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The Platform: Looking Up in the Deadlift
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The head is an oft neglected thing that can have a significant effect on many physical endeavors.
At age 18 I was informed by one of my Judo teachers that where the head goes, the body will follow. It certainly seemed borne out when putting someone off balance or otherwise setting them up for a throw, whether the throw was intended to take the other guy forward, backward, or to either side. This axiom seems to be just as true for the stand up techniques in Jujitsu as well.
When the neck is not kept in neutral (i.e. in line with the rest of the spine), it weakens many movements. As with moving the head forward, backward, or to the side for a throw, shoving the head to the left weakens the right arm. Besides my own experiences in martial arts, I've had a few chiropractors demonstrate this to me as well over the years of treatment I've had from them.
The head weighs 10-11 pounds. If you think of the human body as a column topped by a bowling ball, if becomes apparent that if the bowling ball is not centered on the column, it is inherently less stable.
Given these premises, keeping the neck in neutral (and hence not looking up) makes for a stronger spine extending and supporting a deadlift and a more stable stance. Given the foot placement and stance taught for the deadlift in Starting Strength, with both feet in line with each other laterally, it makes for being difficult to move someone side to side, but less so forward or backward. Looking up and tilting the head backward makes for weaker balance to the rear. Hence, someone falling backward.
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"At age 18 I was informed by one of my Judo teachers that where the head goes, the body will follow. It certainly seemed borne out when putting someone off balance or otherwise setting them up for a throw, whether the throw was intended to take the other guy forward, backward, or to either side. This axiom seems to be just as true for the stand up techniques in Jujitsu as well."
This is also true for ground game in JiuJitsu as well. Often you can halt your opponent crawling up your half guard by pushing the head to the side. Turns out people don't like having their necks bent against their will so it tends to limit, at least for a moment, what that person can do to you while you press their head away from you. I don't know the exact science behind it but it just seems to work that way.
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