Manchester Mike

Always enjoyed training my back more than any other body part, in the back of my head i've always known i should be doing deadlifts but i've never seen anyone doing them in my gym, and i've never really wanted to try them and look like a "cunt" in front of the local skallies.

Decided to take the plung today though after memorising the technique in my "Arnold Schwarzenegger body building book"

Just did 4 sets of 12 reps @ 40kg just to get the hang of the technique and get used to them....

Well chuffed i did, feels like your using so much of your body, was working all down the backs of my legs, my arse and lower back!!!

Can't wait to my next back day, think this is going to be my favourite lift

Roll on deadlifting 500kg

Paul Eggleton

Believe me 250kg makes all your joints and tendons creek!!

Manchester Mike

I can imagine mate!!!

The backs of my legs ate sore now

Don't think i'm going to be able to walk tomorrow

Deadlifts are manly though

dexterc

Im still of the opinion that deadlifts are the most functional lift you can possibly do. 2x bodyweight is a nice initial aim as well.

Manchester Mike

Cool, i was going to ask how much i should be lifting??

How many reps/sets?? I way 14 stone.

dexterc

Well, first thing first, make sure youve got the form right. Its very dangerous to crank up the weight with bad form, which is why deadlifts have such bad rep. Its not because you shouldnt do them, its because people do them wrong and then blame the lift. Same with heavy squatting. When I started, I used to put 40k on the bar, do 5, 60k, 80k, and so on. (I also ran out of weight to put on the bar at several points, which slowed progress.)

I found that doing it like that, lots of reps with low weight each time before my max effort sets, helped to get the form ingrained in me so that i didnt just go into a heavy set and mess up my form. Now though, I will literally do a warmup weight for 5 reps, and go to about 90%+ of my maximum, do a single rep, if I make it, up the weight, until I fail a few times.

To give you an idea, that usually works out as

5x82.5k
1x117.5k
1x122.5k
1x127.5k
1x133.5k
1x137.5k
Fail the next weight. That was my last deadlift session, according to my workout log.
Thats at a bodyweight of......does conversion maths....65.8kilos. 10 stone 5 in real money, skinny bugger that I am.

Basically, its a case of challenging yourself, and being prepared for your lifts to feel like they are going to smash you through the floor, while not being stupid and doing anything to get yourself injured.

Manchester Mike

Thanks for the info dexterc

As said i only was lifted 40kg (4sets of 12reps) just to get the hang of the technique and get used to doing them.

But i'll do like you said and steadily increse weight week by week making sure i can keep the correct form untill i get to my "failure" weight.

Paul Eggleton

Also make sure your back doesn't round as the weight gets heavy. I wouldn't recommend singles regularly either. Keep you heaviest set in at least the 3-5 range. Singles are a sure fire way of getting hurt if you do them regularly as one day you may not have warmed up enough and bang there goes your back, and once they go they never seem to be the same again.

Dexter - good strength for your size

Manchester Mike

Thanks paul

What are singles??? Making the bar heavy and just attempting to lift it once? i.e. stick to around 3-5 range?

Manchester Mike

Repost as i am stupid

dexterc

Yeah, a single is just one rep. I would listen to pauls advice, he deadlifts more than I do by a long way. Doing singles only works for me on deadlifts, I burn out horribly if I try it on any other exercise, so its probably not recommendable especially when starting out. Its an experiment you can try when your CNS is used to the massive extra strain that deadlifts put upon your body perhaps.

Its worth noting that Ive always been told that even when you are doing reps of deadlifts, you do them as "A set of singles" rather than as a normal set. Basically, set your feet, do the lift, put down the weight, step away. Reset your feet, lift again, step away. Rinse and repeat. Rather than keeping your feet in the same place and just raising and lowering the bar.

I think its to stop sloppiness from creeping in to the technique, make you concentrate on the setup, and also to stop you from attempting to build a concentric portion into the lift by attempting to control the weight on the way down, which you do not need to do.

I have seen a very impressive video of a guy called Steve repping out 700lbs for 7 reps without moving his feet though.

Paul, if I could have hit 400lbs, I would have considered myself to be fairly strong. If I tried even 300 now, Id probably snap my back in two, let alone not being able to hold on to the weight. Confounded lift gets in the way of lifting far too often.

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

I hope your joking

DaveEscos

can some one do a straight forward beginners guide to deadlifting?

what muscle groups it works etc


if you have the time

thanks

dexterc

DaveEscos, you need us to tell you how to pick up a heavy weight?



Ill try and look something out that a better deadlifter than me produced.

Stu, not joking at all. On a forum I used to post on, you wouldnt even call yourself male until you deadlifted 405lbs. It was a powerlifting based forum, so no one worried about tone, muscular endurance, aesthetics, or anything like that. It was strictly about how much you could shift.

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Is a dead lift where you lift the barbell off the floor and then raise it above your head?

I cant do them due to my lower back, but im damn sure if i could, i couldnt. lol

dexterc

Nope, thats a Clean and Jerk. A deadlift is literally just picking the bar up off the floor and holding it. Ill host the world record a minute, just for entertainment value.

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Ahh... still not something i can risk just yet, but i can see it being a little easier at 400lb than the one i thought it was

Still not sure i could do even 1/2 that, but will possibly never find out.

Thanks for teh help

dexterc

No problem. I think putting even 300lbs overhead at my weight would make me one of the best olympic lifters in the world, so Im not going to lose any sleep over not doing so. Videos will be hosted soon

dexterc

Right, I cant quite remember the order of the lifts, but I think it was something like Bolton broke the record first by lifting short of 1000lbs, Benny beat it with his first lift which was 1000, Bolton matched him at 1000, Benny pulled something like 1020, Bolton failed at that weight, Benny failed at 1040.

Bolton: http://s54.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0...D1CE3DGWZJWBMT

Benny: http://s55.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1...G178UXHFLX8VP8

Enjoy.

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Jees... 1020lb!!

Alps Pacino

Seen a clip of Ronnie Coleman doing a 800lb deadlift the other day

DaveEscos

there must be rules to follow etc!

thats what I mean!!

Manchester Mike

http://www.ast-ss.com/training/exerc...?bp=Back&pn=12

Paul Eggleton

This involves the quads, hamstrings, all of the back and traps and arms and is the most complete exercise.

Feet shoulder width apart, width of hands just outside your legs. YOu can either use an overhand grip or and alternate one where one hand is over and the other is under (this stops the bar twisting out of your hands as they oppose each other).

As every one always says when you pick something up, bend your knees!. Bend them so your thighs are almost parallel with the floor. THe bar will be right in front of your shins. Take the strain and keep everything tight then keeping your back straight, first push through the floor using your legs. As the bar rises your back comes into it and you straighten out until your body is vertical. Don't drop the weight though, control it on the way down too.

Repeat until you pass out

Manchester Mike

I think they should be renamed.... MANLIFTS

Red16

Found this animGIF on t'internet, the site said it shows a... Romanian Dead Lift (RDL)

Muscle groups : Low Back, Glutes, Hamstrings

Technique : Keep the low back arched, hinge at the hips. Do not bend at the waist, you must bend at the hip joint.

Paul Eggleton

I would call those Stiff legged deadlifts not proper deadlifts. HIs knees are hardly bending.

Red16

Paul Eggleton yeah theyre not the same as the deadlifts i was shown in the gym either, but i found the pic so thought i'd post it, as a form of dead lifting. the site it came from has loads of other vids/animGIF's of weird training techniques, more athletic style than pure bodybuilding tho.

Paul Eggleton

THe above is a great exercise for hamstrings though

dexterc

Agree with Paul, that looks more like a SLDL than a Romanian deadlift. A Romanian is done identically to a SLDL, but with bent legs. So you bend your knees enough to reach the bar, then lift it without moving at the knee joint.

People are always confused over the difference between Romanian and Stiff legged deadlifts, for some reason.