Dead lifting barbells definitely builds a strong body all over. It’s an awesome exercise. Many consider it one of the best overall lifts a person can do.
But the question remains:
Should YOU do them?
Well, only you can determine that. Too many variables here that you must address personally. If you compete in power-lifting you have to do them. But what if you are not a competitive lifter?
Well, what is to follow may or may not apply to you. If your desire is to lift as heavy a weight as you possibly can in the deadlift with a barbell, I would suggest getting Pavel’s books: “Power To The People” and ”Power To The People Professional”. The second book is filled with great training info for those desiring to get the most out of the three powerlifts (squat, bench press and dead lift).
But that is not my goal, and thus I am sharing with you a different view or system to follow.
I feel much the same about dead-lifts as I do about squats. Now before we get too far, let me say I am talking about the competition style conventional or sumo style dead lifts. You know, where you bend/squat down to a loaded barbell in front of you and grip the bar with two hands and stand upright.
Building up to a 2 to 2.5 times body-weight dead lift is a great goal. That is, if you weigh 150 pounds you build up to being able to dead-lift 300-375lbs. If you weight 200 lbs. you build up to the point where you can dead lift 400-500lbs. Once you get to this point, dead-lifting ever greater weights has rapidly diminishing returns on your sweat investment. Once a person can dead lift about 2 to 2.5 times their body-weight they will have plenty of strength for most any task.
But, for many persons, the dead lift is a tough lift to master. First, you need to find a good trainer who really knows how to dead lift. Forget the typical gym trainer. If you really want to learn how to deadlift properly, seek out a competitive power lifter. Then you will get the real scoop on how to dead lift properly. If that’s your goal, awesome.
Second, you may not need to practice the conventional dead-lift. Especially if you have had a previous back injury.
Interestingly enough (if your back has been injured in the past and you have your doctors clearance) dead-lifting (but not necessarily with a barbell) coupled with proper training of the entire torso, can alleviate many back problems.
But having prior injuries can make the dead lift much harder to learn. There may be muscular imbalances, in-grained movement patterns to overcome and also a mental fear of getting re-injured that must be overcome.
So what to do?
I believe a person can get strong enough to dead lift 2 to 2.5 times their body weight by training on other lifts. By using a variety of lifts we can build strength throughout the entire body and help to bullet-proof the back. We can get strong enough to meet the above dead lift weights without ever doing a conventional dead lift. And we can stay healthier, become more mobile and flexible as we do this.
How?
By using a variety of lifts and rotating them through our workout routines. I would use exercises like;
one leg dead lifts performed in three variations:
done contra-laterally (weight held in hand opposite the one leg you are standing on, i.e. left hand holding weight, standing on right leg)
uni-laterally (weight held on same side of body as leg you are standing on, i.e. right hand standing on right leg)and
bia-laterally (weight held in each hand, dumbbells or kettlebells, while standing on one leg).
suitcase dead lifts, trap-bar dead lifts (much easier to learn and great way to dead lift) double bar dead lift’s (like suitcase deads but with one bar on each side of body, a poor man’s trap bar dead-lift), swings with a KB or plate loaded system done both with heavy and lighter KB’s. Double KB swings are great too.
Health lifts (basically just the top 1/4 or so of a dead lift and usually lifting the bar off pins in a power rack or blocks, so the bar is at mid thigh level when you start the lift) power shrugs, etc. can also help with this. Might I suggest doing double bar lifts off the pins set at a mid thigh level? Try it.
I know a lot of people look at the dead-lift as a natural movement, you dip down and grip the bar and rip it up. But in reality, when we squat/bend to pick objects up we try to get the object as close to our body as possible. We will hug it close to our body if we can. We take it into our circle of power you might say, trying to bring the object closer to our natural center of balance as we stand.
Grab a basketball or similar sized ball. Then grab one bigger if you have it. Now with a light object, like the ball, you probably picked it up with the palms facing each other. IF you picture a clock hanging on a wall, your hands would be at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions on the ball. That is the sort of grip we use for boxes and such that are not heavy.
Now if that box is heavier, or the ball is heavier, like an atlas stone, we would pick it up with our grip or palms at about the 4 and 8 o’clock positions. That gives us a much better grip on the object. We may even move our hands down into the 4:30 and 7:30 positions.
If we can we will hug it sort of toward the bottom or if not, we will bear hug it around the sides, like lifting someone up in a bear hug.
So what can we learn from this?
Well, dead-lifting a loaded barbell is not as natural a movement as some think. Many objects cannot be picked up this way. A barbell, if loaded with heavy weight, is usually picked up with straight arms. But in everyday life, many objects are picked up with arms that are bent to a degree and even wrapped around the object to get it right up against our body.
Another point:
in lifting most things in life we pick things up with our arms at our sides and our palms facing our body. Or if picking something up in front of us we have our palms either facing up or facing each other or somewhere in between that range. About the only thing we pick up that is heavy, with our palms facing down or toward our back, is a barbell loaded with a bunch of plates.
So how can we use this information?
We can dead-lift various objects using a more natural grip if we lift things like sandbags, kegs, rocks, etc. Doing Zercher style dead lifts (where the bar is held in the crooks of the elbow) is also a good way to get stronger.
Thus, in addition to using the various optional forms of dead-lifting outlined above, I would perform water or sand filled beer keg lifts. Dead lift sand bags. Get out side and find various sized rocks and logs to lift. This will create a much more natural movement pattern in your lifting. You can still test yourself with weights way heavier than a man can lift. Why is it a man can dead lift near 1,000 pounds but not even come close to that weight when lifting rocks?
Well, it is much easier to dead lift a balanced weight with its easy to grip bar compared to an unbalanced rock or even a smooth evenly shaped Atlas stone.
There are a lot of other reasons, but don’t fear that doing various deads like one leg deads, suitcase deads, trap bar or double bar lifts, rock lifts, etc. will make you weak. Chances are, if you practice such lifts you will get way stronger and have better movement patterns in everyday life than the guy who just does dead-lifts conventional style with a barbell.
Using these various measn of building your total body strength will also build strong forearms, hands and fingers. Lifting a weighted bar is surely a test for the grip, but grab a big rock and your forearm is tested to the max as your hands and fingers are splayed out trying to find a good purchase on that odd shaped object. This fires more of you CNS and helps you get tighter to lift the object. It helps you get all-over-tight and strong and tough.
You will literally have to wrestle the weight up when you try heavier objects. It has great carry over to every day life, especially if you are a hard-charging kind of person who isn’t afraid of jumping into things and getting dirty with work or sport. You might pick up some drums of various sizes and put weight plates in them. Or you could dump dirt or rocks in them.
By using weight plates or rocks in your metal drum you can easily change how much weight you are lifting.
Such lifting, coupled with sensible training for the rest of the body can go a long way in injury-proofing the body and getting way stronger and resilient than your pre-injury days.
Think about it.
Also, I must include one warning for anyone with prior back injuries or the desire to prevent them:
If you are going to squat or dead-lift with barbells, be careful with doing things like 10×10, you know, ten sets of ten reps. Young, injury free studs can get away with this, at least for a while. Older, beat up and wiser men do better with lower reps and sets.
High rep sets fatigue the back quickly, even with more moderate weights. Lose your concentration or get too fatigued and BAM! hellooo chiropractor! People usually focus much more when under a heavier weight because they know it can hurt them so they pay closer attention to what they are doing.
Keep your sets and reps lower. I would suggest things like 3×3 or 5 sets done for 5,4,3,2,1 reps. That is NOT 5 circuits of this. It is: 1st. set do 5 reps, rest, 2nd set do 4 reps, rest, 3rd. set do 3 reps, etc. Work your way down to one rep and you are done. You may or may not increase the weight each set.
Also, three sets done this way: 5 reps rest, 3 reps rest and finally 2 reps and you are done. You might only do one rep per set and 5- 10 sets; or try 5 sets of 2 reps. Lot of possibilities here.
Heavy swings can be done for higher reps, but that is another article.
With big basic exercises or lifts, go heavy, go hard and then go home to rest. Don’t try to get cardiovascular conditioning with big heavy weights for many reps. That is a sure ticket to injuries, sickness and burn out.
One of the great things about learning to lift all types of objects is the total all-over bodily power that it gives you. You know you can lift almost anything anywhere to get a great workout. You realize you don’t always need a nice gym or even barbells to get strong and tough.
And when you go to pick up that heavy dumped over garbage bucket, the motorbike you just dropped, your young nephew who is trying to wrestle you, that bag of golf clubs in the deep trunk of your car or the last armload of firewood: you’ll find it way easier than it was when you just did regular deadlifts.
Build your strength foundation gradually and progressively. Know when to back off and take a break from training these lifts. Learn how to cycle your lifts in and out of your routines and cycle them up and down in intensity and volume. You will enjoy the process much more, reduce the possibility of injury or irritating a prior injury and get the strength and toughness you are after.
Get all over strong and all over tough from every angle,
Walter