Unable to do Deadlifts

[ADF]

G'day Mark

I have started training a mate of mine with your novice program, which I have had tremendous success with. I am running into some trouble teaching him Deadlifts. He has terrible posture and flexibility, so it is impossible for him to get his back into the correct position to initiate the pull. On page 105 you state There will be a few trainees that simply cannot perfrom this movement safely with heavy weights, due to previous injury or an inability to learn the movement correctly. I was thinking of these options:

1. Substitute an exercise in for deads. Only ones I can think of are Chins/pull-ups or Bent over Rows.

2. Perform Deadlifts with the bar elevated on blocks or do Rack Pulls. And then when I feel he is ready, take them back to the floor.

What you would do in this situation? Thanks for your time.

David

[Mark Rippetoe]

1. Neither of which will work, because chins/pullups are an upper body exercise, and if he can't get his back in position to deadlift he can't row either.

2. I'd do this, continue cuing his low back position, and gradually lower the blocks back down to full ROM. I am assuming you have already used the advice on page 37-38 of BBT.