Deadlifts- Best Strength Exercise known to man

Personally I think the deadlift is the king of ALL exercises. You can read another post of mine Best Martial Arts Exercises where I discuss effective strength building exercises for martial arts.

From Wikipedia:
The deadlift is a compound movement that works all of the major and most of the minor muscles in the abdomen and lower body, with emphasis on the Erector spinae, lower back and back, along with the quadriceps, hamstrings, and gluteus maximus. The remaining muscles are involved in stability control. It is, in a sense, the purest single event test of strength because it is one of the few lifts of dead weight (weight lying on the ground). In most other lifts the weight changes direction or starts in the air and several other athletic skills such as balance, coordination are emphasized. For example, both Olympic weightlifting events require a great deal of athletic skill in addition to strength. In addition, it is commonly believed to be the oldest test of strength dating back to cultures who competed at lifting the heaviest stones.

One favorite lines in that statement is “It is, in a sense, the purest single event test of strength”. I firmly believe that…. not because of any other movements or changes of angles or anything like that. The deadlift is just “raw”. There’s something really heavy on the ground, and you need to pick it up. The feeling I get from a deadlift is very powerful, more powerful then a squat. The push press is close, but not that close. It is one of the three main lifts associated with powerlifting: bench, squat and deadlift; and is regularly featured in strongman competitions. The funny thing is that if you walk into most gyms, the chances of you seeing someone doing HEAVY or strength building deadlifts is rare. There are very few people I know of or have seen actually training the deadlift heavy.

This is actually quite surprising. In a steroid and getting bigger obsessed world I am shocked that more people don’t gravitate towards this exercise. It is a guaranteed size developer. If you include heavy deadlifts in your routine, and train them properly, you WILL get bigger. If you don’t, you’re either not challenging yourself enough, or you’re TRULY overtraining. And man… I hate that word…. overtraining. Trust me… unless you’re spending 2 hours a day in the gym 7 days a week for the past 60 days straight, you’re probably not overtraining. If you’re lifting 3-5 days a week and spending an hour or so in the gym… it’s just not happening. The human body adapts and GROWS, it can handle hard strength training. Which leads me to believe that most people just aren’t giving this exercise a good heavy chance.

I’m sure there are a lot of reasons why people don’t want to deadlift. Fear, uncertainty, not enough knowledge… fear. Fear can come from a few things though. If you have never deadlifted before and don’t know where to even start… yes I understand, that can be a little confusing. But we live in an internet world. If I search on deadlift videos, or deadlift technique I can find exactly what I am looking for and where to begin. To aid you in this process I’ll go over the basics of a deadlift and the variations.

Deadlift Exercises

Conventional Deadlift
Stand in front of a barbell with your shins close to the bar. Your feet should be around shoulder width apart or a little closer. You will find your spot through experience. Grab the bar with your hands outside your legs, a bit wider then shoulder width. Your hands will be in and over, under position. One hand will grab the bar overhand, the other underhand. If you are right-handed, typically that is the over grip. Keeping your arms straight, bend your legs and flatten your back, and keep your head up: this helps keep your back flat. Your thighs and shins should be at around a 90 degree angle (or a little higher), this depends on your body type.
Pull the barbell off the floor by straightening your legs and torso until your body is completely erect. Keep the barbell close to your body, it should almost drag up your legs. At the top, pull your shoulders back to lock out. Lower the bar by kicking your ass out “controlling the weight” on the way down. Personally, don’t try to muscle the weight on the way down, I let it go down while guiding it. In “fitness” gyms this can create a little more noise so be aware of others.
Repeat..

Sumo Deadlifts are a variation of the deadlift where the legs are spread far apart to the sides, mimicking the stance of a sumo wrestler. This variation changes the emphasis of the lift and places more work on the hips and legs and less on lower the back. Lifters who have lower back pain may want to switch or try sumo deadlifts. I have been trying them from time to time. I haven’t completely switched over because I still enjoy the conventional deadlift. Typically people with longer limbs and shorter frame (me) have greater success with the sumo. One of the biggest differences is the initial pull. A sumo deadlifts initial lift off is harder, but the lockout is easier because of the less distance you have to travel.
When doing the sumo deadlift, rather then focusing on pulling the weight up, focus on keeping your knees out wide and pushing your feet out to the sides as if you are trying to spread the floor apart with your feet. At the same time bring your hips forward. This will improve your leverage and allow you lift more weight.
Another key benefit of the sumo is that some deadlifters have problems getting past the knees on the conventional deadlift, the sumo lifter does not have this problem.

The last true variation on the deadlift I’ll discuss is the Stiff-Legged Deadlift or the Romanian deadlift. This lift is popular with Olympic lifters. I have also seen many guys use this lift as their main deadlift style. It puts a lot of emphasis on your hamstrings and lower back. I personally believe this should used for higher reps and lower weight, because there is more risk of injury here. But if you have a rock for a lower back, this might be your style. Start like you are going to do a conventional deadlift, yet straighten your legs out, with a slight bend in the knee. You should feel a slight stretch on your hamstrings. I feel like my hamstrings are “loaded up”. Then just deadlift. The chance for rounding your back and injuring yourself is greater. Start off light and concentrate on keeping your lower back in check.

My last deadlift exercise is the trap-bar deadlift. This is my personal favorite for weekly lifting. Though it’s not really a deadlift, its almost like a squat-deadlift combined.

The trap bar deadlift is a weight training exercise using a specialty bar known as a trapbar. As the name suggests, it is derived from the deadlift. To perform the trapbar deadlift (TBDL), one loads the bar, steps inside the hollow portion of the bar, bends down, grasps the handles, stands erect, then lowers the bar to the ground in the exact opposite path.

Less emphasis is placed on the lower back, but the exercise still works your pulling muscles and traps quite well. It is personally my favorite. I have arthritis in my lower facet joints in my back, and the trap bar deadlift doesn’t bother me as much. I go heavy basically every workout. The trap bar allows me to really push it, yet still have my back functional the day after. That being said, I still do heavy conventional deadlifts at least 2x a month.

Deadlift Routines

I dedicate one particular day a week to my deadlifts. With my deadlifts I typically do a heavy trap/shrug workout as well. You can see my recommended routine here: Martial Arts Strength Routine. If you do an internet search for deadlift routines, you’ll find a lot of powerlifting routines to increase your one rep max in deadlift. For us martial artists or typical strength trainers, the important thing to do, is to just train deadlifts. A good way to look at your routine is using “Pushing Muscles” and “Pulling Muscles” together. The reason I dedicate a full workout to deadlifts is because I do a lot of warmup sets and at least 5 working sets. I pyramid up, so my last lifts are only one rep. If I feel strong, I go up. If my body tells me I’m done, I stop. I don’t cheat myself. Deadlifts can make you strong, powerful, and big. Just train them! If you want some advice or have some questions about it, let me know. I’d be happy to answer them.

Deadlifts = Strength = Power = NOT being a puss