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Deadlift problems and a free form check video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R1d7...ature=youtu.be
Alright. Here's my latest creation. I know a single isn't exactly perfect for a form check, but at least it's something. My questions are mostly about the setup, because that felt like shit. Something weird happened with the video and the first few seconds of me setting up got cut, dunno why. I set up in the way described in SSBBT: Bar about an inch away from shins, take grip without moving bar, drop knees to bar, squeeze chest up.
Right off the bat I gotta say that at least to my eyes, it doesn't look particularly revolting, but as I said before, it felt like total ass. I don't know what it is about the conventional deadlift for me but I can't ever seem to get into a position that actually feels tight and powerful. It always feels like I'm mangling my body into some position that it does not want to be in.
I've tried varying my stance width quite a bit, but to no avail. Even with a very narrow stance, my elbows and knees/quads get in each others way, and if I widen my stance, I end up having to place my hands so far apart it might as well be a snatch grip. The very narrow stance, which feels just about barely doable in terms of elbows and knees creates a back problem. I can't seem to keep an extended lumbar, or at least thats the way it feels. At no point does it ever feel set and secure, instead it's like I'm just about holding it in a position that isn't catastrophically bad, and the heavier the weights get, the wobblier it feels. I'm becoming concerned that if I push forward with this very unstable feeling lower back, something is going to give and the nice lady who runs our gym is gonna have a hell of a time picking up the pieces of my spine that I splattered all over the gym floor.
So I've been thinking that if, even with your help, I fail to get this conventional shit under control, I might try to find a suitable stance from the Sumo family. I quite like the look of the "hybrid" stance that Ed Coan and Inzer used, i.e grip inside the feet, but the feet are really at a wide squat width and not the full feet-on-plates sumo pull you sometimes see being used. I figured that type of form might be the next best thing to a proper, conventional deadlift(?) Might be an odd transition though, as I can't pull as much in sumo as in conventional (weird), but maybe that's just because I have so little practice with it. Dunno.
But anyways, there's my crappy pull. Tear me a new one.
✓ Member
You do not set your back in extension prior to the pull, nor do you really even try, and you gave us a set of one. The deadlift is not supposed to feel comfortable. Nothing you do with a barbell will feel comfortable. Using that as a guide is a recipe for problems. To clarify, you are not setting up as advocated in BBT, you are missing the last step, which is squeezing your chest up.
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Originally Posted by Tom Campitelli
Thanks. I'll knock out a set of five on video on thursday and post it in this thread.
Member
Have you tried bringing your heels closer together and letting your toes and knees point out? I can't see your foot position but I've found that's often a solution when it feels like your thighs are 'in the way' of your upper body.
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It might be worth trying, although my heels are already plenty close together. Maybe toeing out more would help with the back issues at least. We shall see on thursday. Thanks for the tip.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRBWt59QMaQ#t=10
Well, shit is all I can say. The bar shifts forward quite a bit at the bottom on some reps and I swear to christ I didn't know I was doing that.
http://imgur.com/HBUu0r3
Thats my setup. What is wrong with it?
Interestingly, I found an older deadlift video on my phone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TvrE...ature=youtu.be
Now, to my eyes at least, that doesn't look anywhere near as nasty. The bar isn't lurching forward at the bottom. What the fuck, did I forget how to sort of deadlift?
✓ Member
Instead of dropping your butt to bring your shins to the bar, you are shifting forward. The result is that your shoulders are too far in front on every pull. That corrects itself every time, as would be expected, once the pull starts. Don't lean forward to start the deadlift. Drop the butt until your shins touch the bar, then drive your knees out. Stay over the middle of the foot. If needed, think, "Rock back off the toes." That should solve the issue.
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Thanks again Tom. Out of curiosity, did the older video look better to your eyes as well?
I remember that when I shot that video, I wasn't thinking too much about the setup. I just stood somewhere near the bar, took my grip, and wiggled around until it felt tight.
In any case, I tried this out on an old bar I have in my apartment, and I think that advice finally sunk in. I'll probably post a new video early next week just to see if it went well.
✓ Member
Yeah, the older video had you in better position. You weren't starting off so far on your toes with your shoulders too far in front. However, you may have a hint of pushing the bar forward on the old one, too. Definitely less screwy, however.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Xx...ature=youtu.be
Welp, there's my hopefully fixed deadlift. I have to say it felt really good, but I'll wait for a response before I break out the scotch.
I'm still doing that silly overextension at the top, will have to work on that.
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