On my last blog I talked about strength training and
explained squats. This time I’m going to talk about my favorite lift,
deadlifts. It’s my favorite lift for a couple of reasons, for one I’ve had lots
of lower back pain since Junior High. I had a doctor tell me my back was
crooked and that stretching and medicine would help ease the pain. It never
worked, nothing ever helped the pain! I did cheerleading and dance in High
School and I was in great shape. We ran and did plyometrics but my back
continued to swell and give out on me.
Now that I do deadlifts regularly my back rarely hurts anymore. This is
because it works your lower back and it strengthens it. Second reason is the technique with all the
other lifts was very awkward for me. With deadlifts the technique was easy and
straightforward. Rob showed me the form and said to stand up, so I did. It felt
so easy I thought I was doing it wrong. I also loved that I was able to jump up in
weight fast. I started out at 45lbs and quickly got up in the 100’s. 135 used
to be my working weight and now it’s my warm up. When I started deadlifts my
goal was to hit 200lbs, which seemed impossible. My current 1RM is 245. My
working weight is between 185-210 depending on how I feel that day. With this
lift I was able to see how far I can push myself and see what I am capable of. I
also found my confidence in strength training with this lift.
Like I said in my last blog, compound lifts are exercises
that make multiple joints move. With deadlifts you are using your calves,
hamstrings, glutes, erectors, QL, abdominals, quads, traps, lats, rotator cuff,
and forearm muscles. Having all those muscles contract burns a lot of calories!
You work all those muscles from picking the weight up off the ground and
lifting it to hip level. Form is really easy with deadlifts. Have your feet
shoulders width apart and put the middle of your foot under the bar (entire
length of your foot, not just the top). Bend at the hips and grab the bar just outside
of your legs, then bend your knees until your shins touch the bar. Puff your chest
up so that your back is straight, look straight ahead, drive through your heels
and stand up. As you are standing up, keep the bar as close to your legs as
possible. When going down bend your knees and run the bar down your legs and
focusing on keeping your back straight. Start out with an over hand grip. Once
you get into a heavier weight it is easier to do an over hand under hand grip.
He is doing the lift very explosively to help not only with strength but with his overall power (strength x speed). There is nothing wrong with it taking you a few seconds to get the bar all the way up. In fact, that means you're using an appropriate weight for maximal testing. Some days I want to just do reps, so I do 5 reps and 3 sets. Some days I want to test how much I can do so I only do 1 or 2 reps.
My last two posts I talked about leg exercises, my next post I'm going to talk about overhead barbell shoulder press.
