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Thread: Paused deadlifts

  1. #11
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    I guess by having to pause around the shins would emphasize the sticking point one would have. Or could one just use it as a medium pull day since it wouldn't be as taxing as a max deadlift day. I have used the snatch pull for 2x5 on my medium pull day and it helped a ton. I just feel rows, cleans and chins are all just light pull days at my current advancement.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maybach View Post
    Paused deadlifts are often thought of an "underloaded" variation. And anecdotally, they certainly seem to "feel" harder than an unpaused deadlift. It's not clear exactly why this is. A paused squat or bench press is harder because it eliminates the stretch reflex, but there is no stretch reflex in the deadlift.

    You might compare it to a paused, or hang clean. However, this is not even universally regarded as an underloaded variation: some Olympic lifting coaches claim that one should be able to hang clean MORE than one's full clean. This is perhaps untrue, but it's worth considering that some people observe this, whereas almost no one does for the paused deadlift. Second, when it IS an underloaded variation, it's probably due to having a shorter ROM over which to accelerate the weight.

    The deadlift naturally divides itself into two phases: the knee extension off the ground, and the hip extension to lockout. This is roughly where the "halting/rack pull" pair is divided. The paused in the paused deadlift is effectively in between these two phases: it is a rack pull which is pulled to the pin position by the lifter.

    However, something about these two phases makes them somehow un-deconvolveable. There's a few other places this shows up. The position of the shoulders in the clean and deadlift is one of them: when you plan to lock the bar out at the hips, your back angle becomes more vertical than when you plan to accelerate it rapidly perhaps the knees. It also shows up in the rack pull and the halting: most people can rack pull more than their deadlift the first time, but haltings take a little time to get used to because the goal is to "hold" yourself over the bar, and therefore hold your back angle more horizontal higher up the legs.

    I would suspect this is where the potential to make the exercise "harder" comes from: if you are planning to "pause" the bar below the knee, you will hold your back angle horizontal, because "holding" the pause position requires the muscles involved (I would guess the lats and the hamstrings, but will need to think about it further) to work too hard in the "vertical back" intermediate position. So the movement ends up doing something similar to a clean grip deadlift or halting, in that it "stops" hip extension and works the lats harder.

    The variation in loading being so unstraightforward makes its use for training...questionable. How much harder is an 80% paused deadlift than a 90% deadlift? Is either one working? They certainly don't have any advantage over the clean and the row. But it's an interesting special case of the movement that may provide some insight into the deadlift, if one is inclined towards theorizing.
    Just thinking about perception of how any paused variant feels, perhaps it feels harder because you have to slow down whatever momentum you’ve imparted to the bar, stop it, then hold it all at a mechanically disadvantageous place during the pull.

  3. #13
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    To me that sounds like what a good assistance exersice is for. Mechanically disadvantageous yet heavy and doesn't impair the main lift.

  4. #14
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    If it doesn't impair the main lift, how can it benefit the main lift?

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    If it doesn't impair the main lift, how can it benefit the main lift?
    By affecting what the lifter does, vs. what the lifter is? i.e. by correcting the skill, not increasing the muscle?

  6. #16
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    The deadlift is not Downhill Skiing, and it's technical difficulty is low.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    The deadlift is not Downhill Skiing, and it's technical difficulty is low.
    The word impair was used without enough context. I ment to use impair as the word fatigue. For example, I did a medium pull day that helped add some small stress, but not enough to impair my heavy deadlift for the week. Which is pretty much the point of a medium day. "Trainee feels like he is working, but has alot of room left". (Practical programing 3rd edition)

  8. #18
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    in my experience (not a coach) paused DL are pretty stressful. they can be done with pretty heavy loads and are the exact same pattern as the primary pull. it may be better to do another variant such as SLDL or SGDL on medium days if you are looking to keep the total stress down a bit while still getting in some work. those variants take the quads out of the lift therefore greatly reducing the load

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