Deadlift start position: Are Romaleos screwing me up?

[Crimmy]

Hello,

There's a lot of crap that's been happening over the last few months. Rib injury, minor hip/knee injury, and I've been losing weight while trying to maintain my lifts on TM (and progress when I can).

With that said, my last PR DL was 200kgx2. The week I attempted 202.5 was when I injured my rib (injured my rib the day before while sneezing). That, and the following two weeks I failed to get the bar off the ground with any weight north of 180, though my squats were fine. I'd usually try to pull 200 first, then work down 5kgs at a time until the bar went up and I'd call that my workset for the week. 200kgx2 wasn't that difficult the first time, to be honest, so I don't know why I've regressed so much.

I also started lifting on my Romaleos2 during that period. I usually lift in my socks, but my feet were getting smelly 'cause of the shoes never leaving my bag. So I decided I'd try and lift in them. Well, it's been maybe 2 months now. First, I reset my DL work set to 185 hoping to pull 5. Could barely get the bar off the floor and only did 3. Then I reset to 180. Same thing. 175, same thing. What I've noticed is that I can't get the bar off the ground unless I dip my hips down a little. That's not the way I normally set up, and I know you're not suppose to lower your hips. I also noticed my back rounding quite a bit, much more than I feel is acceptable even for a heavy pull relative to my current strength. In fact, I felt like I could probably pull a 4th, maybe even a 5th rep, but not with a relatively flat back.

So I'm wondering if this is a clear sign that pulling in heeled WL shoes is not the optimal choice for me, or if my strength has just regressed. My squat has maintained itself more or less. My BP was reset this week. My P still has another week or so before I may need to reset. My PC and PS have always sucked so they're not worth mentioning. Should I continue to use my shoes and lower my hips a little more, setup differently, or go back to lifting barefoot? Unfortunately, DL shoes are not an option =/. Not at this point in time anyway.

[Adam Skillin]

Hello,

There's a lot of crap that's been happening over the last few months. Rib injury, minor hip/knee injury, and I've been losing weight while trying to maintain my lifts on TM (and progress when I can).

With that said, my last PR DL was 200kgx2. The week I attempted 202.5 was when I injured my rib (injured my rib the day before while sneezing). That, and the following two weeks I failed to get the bar off the ground with any weight north of 180, though my squats were fine. I'd usually try to pull 200 first, then work down 5kgs at a time until the bar went up and I'd call that my workset for the week. 200kgx2 wasn't that difficult the first time, to be honest, so I don't know why I've regressed so much.

I also started lifting on my Romaleos2 during that period. I usually lift in my socks, but my feet were getting smelly 'cause of the shoes never leaving my bag. So I decided I'd try and lift in them. Well, it's been maybe 2 months now. First, I reset my DL work set to 185 hoping to pull 5. Could barely get the bar off the floor and only did 3. Then I reset to 180. Same thing. 175, same thing. What I've noticed is that I can't get the bar off the ground unless I dip my hips down a little. That's not the way I normally set up, and I know you're not suppose to lower your hips. I also noticed my back rounding quite a bit, much more than I feel is acceptable even for a heavy pull relative to my current strength. In fact, I felt like I could probably pull a 4th, maybe even a 5th rep, but not with a relatively flat back.

So I'm wondering if this is a clear sign that pulling in heeled WL shoes is not the optimal choice for me, or if my strength has just regressed. My squat has maintained itself more or less. My BP was reset this week. My P still has another week or so before I may need to reset. My PC and PS have always sucked so they're not worth mentioning. Should I continue to use my shoes and lower my hips a little more, setup differently, or go back to lifting barefoot? Unfortunately, DL shoes are not an option =/. Not at this point in time anyway.

I've seen lots of lifters fail to adjust to WL shoes in the deadlift by letting their weight get/stay forward prior to the pull. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that's what's happening here, even though you haven't provided a video.

Try going through the deadlift setup, but adding a step between lifting the chest and dragging the bar up your legs. That step is "rock back to mid-foot." Good chance that corrects lots of these issues, if you do it every time

[Christopher Anderson]

Yeah without video it's not easy to answer, but I am not a fan of DL in WL shoes so I really don't do it.

[Fiddler]

I recently switched to Powerlift 3s from Chucks, and I had to learn to shift my weight back a little, feel some weight on my heels, and actually "pull back" a little bit to keep the bar tight against my legs. One cue that helped was raising my toes; that kept me from gripping with my toes, which made me lean forward a bit.

Didn't seem to hurt much, because I pulled a 1 rep PR about a week after I got the shoes, and another (+5 lb) three days later. Romaleos have a little more lift that Powerlifts, but the same principles may apply. FWIW, I'm long arms and legs, short waist, and my current DL is 8 lbs short of Elite ranking for a geezer my size and age.

[Crimmy]

I've seen lots of lifters fail to adjust to WL shoes in the deadlift by letting their weight get/stay forward prior to the pull. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that's what's happening here, even though you haven't provided a video.

Try going through the deadlift setup, but adding a step between lifting the chest and dragging the bar up your legs. That step is "rock back to mid-foot." Good chance that corrects lots of these issues, if you do it every time

https://youtu.be/-ioi_6JM6JI

Here's my DL the day after your post. As you can see, the first attempt at pulling failed. To my eyes (and what I felt), my shoulders were probably too far forward. The second pull went up when I changed my back angle a little by leaning back.

I've been losing weight and the belt seems to move during DLs. I think I adjusted the belt a few times. These last two weeks I've had some pain around where the belt sits, in the front.

Last rep I think I could have locked out but I didn't get a good valsalva because of the belt and I didn't take a deep breath since I was trying not to laugh. Started thinking of "The Interview" when I realized what song was playing....guess I'll try for 5 again next week. Ugh.

@Lex I never gave it an honest try and I'm attempting to do so now. Plus my shoes stank pretty bad for a few weeks.

@Fiddler yeah, I feel I have to do the same, but I thought that was wrong since that's not the setup procedure. I don't really know much about body types, but I feel I might be in the short arm, long torso relative to leg category. Please correct me if I'm wrong.