my back had healed, I tried to just try lifting the bar, with no weight, to get my form correctly. I got advice from people on keeping my back straight and all, but I just always found myself either holding the bar too close and brushing my knees, or holding it too far and stressing my back.

I then figured that if I couldn’t get the form right, it wasn’t worth trying again. That was about three months ago.

I do want to give it a shot again, I just have this built up worry that I’ll hurt my back again.

Any tips you guys can give would be great.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and have a great day.

2

Purchase precision pulling, or on of the DL videos from elite.

Or better yet hire a coach worth his / her credentials to show you who its done correct. Its a very basic move and on you should have in the tool box

3

Possibly rack pulls or trap bar deadlift. I didn’t deadlift for the longest time because I kept getting lower back spasms. Lots of front squats, deadlifts, and barbell rows strengthened my lower back. It’s no longer a weak link.

4

If you haven’t yet read them, I’d suggest you check out the series of articles by Eric Cressey “Mastering the Deadlift”

Part 1
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1582703

Part 2
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1588392

Part 3
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1607555

5

Start with hypers and work on your grip with partials. When you can do 3x10 with about 25lbs in the hypers you will be able to deadlift.

So many variables are missing from your post. Were you traning at a commercial facility or a university one? a powerlifting one? Is the facility in the states or in europe? What weight did you started with that got you hurt? Did you properly warmed up the lower back before starting to deadlift?

When you got hurt were you using the 45lb weights to start your workout??? The main problem with starting training the deadlift is that if you are weak you need to use olympic 10kg weights that have the same size as the 20kg and most commercial gyms in the US simply don’t have them.

6

If possible, posting a video of you deadlifting would enable people to point out any glaring problems with form you may have.

7

You said it was a compromise between brushing your knees and stressing your back, however good form involves keeping the bar very close to your legs throughout the lift. I’ve had bloody shins from deadlifting more than once, but I’ve never had back pain.

8

It sounds like you simply went too heavy too soon when you tried it for the first time. Deadlifting is one of the best exercises for overall strength and growth, and any serious lifter should be doing deadlifts somewhere in their routine. You mentioned brushing your legs with the bar as a bad thing when it’s really not.

The bar should stay quite close to your legs, and in fact, should probably touch them at some point. Everyone skins their legs doing deads at some point, if not all the time.

I would recommend you start extremely light (probably more than just the bar, but if you don’t feel comfortable with any more than that, don’t do it), get all the help you can on your form (host some videos on here if you can), and then slowly progress in weight. Just don’t give up.

It is a pretty simple exercise, but it is also pretty easy to let your form slip, which means it is pretty easy to get hurt…you found that out the hard way.

9

dont mean to hijack the post… but, i alwaya get pain in my lower back after an olympic session: cleans, snatch, press, DL etc… but its not conventially “painfull”, it just feels similiar to what my chest would after a hard chest workout… should i be worried?

10

thosebananas: fatigue is not the same as pain, you should be able to tell the difference

One thing I did to improve was to wear sweat pants. So you don’t have to worry about really scraping your shins.

11

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies :slight_smile: I think sawadeekrob asked many good questions and I’ll answer them to the best of my abilities:

Q:Were you traning at a commercial facility or a university one? a powerlifting one?

I’m not exactly sure what you mean by “powerlifting”, but I attempted the deadlift at my university. The weights room is pretty small, but I have the luxury of it being empty early in the morning or late at night, so I can mess around with proper weights and such. I’m also a member of my local gym and activate it when I have breaks. Since it’s a golds, it pretty much has everything I need.

Q:Is the facility in the states or in europe?

The one where I deadlifted is in the states.

Q: What weight did you started with that got you hurt?

My memories a little vague, but it was either 35 or 45 lbs on each side, which I now understand with improper form was a really bad idea.

Q: Did you properly warmed up the lower back before starting to deadlift?

This is probably my biggest problem. I did some stretches but they were probably done improperly.

I’m currently in London, and the gym I go to makes it literally impossible to deadlift (No space at all, and it’s always packed). Even early and late night the queues for any of the weights can get ridiculous. However I’ll be back in the states (briefly) in mid-march so then I can give it a shot.

Ok so what I’ve taken away from this is that:

A: I should start out with very light weight to get my form correct

B: I MUST properly stretch my lower back before doing any deadlifting.

C: The bar MUST be close to the body. It isn’t a big deal if it scraped my knees, but it is if it strains my back.

D: For any more information I should check this site’s articles on deadlifting.

Thanks for all the help guys :slight_smile: anything else I should know?

12

last thing you wanna do is stretch your lower back before deadlifting.

your back ache is most likely from using solely your lower back to pick up the weight. put more stress on your glutes. exaggerate the squeeze at the top (with your glutes and hams) and it’ll take some pressure off the back. anyone can pick up 135lbs with good form.

and read the articles for additional in depth tips.