Deadlift help

[SD Gator]

So, my deadlift feels like it just went to hell. It felt good before, and then all of a sudden its feeling heavy and shitty.

I'm not sure if its because of form issues that limiting me as I get to heavier weights, or if its because I've finally got weightlifting shoes, and I just need time to adjust to them. Or it could be time to move to smaller weight increases.

I have 3 videos, all from different days. One without shoes at 285 lbs, one with shoes at 285 lbs, and then one with shoes at 295 lbs.

The 285 without shoes felt strong, and I was able to achieve a relatively flat back.

The 285 with shoes felt hard as crap and felt all kinds of weird. Looking at the video, I think its because my back was rounded as heck. The 295 with shoes felt just insanely hard. Even trying to get everything locked down and keeping a flat back, I still had a rounded back.

In the interest of complying with forum rules, I'm only going to post one at a time. The first is the baseline....285 without shoes that felt good. Sorry for the shitty camera angle. This one was never really meant to be posted. The question on this one is, how does it look in general?

[Steve Hill]

We can't really see your back in this video, now can we?

[SD Gator]

Umm...just a little bit? Its definitely a crappy video. I messed up where the phone was pointing after I hit play on this one. I was hoping it would be at least a little bit useful, but I'm sorry to have wasted your time. I really appreciate the work you guys put in here!!

Here's the video of me doing the same 285 lbs a few days later, but with shoes on. And a better camera angle. In this one, my back is way rounded. And I can tell because it felt a LOT harder to get through the set, even though I had done the same weight no problem a few days earlier.

Between this and my squat issues, I'm starting to wonder if I'm one of those folks who can't control their spinal erector muscles. I did the "superman" drill and can feel myself squeezing those muscles doing that, and I can feel them when I squeeze while standing and unloaded. But it seems like when I'm actually lifting significant weight I can't feel them anymore.

[Steve Hill]

Umm...just a little bit? Its definitely a crappy video. I messed up where the phone was pointing after I hit play on this one. I was hoping it would be at least a little bit useful, but I'm sorry to have wasted your time. I really appreciate the work you guys put in here!!

Here's the video of me doing the same 285 lbs a few days later, but with shoes on. And a better camera angle. In this one, my back is way rounded. And I can tell because it felt a LOT harder to get through the set, even though I had done the same weight no problem a few days earlier.

Between this and my squat issues, I'm starting to wonder if I'm one of those folks who can't control their spinal erector muscles. I did the "superman" drill and can feel myself squeezing those muscles doing that, and I can feel them when I squeeze while standing and unloaded. But it seems like when I'm actually lifting significant weight I can't feel them anymore.

Well, your low back is definitely letting go and rounding a little, and on some of these reps it doesn't even look like you're trying to set your back. Put 135 on a bar and show me what happens when you squeeze up correctly - no hip drop, no shoving the bar away with your legs.

[SD Gator]

Will do. I'll do that as a warmup during my workout tomorrow and post it right afterwards. Thanks!!

[SD Gator]

The forum must have eaten my last post. If it didn't, please delete this one so we don't have duplicate posts.

I was thinking about what you had said about the bar rolling away from me. My garage floor is sloped enough that just breathing on the bar or looking funny at it will make it start rolling away. I used some "terribly useful" wood shelves to block the bar this time, and it worked a lot better then the cardboard I was using before.

Anyway, here is the video of a warmup set with 135 on the bar:


When I watched that video between sets, I noticed my back was rounding on the way down. I know we're not supposed to post multiple videos, but here is a single rep at 255 lbs (only 22 seconds long), where I tried to correct that. My back isn't rounding as bad as before on the way down, but I'm still getting some rounding in my lower back.


I might be picking my head up too far, as well. I'm looking at a point on the floor about 15 feet on front of me, but it looks more "up" than that on the video.

I've got a video of my workset at 295lbs, if you'd like to see that. Since I'm already pushing it at two videos in one post, I figured I'd ask before posting that one. :-)

[Tom Campitelli]

You set your back just fine with 135. I wonder if you almost have your shoulders too far in front of the bar on a rep or two, but otherwise it was fine. 255 looked okay, too. Normally a touch of rounding on the way down is not problematic, but I would suggest getting some rubber matting so you can put the bar down without having to decelerate it quite as much.

[SD Gator]

Thanks for looking at this!! And that's a "Well DUH!!" moment for me. Rounding on the way down can easily be fixed...by not having to put it down as gently. That might even help the last couple reps not be such a grind.

I've got my shoes, and a belt is in the mail. Next up on the shopping list...rubber mats. I might even try to build a level platform. :-)

I seem to remember reading in the book about arms not being too vertical in the deadlift, at least at the starting setup. Looking back at the videos, my arms are pretty vertical at the start of most reps. Is that the indication that my shoulders might be too far forward? Or is that just my anthropometry and there is something else I should be looking at to correct it?

[Tom Campitelli]

Since your video was shot from behind, it is difficult to say. Follow the setup steps the letter and you should be in the right position.