Round back training?

[Eric Larousse]

Since the majority of things you pick up or people you must pick up in general life doesnt give you the ability to lift with a setup perfectly deadlift form then would a general strength trainee benefit from foregoing or reducing the amount of straight back deadlifts to put some focus on lifting in an rounded back fashion? I get the strength training is general but should you be doing deadlifts with a rounded back at all? Strongmen lift things with a rounded back all the time even for their sport but what about the "sport" of general life?

[marcf]

Those run-on sentences hurt my brain.

No, you shouldn't try to deadlift with a round back, even if you pick up most things in the real world with a rounded back. This isn't functional fitness. The point of the deadlift is to make your back stronger so that it can handle the real-life stuff a lot easier. When are you ever going to lift a 300 pound box by yourself? Or a 400-pound human? Most of the things we pick up in day-to-day life weigh less than 100 pounds. How much easier is it to lift those things when you have a 500-pound deadlift?

Picking things up with a rounded back isn't what usually causes spinal injuries--it's the active flexion and/or extension of the spine during the movement. So, if you pick something up with a rounded back, keep your back round until you finish whatever you're doing. Don't pick up an object by flexing your back first, then extending it to move the weight. You see this when strongmen competitors lift the stones. Their backs are rounded and stay rounded until it's time to load the stone onto the platform, where they then finish the movement by extending their hips. The back doesn't lift the stone by going into extension.

[Dag]

Most of the things we pick up in day-to-day life weigh less than 100 pounds. How much easier is it to lift those things when you have a 500-pound deadlift?

I'm not sure about this. I have a friend that I can out pull by at least 100 pounds but he is just as capable, if not more so, of lifting heavy objects in awkward positions. Taking a stupid heavy wood stove down a flight of stairs and moving a piano are two examples of things we've done together. He can't deadlift to save his life but he has real world retard strength.

Regarding everything else, no, I also think you shouldn't make an effort to round your back deadlifting.

[marcf]

I'm not sure about this. I have a friend that I can out pull by at least 100 pounds but he is just as capable, if not more so, of lifting heavy objects in awkward positions. Taking a stupid heavy wood stove down a flight of stairs and moving a piano are two examples of things we've done together. He can't deadlift to save his life but he has real world retard strength.

That all comes down to technique and not raw strength. Moving a piano up and down stairs takes maneuvering, planning, finding good areas to grip and getting the best leverages. In general, I think a 600-pound deadlifter is going to have an easier time moving a 100-pound box around than someone who can only deadlift 315 pounds.

[marcf]

I'm not sure about this. I have a friend that I can out pull by at least 100 pounds but he is just as capable, if not more so, of lifting heavy objects in awkward positions. Taking a stupid heavy wood stove down a flight of stairs and moving a piano are two examples of things we've done together. He can't deadlift to save his life but he has real world retard strength.

That all comes down to technique and not raw strength. Moving a piano up and down stairs takes maneuvering, planning, finding good areas to grip and getting the best leverages. In general, I think a 600-pound deadlifter is going to have an easier time moving a 100-pound box around than someone who can only deadlift 315 pounds.

[hollismb]

There's some discussion of round-backed lifting in the Deadlift Variations section of SSBBT3.

[Eric Larousse]

I know but it doesnt really go into how to program them. If you are deadliftin for general strength plus rdls or sldls how are you going to fit in round back variation? I mean i guess if you go really light.

[John Hanley]

I know but it doesnt really go into how to program them. If you are deadliftin for general strength plus rdls or sldls how are you going to fit in round back variation? I mean i guess if you go really light.

Do you have access to atlas stones? If you really want to learn the skill of lifting things with a spine braced in partial flexion*, I'd use atlas stones.

Note: there's a really big difference between picking shit up with "spine braced in partial flexion" and picking shit up with "spine at end-of-range flexion." I know you know this, Eric, but newbs read these posts (or see Jordan deadlift) and get unnecessarily spun up, confused and/or righteous. Can't have righteous newbs.

[Eric Larousse]

Fair enough Hanley and good point.

[Dag]

Wait, now are we talking about upper back rounding, which is a thing, or allowing lower back rounding, which is also a thing but not really a good thing?