What ever works for you brother and I love Romanian Deads, helped my deadlifting strength so much
Dead Lifts Risk VS Reward
- Thread starter dane.dawg
- Start date
your a smart ugly newf at that lol. Deads get a bad rep cause they are not done correctly... with very good form. One of the biggest principles of powerlifting is always get as tight as you can before any attempt at a lift, cuz when if your as tight as you can be it is very hard to get u bent out of shape
I totally agree with everything you just said and then some
biguglynewf
Moderator
lifting deads heavy is so taxing on your cns that your form breaks down pretty quick and when you are no longer able to keep your ass, down chest up, and pull with you gluts and quads with you core and back tight ( your back rounds and ass pops up first) then your in for trouble and potentially a lot of pain.
I haven't read the rest of the replies, but I had a fusion of two lower vertebrae, and I have had a couple other surgeries which had contributed to imbalances. I found that returning to deads was the single best thing for my core, lower back, and spine health. I don't go heavy, but my form is impeccable. I reset between every rep. There's no momentum lifting/taking it on the bounce. Full stop, ensure core is turned on & tight; feet, legs, hips all turned on, shoulders and upper back is turned on and tight (your grip torques against the bar from your shoulders and back), head down, back straight, and push through the legs. (I know you know how to deadlift, but this is my process). It's tedious, but it prevents injuries. I'm not suggesting that your form isn't correct, but flare ups/injuries happen for a reason. As one of my legs/hips is weaker than the other I ensure that my drive is focused on the weaker leg, so as it tires I'm not distributing the weight to my opposite side, which always results in a flare up. Do you have any imbalances?
One other thing that has worked for me is adjusting weight and reps. I generally go for higher reps lower weight. Again, resist any urge to 'rep it out' as that will be sloppy and cause issues. The majority of the time I'm doing a min of 12-15, then every 2-3 weeks I'll do sets of 5-6. I also alternate using the trap bar, but if you find the load too much due to the higher start, flip the trap bar over and you are instantly 4-5" lower, but with the same grip, which tends to be more spine-friendly.
I also do deads twice/wk. Once reg grip, the other with a trap bar. I listen to my body and never overload it. If we had a cable squat platform I would do those, but any squats I do are very light. They overload my spine far more easily than deads. I do half the weight on squats.
The best advice I can give you is to slow your movement down, reset between every rep, and alternate between different deadlift movements. Doing so will force you to drop weight, as you focus on the finer nuances of the movement. If your core isn't burnt out after deads your core isn't being taxed, or you already have a super strong core, which would lead me to believe your form is off. I don't believe you should shorten the range of the movement, as that will only enable you to continue to lift heavy.
Do you do hip thrusts? What sort of hip adductor/abductor exercises? Any issues with squats? From my experience deads are the single best movement, and if you're injuring yourself the first step is to slow the movement down and drop the weight, focus on supporting exercises, and slowly rebuild. I'm also late 40s, and the only times deads cause me issue is when I neglect to follow my own advice, lol.
If your back rounds or your head comes up, which means your back will round that is likely your problem. That core should be fully supporting your spine, keeping it rock hard and tight, and your back should stay flat all the way through the movement. I also don't lean back, I engage my glutes, which brings me to an upright position, but I don't ascribe to leaning back as some do. I keep the tension on all the time, that keeps everything engaged.
Hope that helps.
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For anyone who has back issues I would avoid pauses, as these are incredibly taxing to the posterior chain. If you're referring to pause-deads then I have to disagree, however, I come from a position of having serious injuries and surgery. My perspective, based on strength coaching and a sports chiro is to avoid pause reps on deads. I've tried them and they caused me a shit ton of pain. But, my situation is def not the same as the average lifter.
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resilient1 I do squats twice a week and a lot of core work.. The problem is my reset which I will work on alot..
It takes getting used to, and having been out of the gym for a while now I know that when I return it will be slow and tedious until I'm sure my technique is perfect, which mainly means my core has strengthened. I've been keeping active, but deads work my core unlike anything else. You will immediately notice how much more taxing your lift becomes, but you will be far better for it. If done properly, and without compromise I'm certain you will avoid injury. Keep that core rigid and supporting your spine.
Be sure to update.