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If the lower shoe is used in competition/near comp and if that lifter isn't giving up ground on the anthropometry/quad use side.Originally Posted by OBoile
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I don't see how quad use is limited/reduced in a DL with a flat shoe. Unless your ankle mobility absolutely sucks, the limiting factor in how far your knee goes forward will be the bar so adding a sloped heel won't make much of a difference IMO.
TMPHBITEU
The limiting factor in the ROM over which the quad applies force is the shin angle. Vertical shin/shorter effective foot length with no shoe vs. more shin angle/longer effective foot length with a lifting shoe is the concern. Mid-foot is farther back barefoot, so both options display a vertical bar path. Do you want more quad involvement, or not? And is the extra fraction of an inch the bar must be pulled worth the trade-off?
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I'm sorry, I'm just not seeing this. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you. When you say shin angle, are you referring to shin angle relative to the ground, or relative to the foot? If it is relative to the ground, which is what I suspect you mean, I just don't see how a heel could make any real difference in the DL compared to a flat shoe (of similar height, I agree that adding in a deficit would allow the shin to be less vertical, but that is an obvious net-negative wrt lifting the most weight). Again it seems to me that the shin angle relative to the floor would be limited by the bar, not by the shoe.
If you are referring to the shin angle as relative to the foot, then I guess I can see how wearing a heel would change this angle closer (making it closer to 90 degrees) which I guess could be considered better, but again I don't really see/understand why.
I also don't get the "mid-foot is farther back barefoot" comment. Is it further horizontally from the toes? yes. But you could also say it's "farther forward" from the heel. Since your shin is in the back half of your foot, the distance from your mid-foot to your shin would also increase barefoot.
You will have to bend your knee more due to the deficit created by the heel (and can bring your shins further forward slightly because of this too), but in terms of weight lifted it's pretty consistent that deficit deadlift < regular deadlift. If your goal is to lift the most weight possible the consensus is pretty clear that the shorter ROM is the way to go. If your goal is general strength training, I could see a valid argument being made for using a heeled shoe.
What am I missing by your analysis?
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